Good post including your "but".i'm not going to tell you that Indiana is garbage. they're not....they went 8-4 in what many consider the deepest conf this year....and their stats on offense are what htey are. they're very balanced overall.
Even in a deep Big 10 they somehow dodged the teams that were up. Even MSU had an off year compared to their recent results. They didn't play anyone else in the Big10's second tier unless you count PSU there. Missed Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. All of those would have been losses if they'd played them.