The first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff is almost here. The regular season is done, conference champions have been crowned, and the field is set. This is a major change in college football that fans have been excited about, and on December 20th, the playoff will get underway. Things will start with first-round games being on the campus of the higher-seeded teams. This is the first time that playoff games will be played on campus, and the first game will be played in South Bend as Indiana will be hitting the road to take on the Notre Dame football team.

Notre Dame was looked at as a contender heading into this season, but Indiana? The Hoosiers were one of the worst power-five teams in the country last year, and now they are in the CFP. This game is going to be fun to see.

Before we talk more about the Hoosiers and this matchup, let’s take a deeper look at both Indiana and Notre Dame.

Indiana is having a dream season

Indiana was one of the worst teams in the country last year as they won just three games. Now, Curt Cignetti has his Hoosiers sitting at 11-1 and they are in the College Football Playoff. Truly an outstanding job in year one.

Indiana has just one loss on the year as they fell on the road against Ohio State a few weeks ago, but other than that, the Hoosiers were rock solid. They had a close call at home against Michigan, but Indiana made easy work of their opponents for the most part.

Outside of one game, Notre Dame has been elite

The Notre Dame football team is the seven seed in the College Football Playoff, but they are one of only four teams that made the field with less than two losses. The Fighting Irish have an odd one as they fell at home to Northern Illinois early in the season.

Because of the fact that they aren’t in a conference, Notre Dame can’t receive a bye in the College Football Playoff. Even if they could, they wouldn’t have this year because of that ugly home loss to NIU, but outside of that game, the Fighting Irish have looked elite.

Notre Dame did enough to get a home CFP game, and they are taking on an Indiana team that struggled in their only difficult road test of the year. The Fighting Irish are in a good spot.

The Notre Dame football team will definitely need a big game from Riley Leonard this weekend, but their x-factor in this game will be …

Jeremiyah Love

Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) scores on a 1-yard touchdown run against Southern California Trojans safety Akili Arnold (0) in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

If Notre Dame can find a way to establish the run and win the line of scrimmage, they should be able to win this game pretty comfortably. Running back Jeremiyah Love has been outstanding this season as he has carried the ball 134 times for 949 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is averaging 7.1 YPC.

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Jeremiyah Love will be a crucial player in this game. If he can get going, the Fighting Irish will control the line of scrimmage and they can chew up clock. Indiana will have a tough time slowing him down.

Notre Dame and Indiana will kick off the CFP from Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana at 8:00 ET on Friday, and the game will be airing on ABC/ESPN. Notre Dame is currently favored by seven points.

College Football Playoff preview

December 20th is when the College Football Playoff will officially get underway, and this one is going to be a lot of fun. The playoff has expanded from four teams to 12, so that means we get more football and a longer season. Let's take a look at what the playoffs will look like this year.

The first game of the College Football Playoff will go down on a Friday night and it will be this matchup between 10 seed Indiana and seven seed Notre Dame that we have already discussed.

There is just one game on Friday night, and then six-seed Penn State and 11-seed SMU will kick off the Saturday slate. This one will kick off at noon ET, and the game will be airing on TNT and streaming on Max.

The afternoon game on the 21st will feature five-seed Texas and 12-seed Clemson. The Tigers will be hitting the road to take on the Longhorns, and they are big underdogs. This game will kick off at 4:00 ET, and it will be airing on TNT and streaming on Max. Texas is favored by 11 points.

The final game of the first round will take place under the lights in Columbus, Ohio as eight seed Ohio State will be hosting nine seed Tennessee. The Buckeyes and Volunteers will kick off at 8:00 ET from Ohio Stadium in Columbus on December 21st, and the game will be airing on ABC/ESPN.

We have four other teams that have not been discussed yet as the top four seeds received byes into the quarterfinals. One seed, Oregon, will play the winner of Tennessee and Ohio State on New Year's Day in the Rose Bowl. Two-seed Georgia will play the winner of Notre Dame and Indiana on New Year's Day in the Sugar Bowl. Three-seed Boise State will play the winner of Penn State and SMU on New Year's Eve in the Fiesta Bowl. Lastly, four-seed Arizona State will play the winner of Clemson and Texas on New Year's Day in the Peach Bowl.

This is a College Football Playoff format that we have never seen before, and it is going to be a fun one.