Irish Breakdown talks Notre Dame football in the run up to the Irish facing Indiana in the College Football Playoff

The Irish and Hoosiers are in-state neighbors, but they haven't met since 1991. Now they'll meet in the first game of the expanded Playoff.

If you didn’t know much about Notre Dame football’s opponent Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti, in the first-round of the College Football Playoff, is that he isn’t afraid the tell everyone what he thinks.

FanDuel's early point spread favors the home team, Notre Dame, on Dec. 20. The Fighting Irish are considered a 7.5-point favorite over the Hoosiers, similar to the betting line for the Ohio State vs. Tennessee game.

Notre Dame (11-1) has bounced back admirably from a brutal Week 2 loss at the hands of 7-5 MAC program Northern Illinois, winning 10 straight games to punch their ticket to the CFP Playoff. The main critique of the Irish stems from their soft 63rd ranked schedule that includes signature wins over Texas A&M,

On Tuesday, College Football Report ranked its top-12 quarterbacks of the College Football Playoff, with Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard landing as its No. 9 signal caller.

The Battle of Indiana is a hot ticket to kick off the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff, as the 10th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers visit the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend.

Face value tickets through Notre Dame sold out earlier this week. According to StubHub, the cheapest pair of tickets for sale Wednesday was $665 each. Tickets in the lower bowl were going for close to $3,000 before fees.

Indiana at Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Indiana beat Notre Dame 11-5 in their first meeting in 1898 and has been paying for it ever since. The Fighting Irish hold a 23-5-1 edge in the series, winning the last meeting in 1991, 49-27. The teams hadn't played since 1958 prior to that game with IU's last win in 1950.