Notre Dame giving rally towel to fans at College Football Playoff game

You’ll get this if you go.

Whenever a sports team plays a particularly important game, usually in the playoffs, it likes to give fans something at the gate. The idea is to encourage those fans to use that item while making more noise that they might at a game with lower stakes.

Notre Dame is taking advantage of hosting a first-round College Football Playoff game by presenting its own free giveaway to fans who will witness the Irish play Indiana at Notre Dame Stadium. Those fans will receive a rally towel with a print appropriate for the game and what’s at stake.

It’s hard to know how often the Irish will get to host one of these games in the future. Therefore, they know it’s up to them to pull out all the stops to make sure it’s as unforgiving an environment to the Hoosiers and their fans as possible. Here’s the video that unveiled the towel:

This will be a collector’s item for certain, but only those attending the game are guaranteed to have one.

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Notre Dame releases hype video for College Football Playoff game

Get yourself excited by watching this.

The first-round College Football Playoff game between Notre Dame and Indiana will be unlike anything Notre Dame Stadium has ever seen. For the first time officially, the Irish will be playing for their season, and it will be happening in December. That means a cold setting for football, but one that the sellout crowd is expected to fully embrace.

To that end, the Irish have released a hype video for the game narrated by 2015 Butkus Award winner and former linebacker [autotag]Jaylon Smith[/autotag]. It really leans into the idea that snow could fall during the game, but the crowd will make a lot of noise regardless.

As of this writing, the AccuWeather forecast calls for clouds with possible snow showers during the game. It also specifically says the weather will be “seasonably chilly for the playoff game”. You know a game is big when even an official weather forecast is mentioning it:

Regardless of whether it snows, it’s advisable to bundle up. More importantly though, the Irish need to hear their fans’ support in this high-stakes contest.

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‘College GameDay’ coming to Notre Dame for College Football Playoff

Get ready to reserve your place in the crowd.

ESPN and ABC will broadcast the first-round College Football Playoff game between Notre Dame and Indiana. And “College GameDay” wants to be in South Bend before it kicks off.

The popular college football program has announced that Notre Dame will be one of two stops it will make during that weekend. It also will be at Ohio State before it plays Tennessee the following day.

This will be the 37th time the Irish have been featured on “College GameDay” and the second time this season after they were featured ahead of their season-opening victory over Texas A&M. They currently have an unfortunate 16-20 all-time record in those games so far.

“College GameDay” last came to South Bend a season ago. That was before the Irish infamously had only 10 men on the field on the play that caused them to lose in gut-wrenching fashion to Ohio State. Hopefully, the Irish fans who gather on the Library Lawn this time around will be a lot happier after this upcoming appearance.

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Notre Dame defensive coordinator makes final cut for Broyles Award

Way to go, Al!

Notre Dame wouldn’t have made the College Football Playoff without its defense. That wouldn’t be possible without a solid defensive coordinator in [autotag]Al Golden[/autotag].

The Irish bet big on Golden by signing him to a four-year contract extension in the offseason. Golden has rewarded their faith and then some.

Now, Golden could be recognized nationally for his work as he has been named one of five finalists for the Broyles Award, which is given to the best assistant coach in college football. The winner will be announced at a ceremony Feb. 13.

Broyles fellow finalists also helped their teams make the playoff. Arizona State’s Marcus Arroyo is the only offensive coordinator who made the cut. The rest, all defensive coordinators, are Indiana’s Bryant Haines, Tennessee’s Tim Banks and Texas’ Pete Kwiatkowski.

Golden would be the second Irish assistant coach to win this award, joining [autotag]Bob Diaco[/autotag] in 2012. Let’s hope that comes to pass.

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How to buy No. 7 Notre Dame vs No. 10 Indiana College Football Playoff tickets

Whether you’re a fan of Notre Dame, Indiana, or just college football, get your College Football Playoff tickets now.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Indiana Hoosiers are headed to the 2024-25 College Football Playoff.

The Fighting Irish were selected to be the No. 7 seed and will host the No. 10 seeded Hoosiers in South Bend at 8 p.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 20.

Tickets for the game are already available. At the time of publication, the cheapest available tickets for the College Football Playoff first-round matchup between Notre Dame and Indiana cost $732.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Notre Dame vs Indiana CFP tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/y8kJEge/”]

Notre Dame ended its season on a 10-game win streak and have scored at least 30 points in every game since September.

Indiana lost the biggest game of its season against Ohio State, but the Hoosiers are 11-1 for a reason and should be a considered a threat not only to win this game but make a deep run in the tournament.

Get your Notre Dame vs. Indiana College Football Playoff tickets now.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Notre Dame vs Indiana CFP tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/y8kJEge/”]

How to buy No. 7 Notre Dame vs No. 10 Indiana College Football Playoff tickets

Whether you’re a fan of Notre Dame, Indiana, or just college football, get your College Football Playoff tickets now.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Indiana Hoosiers are headed to the 2024-25 College Football Playoff.

The Fighting Irish were selected to be the No. 7 seed and will host the No. 10 seeded Hoosiers in South Bend at 8 p.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 20.

Tickets for the game are already available. At the time of publication, the cheapest available tickets for the College Football Playoff first-round matchup between Notre Dame and Indiana cost $732.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Notre Dame vs Indiana CFP tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/y8kJEge/”]

Notre Dame ended its season on a 10-game win streak and have scored at least 30 points in every game since September.

Indiana lost the biggest game of its season against Ohio State, but the Hoosiers are 11-1 for a reason and should be a considered a threat not only to win this game but make a deep run in the tournament.

