Fighting Irish Will Crush Hoosiers

Indiana vs. Notre Dame, 8:00 ET

We've made it folks. We've finally gotten to the point where we are going to watch a game between Indiana and Notre Dame, the first College Football Playoff game of all time. The entire year has led to this moment, all of the hype, all of the hypotheticals, all of the rankings bring us to this point. I can't wait and am excited to play as many of these games as I can. Luckily, there shouldn't be nearly as many players leaving these top-12 teams which shouldn't impact anything and we can just get good 'ole football games. 

Indiana was not one of the teams I would've predicted to make this playoffs, but here they are. They come in with an 11-1 record, but I'm not sure that they played anyone that good this year. The only ranked opponent that they faced this year was Ohio State and they were absolutely trounced. In that game, they went into Ohio State and lost the game by 23 points. Their quarterback, Kurtis Rourke, threw for just 68 yards, by far his lowest total of the season. He wasn't great in every game, but he was certainly better than what he showed in that one. The Ohio State defense is one of the best in the country, so I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that they struggled against the Buckeyes. Notre Dame doesn't have the best defense in the world, but they should be good enough to cause some issues for Indiana. I assume the Hoosiers will continue to run a balanced attack against Notre Dame, trying to establish themselves on the ground and picking spots through the air. 

Curt Cignetti agreed to a massive extension with the Indiana Hoosiers. How much money will he make? What are the terms of the extension? (Credit: Getty Images)

Notre Dame is also 11-1, but they are ranked as the seventh-team in the country. The only blemish on their record was a loss to Northern Illinois. I was at that game and it was a truly embarrassing showing from the Fighting Irish. They lost that game 16-14 and absolutely couldn't do anything to stop the Huskies rush attack. The offense didn't look great either. The rest of the season, they beat three ranked teams, Louisville, Navy, and Army. So, after starting the season 1-1 they won 10 straight, and only one of those games was a one-score game. Everything else was at least a 14-point win. They have a very good running game between their primary back Jeremiyah Love and quarterback Riley Leonard. The two of them combined for 29 rushing touchdowns and 1,670 yards on the ground. Leonard has been fine this season as a quarterback, but I think as the defenses get tougher he will struggle to get the offense going and make the necessary throws. Indiana has one of the best ranked defenses in college, but as mentioned, I'm not overly impressed with their opponents. 

Maybe there is a bit of name recognition and credit being given to Notre Dame as a football school here, but I'm a bit surprised that this line isn't higher. I don't have much faith in Indiana to put up a big fight in this game. Their offense looked awful against the one true great team they faced, and Notre Dame has rolled since their early season loss. I'm going to take the Fighting Irish to win this one and cover the -7 spread. 

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