On Sunday afternoon, the first 12-team College Football Playoff went public. Conference champions Oregon, Georgia, Arizona State and Boise State respectively secured the top four seeds and the accompanying first-round byes. Notre Dame, ranked fifth in the CFP rankings, landed on the No. 7 seed and will host No. 10 Indiana to start the first round at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20.
The in-state matchup will pit a pair of 11-1, non-conference championship participants against one another inside Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish rattled off 10 consecutive wins to end the regular season after taking their only loss to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7. Meanwhile, Indiana started the season with 10 straight victories before losing big at Ohio State on Nov. 23. The Hoosiers have made an eight-win improvement in their first season under head coach Curt Cignetti, qualifying for their first College Football Playoff.
Notre Dame and Indiana have squared off 29 times previously, with the Irish holding a 23-5-1 record against the Hoosiers. The last meeting took place in 1991, when Notre Dame claimed a 49-27 victory in South Bend.
Like Indiana, Notre Dame will seek its first College Football Playoff victory two Fridays from now. The Irish reached the CFP in its four-team format in 2018 and 2020, losing to Clemson and Alabama, respectively, in the semifinals.
The remainder of the first-round matchups will follow Notre Dame-Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 21. Big Ten runner-up and No. 6 seed Penn State will host 11th-seeded ACC runner-up SMU at noon, with both teams making their first College Football Playoff appearance. No. 12 Clemson, the ACC champion, will visit Big 12 runner-up and No. 5 Texas at 4 p.m. Clemson has two national championships in the CFP era, while Texas makes its second consecutive trip to the playoff. The 8 p.m. nightcap will have No. 9 Tennessee travel to No. 8 Ohio State in a battle of at-large qualifiers. Ohio State makes its fourth CFP venture in six years, while Tennessee qualifies for the first time overall.
The winner of the Notre Dame-Indiana game will advance to the quarterfinal round to take on No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. The Cotton Bowl in Dallas awaits the winner of that contest on Friday, Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where the Irish defeated Georgia Tech on Oct. 19, will host the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
