2025 Indiana or 2019 LSU? Unpacking a debate that defies college football logic

Indiana will play for the first football national title in school history on Jan. 19 at the College Football Playoff championship game in Miami Gardens, Fla., but the Hoosiers have been so dominant this postseason they are now competing with legendary teams of years past.

Should the Hoosiers (15-0) defeat Miami (13-2), they will enter the discussion alongside some of the best national champions of the CFP era. During Friday night’s 56-22 win over Oregon, ESPN color commentator Greg McElroy made multiple comparisons to 2019 LSU, setting the table for a debate few would have entertained as recently as a month ago.

At first blush, it’s difficult to get past the Tigers’ offensive firepower. Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow finished with 60 touchdown passes, and his top receivers included current NFL superstars Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. Those names alone end just about any debate. LSU averaged 568.4 yards of total offense per game.

But these Hoosiers can hang statistically, albeit in different ways. LSU averaged 48.4 points per game, but Indiana puts up 42.2 per game with Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. While the Hoosiers average about 100 fewer yards per game on offense, they possess a far better running attack than that LSU team did, with 52 more yards per game on the ground and a half-yard more per carry.

Burrow went on to become the top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and Mendoza appears likely to do the same this April. In Burrow’s two CFP games, he threw for 956 yards, 12 touchdowns and no interceptions and completed 68.2 percent of his throws. Mendoza hasn’t put up the same gaudy stats as Burrow (no one else has, either), but his efficiency is beyond compare. Mendoza has thrown for 369 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions this postseason, but even more impressively, he has completed 31 of 36 passes for an 86.1 completion percentage. He has three more touchdowns than incompletions through two Playoff games.

Defense is where the Hoosiers shine in this comparison. The Hoosiers allow 11.1 points per game (LSU gave up 21.9 points per game) and 260.9 yards per game (343.5 for LSU). Only three teams have scored more than 15 points against Indiana — none more than 24 — and all three of those games took place away from Bloomington. LSU gave up 25 or more points seven times and at least 37 points four times.

In the CFP, LSU crushed Oklahoma 63-28 and then beat Clemson 42-25 for the title. So far, Indiana has blasted Alabama 38-3 and Oregon 56-22. LSU’s point differential was 52, and Indiana’s sits at 69.

As far as overall talent, LSU had four consensus first-team All-Americans: Burrow, Chase and defensive backs Derek Stingley Jr. and Grant Delpit. The Hoosiers have two: Mendoza and left tackle Carter Smith, though linebacker Aiden Fisher and defensive back D’Angelo Ponds did earn first-team All-America honors from some outlets.

In 2019, LSU beat seven teams ranked in the top 10 at kickoff, four that finished in the postseason AP top 10 and six that won at least nine games. Indiana will play its fifth game against a team in the top 10 of the CFP selection committee’s final rankings when it meets the Hurricanes. The Hoosiers will have faced nine teams that won at least nine games by the end of the month.

Ultimately, where you stand on the 2019 LSU vs. 2025 Indiana debate may come down to how you feel about the quality of their competition, which means it’s SEC vs. Big Ten. For debate purposes, that’s called an impasse, which is where we will end this discussion — for now.

Indiana still has a national championship game left to make its case.