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What they’re saying about Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff

Singer headshotby:Mike Singer•12/08/24•

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Marcus Freeman notre dame
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman gives a pregame speech to his team. (Matt Cashore-Imagn Images)

The College Football Playoff committee unveiled its 12-team bracket to determine the 2024-25 national champion, and Notre Dame will play in the 7 vs. 10 game, hosting the Indiana Hoosiers at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 20.

In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about the Fighting Irish’s seeding and more playoff reaction, including the Blue & Gold staff giving their instant reaction to the news in a YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player below.

Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: 5 things to know about Indiana Hoosiers

No. 7 seed Notre Dame (11-1) drew in-state foe, No. 10 seed Indiana (11-1), in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Blue & Gold has five quick things to know about the Hoosiers.

Here they are…

Indiana does not have a ranked win

Not over a team that was ranked at time of kickoff or over a team that’s currently ranked. The combined record of the 11 teams the Hoosiers have beaten this year is 51-81.

The only team with a winning record that Indiana beat this season is Michigan, and this was a down year for the Wolverines. They went 7-5 backing up their national title season. Indiana beat Michigan in Bloomington, 20-15, on Nov. 9.

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Jack Soble, Blue & Gold: Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff—Breaking down the path for the Irish

Notre Dame earned the right to host a first-round College Football Playoff game in South Bend, and that’s what the it will do. The Irish are the No. 7 seed in the CFP and are set to host No. 10 Indiana.

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of Notre Dame’s path in the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, from the Hoosiers to the national championship.

First round: Notre Dame will host Indiana

The first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff will kick off on a Friday night in South Bend. It will be the Irish and Hoosiers at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 20.

Its wins are unimpressive, but much like Notre Dame, Indiana has demolished nearly everyone it’s played. First-year head coach Curt Cignetti runs a creative, well-executed operation on both sides of the ball. The Hoosiers lost their only significant test 38-15 at the hands of then-No. 2 Ohio State, but this is a good football team.

Names to know: quarterback Kurtis Rourke, running back Justice Ellison and wide receiver Elijah Sarratt lead a balanced offensive attack. Defensive end Mikail Kamara (10 sacks) is an All-American candidate on defense.

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Todd Golden, Indiana Hoosiers on SI: Indiana-Notre Dame Is Dream Come True In The College Football Playoff

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When the chips fell after the conference championship games played out in thrilling fashion on Saturday, there really wasn’t a bad option for Indiana as far as its College Football Playoff opponent.

While Indiana coach Curt Cignetti worked the pregame shows in an effort to lobby for an Indiana home game – a mission that was definitely worth trying but was never going to succeed given Indiana’s weak strength of schedule – the list of opponents came into sharper view.

All were college football royalty. All had their charms.

Texas? It was the exotic option. A trip to Austin where Bevo roams. A college football power that’s a bit of a mystery to hard-bitten Big Ten fans, at least as far as the college football culture clash is concerned. Think of Texas and you think of the old Southwest Conference, option football and those iconic burnt orange uniforms.

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Nick Kosko, On3: James Franklin seemingly calls out Notre Dame in CFP discussion: ‘Everybody should be in a conference’

James Franklin was asked straight up if the College Football Playoff seeding is good as it’s currently constructed.

So while he didn’t say anything crazy, Franklin did mention how the CFP should be able to pick from a pool of teams that are on an equal playing field. That starts with equal conference games and everyone being able to play for a conference championship. So, Notre Dame doesn’t fit that mold among the current playoff teams.

Franklin explained further during ESPN’s rankings reveal show Sunday.

“To be honest with you, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time thinking about this,” Franklin said of how the seeding should work. “I mean, we just got done playing the No. 1 team in the country, and we’re getting ready for the playoffs now, but I think the whole model needs to be looked at. 

“But then if we do that, it’ll give nothing for you guys to talk about, because this creates great dialogue for you guys to discuss and argue. But I think the biggest thing is you want to get the 12 best teams in the playoffs. That’s the obvious statement.” 

As Franklin pointed out, there’s no perfect way (it seems) to get the best 12 teams in the playoff. Then again, this is only the first year of the 12-team bracket.

“But also, I think there’s some tie-ins and things like that that make it challenging for that to happen,” Franklin said. “Also, everybody should be in a conference, and everybody should play a conference championship game right now, you guys are trying to make a decision. I say you guys, but the College Football Playoff’s trying to make decisions and not everything is equal. 

“Everybody should be playing the same number of conference games. Everybody should be in a conference, everybody should be playing a conference championship game, or not playing a conference championship game. I think that would really help, just that would be a good starting point.”

Despite Franklin’s suggestion, the Nittany Lions actually got the No. 6 seed after losing the Big Ten Championship Game. Penn State is one seed above Notre Dame (No. 7) in the bracket.

The only way the two teams would actually play each other in the playoff is if Franklin’s squad and the Irish both make the semifinals.

While it’s not the perfect system, and perhaps it never will be, we’ll have to wait and see how the first edition shakes out in 2024.

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