SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One week from today, Notre Dame will host the first home game in the College Football Playoff era. You’ve got questions about that. And you’ve got questions about transfers and the Irish defense. But mostly, you want to talk CFP. And who can blame you?
Let’s get started.
(Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Historically, Notre Dame has had trouble keeping its home stadium blue and gold for games of this caliber. Ohio State last year was a major improvement, but playing an in-state opponent having its best season ever in a playoff game seems like an even harder test. What, if anything, can Notre Dame do to mitigate the problem? – Josh B.
Some of the mechanisms Notre Dame used for the Ohio State game are in play here, mainly that College Football Playoff tickets never went to market. Anecdotally from the stories I’ve heard from fans who did win in the lottery, they seem to be $1,500 donors and up. Or they went to season ticket holders, which makes the CFP access by far the biggest perk of having a season ticket to Notre Dame Stadium. So, those are the basics.
But the biggest methodology Notre Dame can use here is there’s no historical comparison for this game. Will there be more Indiana fans in the stadium than if Notre Dame was hosting SMU or Clemson or Tennessee? Of course. The Hoosiers’ season and the proximity to South Bend makes that a sure thing. There will probably be a few Indiana fans in the Notre Dame student section considering the crossover between schools. Still, we’re talking about a first in Notre Dame football history at a place that doesn’t do a lot of firsts. And the fan base seems to have latched onto that based on the ticket prices on the secondary market. They’re running double or triple the other first round games.
It’s also worth comparing the Notre Dame teams that had “red invasion” games. The Notre Dame team that lost to Nebraska in overtime early in 2000 was coming off a 5-7 season when the fan base had basically quit on Bob Davie. The Notre Dame team that lost to Georgia in 2017 was coming off a 4-8 season as the fan base began to turn on Brian Kelly. And the Notre Dame team that lost to Cincinnati was a tough watch in every way.
This Notre Dame team is 11-1 and has won 10 straight.
If playing the first home playoff game in the new 12-team era with a team the fan base seems to fully support doesn’t get people to not sell their tickets, nothing will. Because in the end, that’s the only fail-safe approach to keeping the red out.
It’s on the individual fans, not the university itself.
As of Friday morning, there are more than four times the ticket listings for Tennessee at Ohio State (4,400+) on SeatGeek as Indiana at Notre Dame (1,000+). SMU at Penn State is 4,000+ and Clemson at Texas is 3,000+ in terms of ticket listings for sale on SeatGeek.
Hypothetically, let’s assume all 1,000 of those ticket listings for Indiana at Notre Dame are blocks of four tickets. And that Hoosiers’ fans buy all 4,000 of those tickets to go with their 3,500 allotment. That’s a roughly 90/10 split of Notre Dame/Indiana fans. Hardly a sea of red.
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Please reflect on the USC passing game torching Notre Dame’s defense. Was it Christian Gray or the scheme? Also do you think the answer was the lack of quarterback pressure? – Peter M.
All of the above?
At first glance, you’d probably be surprised by Notre Dame posting 25 total pressures against USC, which is a combination of sacks (one), hits (six) and hurries (18). Only the total against Louisville was better. Then again, Jayden Maiava threw it 48 times, a season-high against Notre Dame and well above the average of Notre Dame’s other seven Power 4 opponents (30.4 pass attempts per game). A Lincoln Riley offense throwing the ball that much is going to generate yardage and he put Al Golden on schematic skates much of the game.
As much as Golden beat Riley on the headsets last year with a scheme Caleb Williams had never seen, Riley got the better of Golden this time around. And Notre Dame had yet to be tested like that by another opponent all season, expect for Louisville. The rest of the quarterbacks on Notre Dame’s schedule have been poor, backups or both. Maiava was a backup, but he played like good Caleb Williams against Notre Dame.
Yes, Gray was poor during the middle two quarters of the game. But USC got Notre Dame in some bad looks, evidenced by the amount of regular panic in the Irish defense pre-snap. All those adjustments made the secondary look a step slow. This was obvious on USC’s touchdown just before halftime when Rod Heard was late cutting off an inside route and Maiava had two wide open receivers to choose. That’s on top of USC having the best group of receivers Notre Dame had faced all season.
Of course, Notre Dame’s secondary ended the game with two pick-sixes in the fourth quarter. On the first, Maiava tried another back shoulder throw that Gray read perfectly. On the second, Golden brought pressure up the middle and Jack Kiser made Maiava throw it early, which Xavier Watts picked off.
It was the first losing performance by Notre Dame’s defense in nearly two years, at least until the two interceptions. Could Indiana try to hit Notre Dame with back shoulder fades? That’s already part of its offense. Considering the Irish still have the nation’s No. 1 pass efficiency defense, betting on Golden to figure it out feels safe.
Another reader had a question if Notre Dame’s secondary is overrated considering Louisville and USC accounted for six of the nine touchdown passes the Irish allowed all season. It’s a fair point. But maybe that means the Irish secondary is merely very good opposed to the ’85 Bears. You can still win a lot of games that way.
In past years you seemed to have a decent read on which prominent transfers the Irish might be targeting. Got any names to watch this offseason? – Scott W.