Get your Notre Dame vs. Indiana College Football Playoff tickets now.

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Notre Dame vs Indiana CFP tickets” link=”https://stubhub.prf.hn/l/y8kJEge/”]

Four Big Ten teams, Wisconsin’s upcoming opponent lead Week 11 College Football Playoff rankings

Four Big Ten teams, Wisconsin’s upcoming opponent lead Week 11 College Football Playoff rankings

Four Big Ten teams land in the top five of the latest College Football Playoff rankings after Week 11 of the 2024 season.

The Oregon Ducks (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) lead the way at No. 1, followed by Ohio State (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) at No. 2, Penn State (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) at No. 4 and Indiana (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) at No. 5.

The Ducks, who are currently favored to capture the Big Ten title, will grab the No. 1 seed in the projected bracket based on those rankings. Ohio State is down at No. 5 as the top at-large team, while Penn State and Indiana are at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively.

The updated 12-team bracket gives first-round byes to the four highest-ranked conference champions. The No. 5 seed plays No. 12, No. 6 plays No. 11, and so on — all first-round games on the campus of the higher-ranked team.

Once the field is cut to eight teams, the participants populate top bowl matchups including the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Cotton Bowl.

Wisconsin is obviously far from contention with a 5-4 record through nine games. The Badgers have lost to several projected playoff participants — No. 10 Alabama and No. 4 Penn State. Most significantly, the team hosts No. 1 Oregon at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.

The Badgers will be looking for their first win over an AP (and CFP) No. 1-ranked team since they defeated No. 1 Ohio State in 2010. A win would shake-up the national landscape with little time remaining before the conclusion of the regular season.

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Indiana defeats Tennessee in top 25 charity basketball exhibition

Indiana defeats the Vols at Food City Center in a top 25 charity exhibition basketball game.

A top 25 college basketball game was contested on Saturday at Food City Center. No. 18 Indiana defeated No. 12 Tennessee, 66-62, in a charity exhibition game.

Rankings reflect the preseason USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll.

For exhibition games between two Division I teams, the NCAA mandates that the host school must sell tickets and donate proceeds to a designated charity. The Vols and Hoosiers agreed to support the John McLendon Foundation.

Tennessee led at halftime, 26-25, against the Hoosiers. The game had three lead changes and was tied on four occasions.

Zakai Zeigler led Tennessee with 13 points. Jordan Gainey (12) and Chaz Lanier (10) also scored double-figures for the Vols.

Igor Milicic Jr. was Tennessee’s leading rebounder (8), while Zeigler led the Vols with eight assists.

Indiana forward Malik Reneau led all scorers with 21 points.

Terry Oglesby, Pat Adams and Jeb Hartness were game officials.

Tennessee will tip off its 2024-25 basketball season on Nov. 4 versus Gardner-Webb at Food City Center (7 p.m. EST, SEC Network+).

Is ESPN College GameDay coming to Wisconsin vs. Penn State in Week 9?

Is ESPN College GameDay coming to Wisconsin vs. No. 3 Penn State in Week 9?

The Wisconsin Badgers (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) exit Week 8 winners of three consecutive games — 52-6 over Purdue, 42-7 over Rutgers and a 23-3 triumph over Northwestern.

They return home to host No. 3 Penn State (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) in Week 9. The game, which is a primetime national broadcast on NBC, has quickly become one of the biggest of the sport’s Week 9 schedule.

Related: Big Ten Power Rankings after Week 8: Wisconsin makes a charge

Other notable matchups include Nebraska at No. 4 Ohio State, No. 12 Notre Dame at No. 24 Navy, No. 20 Illinois at No. 1 Oregon, No. 21 Missouri at No. 16 Alabama, No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Vanderbilt and No. 8 LSU at No. 14 Texas A&M.

College GameDay will not be visiting any of the listed matchups. It also won’t be in Madison, Wisconsin for the Badgers’ big game against the Nittany Lions.

GameDay announced on Sunday that it would be traveling to Bloomington, Indiana for No. 13 Indiana (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) against Washington (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten).

Indiana enters off a statement 56-7 victory over Nebraska. Starting QB Kurtis Rourke was injured during the win, and is now expected to miss the Washington game. But that storyline won’t overshadow Indiana becoming the talk of the college football world.

Head coach Curt Cignetti has the Hoosiers on the doorstep of College Football Playoff contention in only his first season on the job — that after taking over a program that went 3-9 in the final year under Tom Allen in 2023.

Wisconsin could potentially host GameDay in mid-November when No. 1 Oregon comes to town. The Badgers would need a win over Penn State or Iowa, or both, in order to generate sufficient hype before the matchup.

For now, the Badgers are still a step away from the national spotlight.

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Vols are one of four FBS teams not to trail in 2024

Tennessee is one of four FBS schools that has not trailed in a game during the 2024 college football season.

No. 4 Tennessee (4-0, 1-0 SEC) returns from an open date in Week 6 on Saturday. Rankings reflect the US LBM Coaches Poll.

Arkansas (3-2, 1-1 SEC) will host the Vols at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EDT.

The Southeastern Conference matchup will be televised by ABC with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe on the call.

Tennessee enters the contest as one of four FBS teams not to trail this season, along with Texas, Indiana and Army. The Vols have not trailed in 24 consecutive quarters dating back to last season’s regular-season finale against Vanderbilt.

The last time Tennessee trailed in a game was against Georgia on Nov. 18, 2023.

READ: Updated SEC football power rankings after Week 5

Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire