The weekend before Thanksgiving often feels like the calm before the storm in college football. Saturday was different. The expanded College Football Playoff turned it into a tempest with postseason implications from the home of the Super Bowl champion Chiefs in Kansas City to the House that Ruth Built in the Bronx.

Indiana's special season ran into a brick wall Saturday afternoon as the fifth-ranked Hoosiers fell 38-15 on the road against No. 2 Ohio State. All week, questions about Indiana's legitimacy as a Big Ten power and a College Football Playoff competitor swirled.

In the afterglow of a 38-31 win at Rutgers that lifted Illinois to 8-3 — and was so exciting in the late stages that it stole some thunder from higher-profile college football matchups of the day — Illini coach Bret Bielema was feeling the import of the moment.