Riley Leonard announced his commitment to Notre Dame a year ago yesterday, on Dec. 12. But when your key transfer target is hurt and you’re playing in the Sun Bowl, it’s a little bit easier to spin it forward to next season. When you’re playing the CFP, obviously not. The Irish haven’t had a healthy play enter the portal yet either, a big difference from last season when Notre Dame was posting a “Love Thee” message on social media almost daily.
While he’s not in the portal yet, the most interesting player is Malachi Fields from Virginia. Notre Dame doesn’t have a 6-foot-4, 220-pound perimeter threat at wide out minus Beaux Collins and Deion Colzie, and Fields is far superior to both in college production. Fields posted three 100-yard games last season, which is three more than Notre Dame’s entire receiver room had this year. He even put up four catches for 81 yards against the Irish. Fields could try to go pro or develop another year in college with a superior quarterback (and strong NIL package).
Another name to track is tight end Max Klare from Purdue, who led the Boilermakers with 46 catches for 649 yards and four touchdowns last season. He’s visiting Texas this weekend and has picked up some interest from Ohio State. He’s also a product of St. Xavier in Cincinnati, which has been fertile recruiting ground for Notre Dame.
It’s harder to name names beyond those two, but expect the Irish to take multiple receivers, a safety, a kicker, a tight end and some combination of defensive linemen with multiple additions at defensive tackle. Notre Dame has been working on potential transfers for weeks, even if there hasn’t been much public movement on it. There probably won’t be before the Indiana game kicks off.
Will playing on a different TV network for the first time in 30+ years change anything about the game day experience either logistically (e.g., timing of the band / pregame stuff) or aesthetically (e.g., what they put up on the scoreboard / piped in music). Figured NBC gives the university some grace to dictate their own terms. Also, this game is an opportunity to grab the attention of a home environment for individuals that don’t usually tune in. Or is it as easy as put your cameras here and shoot? – John C.
This may feel like less of a home game than a traditional home game. Notre Dame will have its traditional entrance music … but so will Indiana. That’s not something that happens for traditional home games. The College Football Playoff and ESPN/ABC will have signage up in the stadium, not NBC and Peacock.
Notre Dame hasn’t publicly said much about what’s allowed and what’s not on the video board, but I’d expect it to feel more like a bowl game than your standard Saturday afternoon in South Bend with calls to mass and some of the kitschy stuff that pops on the video board. I’m not entirely sure if Notre Dame can play its typical third down music when Indiana is on the field.
Whatever home field advantage Notre Dame has will have to be organic, not digitally manufactured.
As for the television broadcast, ABC will have sideline reporters for both teams, plus Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy in the booth. The broadcast itself might not have as much Notre Dame scenery as the typical NBC broadcast, but the typical NBC broadcast isn’t a Top 10 matchup or a historical first in the sport. We probably don’t need as many shots of the band of the grotto for this one. Then again, College GameDay will be broadcasting from campus.
Do you think a CFP win over Indiana would start to shut down the narrative that Notre Dame can’t win the big games anymore? Or will we have to wait until after they beat Georgia? – Scott S.
Would beating Georgia do more for Notre Dame’s national reputation than beating Indiana?
Yes, that’s a sentence I just wrote. What a sport!
Beating Indiana won’t move the needle for Notre Dame’s national profile much, which seems reasonable considering we’re talking about a basketball school with no history of football success. Plus, the game is in South Bend, where Notre Dame wins plenty. But beating Georgia in a major bowl game, which Notre Dame has not won in 31 years? Yeah, that would change a few hearts and minds.
My unsolicited advice? Don’t worry too much about national perception next weekend. Although you’ve probably started looking around at how national media has filled in their CFP brackets and been surprised to see Notre Dame in plenty of national championship games. Even with all the injuries, this still feels like Notre Dame’s most honest shot to make a postseason run since the CFP began. And if the Irish do that, they’ll be viewed plenty differently.
I was initially disappointed the Irish didn’t get seeded higher. Upon reflection, a winnable game against Indiana at home, a Georgia team that might be down their starting QB, then either Boise State, Penn State or SMU on the path to the championship game. We can’t hope for better than this going forward. Can we? – Andrew R.
See? Andrew agrees with me. The real playoff run is the friends we made along the way.
Yes, this CFP draw is one Notre Dame might not get again considering the saber rattling about changing the format moving forward where conference champions aren’t protected with byes and the field is seeded by ranking. If that was the case, Notre Dame would be the No. 5 opening at home against Clemson, then have to play Penn State (the Nittany Lions would have a bye) before facing Oregon (which would have played the winner of Indiana-Boise State in the quarterfinals).
The seeding change feels more like a matter of when than if, which makes sense. It’s fine giving conference champions automatic bids, but making those automatic byes has made the bracket top heavy in Notre Dame’s favor … and made the path for No. 1 Oregon the hardest among the teams with byes.
Obviously, you’re not going to get a heavyweight in the second round most years that’s probably down its starting quarterback. But no need to apologize for any of that. Just win the games and take advantage. This kind of opportunity might not come around again.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
