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Indiana to face Notre Dame in First Round of College Football Playoff

No. 10 Indiana will play No. 7 Notre Dame in College Football Playoff first round

ByDonovan James|
Indiana's Mike Katic (56) and the Hoosiers hoist the Old Oaken Bucket after the Indiana versus Purdue football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024.
Indiana's Mike Katic (56) and the Hoosiers hoist the Old Oaken Bucket after the Indiana versus Purdue football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Indiana Hoosiers came in ranked at No. 10 in the final regular season rankings and will face off against No. 10 Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.

The game will be the first-ever College Football Playoff game to take place at a school's home campus, at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday, December 20 at 8 p.m. ET in South Bend (IN).

Here's what head coach Curt Cignetti said about Indiana's playoff berth Sunday:

“Our odds of probably making the College Football Playoff at the beginning of the season, I don’t know what they were, but they were pretty darn low, I’m sure,” Cignetti said. “Our odds of winning the next four games are probably significantly higher.”

Indiana and Notre Dame have played 29 times. The last time came in 1991 when the Irish beat the Hoosiers, 49-27 at Notre Dame Stadium. The last time Indiana won was in 1950 in Bloomington. The Hoosiers’ last win in South Bend was the first time the schools met in 1898.

They've won ten in a row. Coach Freeman has done a tremendous job with that football team. I've looked at their stats, haven't had a chance to watch them today with all the media stuff going on, but I saw enough of them against Purdue to know that they're an excellent football team, and when you look at their scores, they haven't played in very many close games. So I'm sure they'll be quite the challenge, but we're looking forward to it. We're a good football team. I'm confident in our football team. I think that we'll apply the lessons learned at a high stake when we had to go on the road in a hostile environment against a good football team and apply those up at Notre Dame. We're going to have a great week of prep." said Curt Cignetti on Sunday

The Notre Dame-Indiana game will be the only first-round game on Friday, Dec. 20. The other three will be played on Saturday, Dec. 21.

The winner of the matchup will move on to the Allstate Sugar Bowl and take on the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs on Jan. 1, 2025 in New Orleans (LA).

According to ESPN, Notre Dame has opened as an 8.5-point favorite.

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