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Notre Dame football game time, TV information for College Football Playoff first round

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•12/08/24•

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Notre Dame football team during the alma mater
© Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Notre Dame is officially in the College Football Playoff, and the Fighting Irish (11-1) are set to host a first-round game in South Bend as the No. 7 seed. The No. 10 seed Indiana Hoosiers (11-1) are headed to take on the Irish at Notre Dame Stadium later this month.

The matchup will take place on Friday, Dec. 20, at 8 p.m. ET. It’ll be televised on ABC/ESPN. Notre Dame is an early 7.5-point favorite per FanDuel Sportsbook.

The Friday night game ensures that the first 12-team College Football Playoff game will kick off under the lights at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind. The Irish and Hoosiers are the only teams to play on Friday. The four other first-round games will all be played on Saturday, Dec. 21.

Should Notre Dame hold serve at home and beat Indiana, the Irish will play No. 2 seed Georgia (11-1) in the Sugar Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans on Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.m. ET. The Bulldogs beat the No. 5 seed Texas Longhorns (11-2) for the second time this season in yesterday’s SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The final score was 22-19 in overtime.

If the Irish make it to the semifinals, No. 3 seed Boise State (12-1), No. 6 seed Penn State (11-1) and No. 11 seed SMU (11-2) are the possible opponents there.

Notre Dame’s path could have been entirely different, obviously, had the Irish been seeded fifth or sixth.

As the No. 5 seed, Texas is hosting No. 12 seed Clemson (10-3) in the first round. The Tigers snuck into the playoff field on championship Saturday by beating SMU with a walk-off field goal as time expired. As the No. 6 seed, Penn State is hosting those Mustangs in the first round.

Texas’ second-round opponent would be No. 4 seed Arizona State (11-2). The Sun Devils absolutely blistered Iowa State, 45-19, in the Big 12 championship game on Sunday. Penn State’s second-round opponent would be No. 3 seed Boise State. The Broncos beat UNLV, 21-7, in the Mountain West title game on Friday night.

Notre Dame’s path is what it is, though. The Irish get one final game in South Bend this season, where they had a record of 5-1 in the regular season. They lost their home opener to Northern Illinois, 16-14, but have rattled off five home wins in a row by an average margin of points per victory since then.

Indiana’s lone loss was to Ohio State in Columbus on Nov. 23. The Buckeyes won, 38-15. The Hoosiers do not have a win over a team that’s currently ranked, and they did not beat any teams that were ranked at time of kickoff either. Their best win was at home vs. Michigan (7-5). Indiana beat the Wolverines 20-15 on Nov. 9.

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