Indiana Set to Face Notre Dame in First-Ever College Football Playoff Appearance

Indiana football will play Notre Dame in College Football Playoff first round

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football is in the College Football Playoff for the first time.

The No. 10 Hoosiers (11-1; 8-1 Big Ten) will travel to South Bend at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20 for a first-round game against No. 7 Notre Dame. The winner will advance to the Sugar Bowl to face No. 2 Georgia.

Notre Dame rebounded from a stunning early season loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2 to finish 11-1 on the season.

More:Lessons IU can take from Ohio State loss for Notre Dame, what Curt Cignetti will never do again.

For Indiana, the first CFP berth is the latest historic achievement for a program that’s won more games this season (11) than the previous three combined (nine) and fulfilled the promise that Curt Cignetti laid out when he was introduced as the team’s new coach exactly 53 weeks ago.

“I fully expect to win big this year,” Cignetti said, last December fresh off similarly successful stops at Elon and James Madison

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Indiana football welcomes rare matchup against Notre Dame

Indiana and Notre Dame haven’t played since the 1991 season-opener in South Bend that pitted Bill Mallory against Lou Holtz. After five lead changes in the early going, the Irish pulled away in the final six minutes of the first half with a pair of touchdowns separated by a recovered onside kick.

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Notre Dame’s 49-27 win over the Hoosiers was the first game to air on NBC Sports as part of the school’s then-new exclusive agreement with the broadcaster that continues to this day.

This will be the Irish’s third appearance in the College Football Playoff, but they are still seeking their elusive first victory in the event. They lost to the eventual national champion in 2019 semifinals (30-3 loss to Clemson) and 2021 semifinals (31-14 loss to Alabama).

Notre Dame leads the all-times series between the in-state foes 23-5-1 and have won six straight over the Hoosiers, a win streak that dates back to 1950.

In 2021, the schools announced a home-and-home series that is scheduled for 2030 in South Bend and 2031 in Bloomington. It’s the furthest game into the future on the Hoosiers’ schedule.

Indiana football makes rapid ascent into CFP contender

Cignetti did a lot the heavy lifting in his first month on the job by keeping much of his Dukes coaching staff intact — including offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines — and flipping the roster over.

The Hoosiers signed more than two dozen transfers in the winter portal window including former Ohio University quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who is a finalist for the Manning Award given to the country’s top quarterback, and JMU defensive end Mikail Kamara, who finished the regular season with the most quarterback pressures in the FBS.

Those transfers, who Indiana assistant athletic director for alumni relations Mark Deal lovingly describes as a motivated bunch of misfits, bought into the vision Cignetti laid out for the program on his very first day on the job.

“We’re going to change the culture, the mindset, the expectation level, and improve the brand of Indiana Hoosier football,” Cignetti said. “There will be no self-imposed limitations on what we can accomplish.”

Cignetti, who was named Big Ten coach of the year last week, is still preaching that same message as IU eyes reaching even greater heights.

“Can’t say enough about what this team has done between the white lines,” Cignetti said, after a record-setting 66-0 win over Purdue. “But they are not satisfied. They are not done yet. You know, they are not — they want more. They are going to get more.”