How is this CFP first-round game just another game for Notre Dame football? | Noie

SOUTH BEND − Welcome to their world.

We’re hours out from witnessing college football history. It’s really happening. Soon. The sport’s first 12-team elimination playoff starts Friday (8 p.m., ESPN/ABC) when No. 7 seed Notre Dame (11-1) hosts No. 10 Indiana (11-1) in what promises to be a very cold and possibly very snowy Notre Dame Stadium. Three more games follow on Saturday. Each carries the same high-leverage scenario for every participating team.

Win or that’s it.

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Playoff football carries a different level of pressure not present on those picturesque fall Saturdays. A finality waits in the wings. The end. It’s enough to make even the coolest of customers just a little (OK, a lot) uncomfortable. Get used to it Oregon and Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana. Get comfortable being uncomfortable Clemson and SMU and Georgia and Tennessee and Texas. You too, Arizona State and Boise State. Nowhere left to hide.

Execute and excel or get exposed.

Then there’s Notre Dame.

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The Irish know this drill. They’ve done this dance for 104 straight days and counting. When Notre Dame lost at home to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7, it eliminated any margin of error the rest of the regular season. There was no conference championship game Notre Dame could point to. No prime-time showdown against a highly ranked opponent to win back what was lost against NIU.

There was nothing. No leeway. No safety net. Want to make it to the College Football Playoff? Win out. Every week. Against everyone. Now it’s win or go home? Notre Dame has been in that mode for months. For the Irish, it was win or stay home.

This postseason is an extension of the regular…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/cfp-first-round-game-just-090243776.html

Author : South Bend Tribune

Publish date : 2024-12-19 09:02:00

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