The 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway Friday night with a unique matchup that has the state of Indiana as well as the sport itself on edge. The upstart Indiana Hoosiers will face the favored Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti professes that neither he nor his team is not intimidated about having to face the legendary program on the road.

Cignetti was a guest on Pat McAfee's ESPN program, and explained the importance of the game to the state of Indiana and to the Hoosier program. He also indicated that his teams liked taking on the role of facing the so-called bully.

“I think the game means a lot to the state and the sport of football,” Cignetti said. “When Peyton Manning went to the Colts, football began to thrive in certain pockets of the state.

“What will the win do for us? There's a lot of skeptics and doubters — I get it. Nebraska was the No. 25 team and we beat their a** 56-7. I've never beat a top-25 team. Well Coastal Carolina, when we were little James Madison, they were 22nd at the end of the year and we beat them 47-7. So we don't just beat top-25 teams, we beat the s*** out of them.”

Cignetti's bold front based on Hoosiers' remarkable season

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The Hoosiers have big one of the biggest surprises in college football this season. They take an 11-1 record into the playoff game at Notre Dame Stadium, the school's best record through 12 games.

Indiana has used a dominating offense to earn its spot in the CFP. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke has been the trigger man for the team's surge, throwing for 2,827 yard with 28 touchdown passes and just 4 interceptions.

The Hoosiers have scored 30 points or more in 10 of its 12 games and 40 points or more 8 times. Indiana's only loss came in late November in a 38-15 defeat to Ohio State.