Stephen Daley injury: Standout Indiana DE likely to miss College Football Playoff after postgame incident

The Hoosiers expect to be without the Big Ten tackles for loss leader during their quest for a national championship

Indiana defensive end Stephen Daley will likely miss the College Football Playoff due to an injury he sustained after the Hoosiers' victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game, coach Curt Cignetti said on Wednesday. Daley appeared to hurt his leg during the postgame celebration while jumping to high-five Hoosiers fans in the stands. He was later seen in an air cast as trainers took him into the locker room on a cart.

Daley underwent tests over the weekend that revealed the extent of the injury, which Cignetti called "serious" and said is anticipated to keep him out for the remainder of the season.

Daley would have been one of the top defensive players in the CFP if not for the injury. The senior led the Big Ten this season with 19 tackles for loss and racked up 5.5 sacks in his first year on a Power Four roster. He joined Indiana through the transfer portal last offseason after spending the first three years of his career at Kent State.

"This postgame was a little different than most," Cignetti said to reporters on Wednesday. "So I didn't get into the coaches room probably until 45 minutes after the game, and that was the first I had heard about [Daley's injury] and then we were walking to my press conference.

"Sunday was still sort of waiting a little bit on images to come back, that sort of thing. So when I had my press conference (on Sunday), there was a little more information that still had to come in. I was still processing the whole thing because it was sort of unbelievable when I heard about it, and I think that is why I said we had nobody hurt in the game, during the game."

While Daley was not a full-time starter during the regular season, he made an immense impact for one of college football's most formidable defenses. He recorded at least one tackle for loss in all but two games and hit his stride down the stretch with 2.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage against Penn State, 3.0 against Wisconsin, 4.5 against Purdue and 1.0 in the Big Ten Championship Game.

The absence of a premier force on the defensive front could prove problematic for the Hoosiers given that their road to a national championship runs through a few of the sport's top offenses. Indiana will play the winner of Alabama and Oklahoma in the quarterfinals when it opens CFP play as the No. 1 overall seed.