All five hosts are exchanging sports views during the ESPN College GameDay show on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, on the Hesburgh Library lawn on the University of Notre Dame campus in South Bend. The show was to highlight the Notre Dame-Ohio State game. / GREG SWIERCZ / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Battle of Indiana is a hot ticket to kick off the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff, as the 10th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers visit the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend.

Notre Dame needed to claim a No. 8 seed or higher to host a first-round game at Notre Dame Stadium, where they are 14-4 in the past three seasons under Freeman. Those losses have come by a combined 12 points, but they include stumbles against heavy underdogs Marshall, Stanford and NIU.

The Irish and Hoosiers are in-state neighbors, but they haven't met since 1991. Now they'll meet in the first game of the expanded Playoff.

“College GameDay” last came to South Bend a season ago. That was before the Irish infamously had only 10 men on the field on the play that caused them to lose in gut-wrenching fashion to Ohio State. Hopefully, the Irish fans who gather on the Library Lawn this time around will be a lot happier after this upcoming appearance.

The Irish have looked like one of the two or three best teams in the country for 11 of their 12 games this season. They stomped t

Instant analysis of Indiana vs. Notre Dame as they face off in the opening round of the 2024 College Football Playoff.

If you didn’t know much about Notre Dame football’s opponent Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti, in the first-round of the College Football Playoff, is that he isn’t afraid the tell everyone what he thinks.

Face value tickets through Notre Dame sold out earlier this week. According to StubHub, the cheapest pair of tickets for sale Wednesday was $665 each. Tickets in the lower bowl were going for close to $3,000 before fees.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - College football fans in Indiana will be treated to an in-state battle in the first round of the College Football Playoff, as Notre Dame will host IU. The game will be played on Friday, Dec. 20, at 8 p.m. EST at Notre Dame Stadium. It will air on ESPN/ABC.