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College Football Playoff: Notre Dame seed, first-round matchup revealed

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•12/08/24•

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marcus freeman notre dame
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. (Chad Weaver, Blue & Gold)

Notre Dame rattled off 10-straight wins to lock itself into a top-eight seed in the first 12-team College Football Playoff and earn the right to host a first-round game. On Sunday, the CFP Selection Committee revealed its final draw.

Notre Dame (11-1) is the No. 5 team in the final rankings and No. 7 seed in the 12-team playoff field, the committee announced Sunday. The Irish have officially made the CFP for the first time in third-year head coach Marcus Freeman‘s tenure, and they will host No. 10 Indiana (11-1) in the first round in South Bend.

The Hoosiers, led by first-year head coach Curt Cignetti, were picked near the bottom of the Big Ten. Cignetti engineered one of college football’s greatest turnarounds, going from 3-9 to 11-1 with one of college football’s top point differentials.

The Hoosiers only lost to No. 9 Ohio State.

After losing to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7 and falling to 1-1, most left Notre Dame for dead. The Irish fell to 18th in the Associated Press Top 25, down from fifth after picking up a signature win at Texas A&M a week prior. But a 66-7 win over Purdue the next week got Notre Dame back on track, and the Irish never looked back from there.

In 10 consecutive win-or-go-home games, Freeman engineered victories over Purdue, Miami (Ohio), Louisville, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Navy, Florida State, Virginia, Army and USC. Most of Notre Dame’s wins came in blowout fashion, as the Irish impressed the committee enough to largely forgive the NIU loss.

The Irish traveled to USC in Week 14 and beat the Trojans 49-35, effectively clinching a spot in the playoff and a first-round home game.

“I told our players Monday after that game [against NIU], I said, ‘This will be the greatest thing that ever happened to this football team if we learn from it and continue to use it. It would be the greatest thing that can happen to us,'” Freeman said after the USC game. “It was. It’s hard to say that the great thing that happened to this program this season was a loss because it taught us what it takes to handle success.”

Notre Dame’s first-round matchup with Indiana will kick off at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Dec. 20 in South Bend. It will be broadcast on ESPN.

The first-ever 12-team playoff will begin under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium.

Full 12-team College Football Playoff field: Notre Dame is No. 7, will host No. 10 Indiana

  1. Oregon
  2. Georgia
  3. Boise State
  4. Arizona State
  5. Texas
  6. Penn State
  7. Notre Dame
  8. Ohio State
  9. Tennessee
  10. Indiana
  11. SMU
  12. Clemson

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