College GameDay headed to Notre Dame for College Football Playoff matchup vs. Indiana
ESPN’s College GameDay is headed to Notre Dame for its first-round matchup with Indiana, the network announced Wednesday afternoon. The show will set up on Library Lawn, with Touchdown Jesus in the background, at 3:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Dec. 20 in advance of the 8 p.m. ET kickoff.
GameDay is making two stops during the first round of the College Football Playoff, one in South Bend and one in Columbus, Ohio, where Ohio State is hosting Tennessee on Saturday, Dec. 21.
ESPN’s flagship show will make its first trip to South Bend since Sept. 23, 2023, when Notre Dame fell to Ohio State. Since then, GameDay added legendary former Alabama head coach Nick Saban to its panel of Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Lee Corso.
The No. 7 Irish will take on the No. 10 Hoosiers in the first-ever on-campus College Football Playoff game, which will be broadcast on ESPN.
More on No. 7 Notre Dame’s first-round matchup with No. 10 Indiana
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.
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Rich Rodriguez
WVU expected to hire former HC
- 2New
Belichick contract
Details out on UNC deal
- 3
Garrett Nussmeier
LSU QB announces 2025 return
- 4
Bill Belichick
UNC finalizing deal with legend
- 5Trending
Flag planting felony
Ohio politicians get involved
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.
Indiana 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.
