The college football season is coming to a close, and now the bowl game matchups have been set. Lots of changes in college football have made this season very different, including the rapidly developing NIL process, new conference alignments, and the expanded college football playoff. Indiana University and University of Notre Dame face each other in the first round of the playoff bracket, which includes twelve teams, on Friday, December 20 at Notre Dame Stadium. Five conference champions receive automatic bids into the bracket, and four of them also receive a first round-bye. The other seven teams are decided simply by how the selection committee ranks the seven next best teams. Notre Dame is independent, and therefore would have to reach the playoffs simply by being ranked high enough. IU plays in the Big Ten Conference, which has changed drastically this season. So how did we get here?
Notre Dame had a very easy schedule to face, with a challenge here or there, but nothing like the schedules of the big conferences. In order to get into the playoffs, all Notre Dame had to do was win all their easy games. If Notre Dame lost, they would need to do well enough in other games to prove they should be in. Notre Dame faced an embarrassing loss in the second week to Northern Illinois University. This set Notre Dame back and immediately made everyone doubt that they were a playoff caliber team. However, Notre Dame won the next nine games (including impressive wins against Navy and Army) which earned them a number five ranking, according to the college football playoff committee, and got them into the playoff.
Indiana went on an absolute tear to start the season. IU also had a pretty easy schedule, which was a combination of easy conference games and the weakest non-conference schedule I have ever seen. The Hoosiers were undefeated through most of the season and had some thinking they could go undefeated. They ran up the score many times against easy teams, but lost to Ohio State by a score of 38-15. They couldn’t get into their conference championship game, since Penn State and Oregon took the two spots for the game. Oregon and three other west coast schools joined the Big 10 Conference, making the conference span across the country and ruining the east and west divisions of the conference. Oregon, who has been a powerhouse in previous years, won the conference in their first year being a part of it, to the dismay of all the real Big 10 schools. However, three other Big 10 schools (Penn State, Ohio State, and IU) all made it into the playoff. IU fortunately had an impressive enough season to be ranked eighth, and was placed in the bracket against Notre Dame.
The two teams from Indiana are facing each other to advance to the Sugar Bowl against Georgia on New Year’s Day. The college football playoff features quite a few respectable bowl games, with the first round featuring the Sugar, Fiesta, Rose, and Peach Bowls. The semifinalists play in the Orange Bowl and the Cotton Bowl. Getting into the playoff guarantees that your school doesn’t get put in some throwaway bowl game, such as the Reliaquest bowl. While Alabama still gets to play Michigan in that game, getting into the playoff would have landed them a spot in a much more exciting bowl game. This year is an incredible opportunity for both coaches to prove that their program is legit, but a first round loss will hurt the program for the future.
