Notre Dame vs. Indiana: Something Must Give

Notre Dame and Indiana face off in a high-stakes CFP matchup where strengths collide, and something has to give.

Indiana's Ty Son Lawton (17) celebrates a touchdown during the Indiana versus Purdue football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame & Indiana both rank high in key statistical categories

The Irish and Hoosiers both enter this critical CFP first-round battle with some impressive 2024 regular season statistics. These teams feature offenses and defenses that rank in the top six in both points scored and given up.

On paper, these are two elite scoring teams who can defend. That's sort of what you're supposed to do.

Both teams can boast about outrageously impressive winning margins throughout the season and finished with identical 11-1 records albeit from differing journeys, one through the Big Ten and one via the independent path.

Both of these teams have earned their way into the CFP field and have reason to feel confident. Something's gotta give here. One of these teams is about to find out it isn't as good as it thought it was.

We're ready for an electric first round of the CFP with DOUBLE the GameDay shows 🍿

📍 First stop: @IndianaFootball at @NDFootball | Dec. 20 at 3:30 PM ET
📍 Second stop: @Vol_Football at @OhioStateFB | Dec. 21 at 9 AM ET

SEE YOU THERE 👏 pic.twitter.com/7oNXTrM1y1

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 11, 2024

At this point, does SOS even matter?

One of the big knocks on both Notre Dame and Indiana is that their impressive records and statistics have been compiled against less-than-stellar competition for much of the season with neither team boasting a strength-of-schedule resume that reads like a murderer's row of college football elites.

Many calculations have both the Hoosiers and Irish SOS rankings in the 50s or lower.

While I understand for betting, and also for more genuine fanhood reasons that it's interesting to debate strength of schedule and statistical rankings vs the competition, does any of this really matter at this point?

Every team in the field is now seeded and situated where it's going to be. Every team in the field is 0-0 and has no compiled statistics. All that matters now is what comes next.

For more Irish news & notes follow John on Twitter @alwaysirishINC, Always Irish on Youtube and or your preferred audio podcast provider.

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