SOUTH BEND, Ind. — There’s a lot wrong with college football.
You’ve heard the complaints, complaints, complaints. Transfer portal and NIL. Unfair resource disparity and unregulated compensation system.
There are many things to complain about, serious problems that need to be investigated, and problems that need to be resolved.
But Friday night was nothing like that.
From snow-covered northern Indiana to packed 94-year-old stadiums in frigid temperatures, college football’s off-field engine continues to rev up, bringing epic history to millions of people across the country. I did. campus playoff game.
wonderful. wonderful. wonderful.
A roaring crowd. marching band. college kids.
golden dome. Touchdown Jesus. Linebacker lounge.
In the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff game, seventh-seeded Notre Dame defeated 10th-seeded Indiana 27-17 in the middle of a packed campus and in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Let’s record it. .
This is the college football postseason. This is where college football lives and thrives. It was born on this vast campus as an extracurricular activity (yes, it’s true) for students in the athletic club. And just because the sport’s popularity has made it a multibillion-dollar business, or because federal judges and state legislatures are trying to turn the sport into a more professional organization, college football offers That doesn’t mean you should lose your university, which is the greatest gift it can give you.
The name means crying out loud. College football on college campus in college football playoff game. What a novel idea!
Notre Dame even moved its final exams up a day so students could have a productive Thursday night and Friday afternoon before the big game. they obliged. I witnessed much of it, drinking $7, 32-ounce Bud Lights at the city’s famous Linebacker Lounge.
This place was busy even though it was freezing.
At 7 a.m. Friday, 13 hours before kickoff, dozens of vehicles lined up to enter campus. By noon, the tailgating drivers had set up their tents. They smoked marinated meat and drank Miller High Life. They high-fived, hugged bears and hugged each other for warmth.
Inside the school’s basketball stadium, athletic director Pete Bevacqua gestured from his office window as fans paraded through the snow. Perhaps he half-jokingly suggested that it wasn’t so bad that Notre Dame would not be eligible for a first-round bye as an independent team in this playoff format.
“We’ll win the home game,” he said with a smile.
This one. This is what it is about. This is great.
we’ve never seen it before. It’s a real college football postseason clash on a college campus. How many years have I wasted? How many seasons have passed already? We could have done this sooner.
The NFL, its grand stadiums, major cities, and subways have nothing to say about this. Sure, the Irish and Hoosiers produced plenty of duds on the field. The highlight was running back Jeremiah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. But the atmosphere, the winter weather, all the glitz, that’s just the place.
And three more will be added on Saturday! First up is State College, where wind chills are expected to drop into the low teens for the Penn State vs. SMU game. And in Austin, under sunny skies, the SEC rookie Longhorns will face off against ACC power Clemson. And finally, it’s Columbus, where Big Ten and SEC powerhouses meet in 20-degree weather in Ohio State vs. Tennessee.
Perhaps they will put on a more exciting show.
The Irish did the same thing against Indiana that Ohio State did last month. He used a combination of coverage and pressure to suffocate the Hoosiers’ powerful offense. They wobbled quarterback Curtis Rourke and held him to fewer than 180 passing yards. They made IU look like a bunch of Group 5 guys who meandered through the easiest path of any playoff team.
Their coach also seemed out of his usual element. It was a bold, brash, and somewhat arcane game plan by Curt Cinetti, the loud-mouthed man he’s coached all season. It’s not Friday. Run third-and-long? A fair catch kickoff? Punt near midfield in the 4th quarter and down 17 points?
Notre Dame didn’t allow a touchdown until 87 seconds left, crushing the Hoosiers’ magical run. The Irish capped Cininetti’s stellar first season, winning 11 straight since a blowout loss at home to Northern Illinois. They hurt and defeated their in-state rival in a completely unexpected matchup between two schools three hours apart who hadn’t played since 1991.
They did it all in front of a crazed crowd, and despite a boring blowout loss, most of the crowd stayed until the painful, cold end (Notre Dame held leads of 20-3 and 27-3 at the half). Ta).
“I’ve never been in an environment like that,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said.
The jumbotron displayed the antics typical of home games. A singing gerbil wearing a leprechaun hat once captivated the crowd. A priest with a microphone, yes, a priest, belted out “Mo Bamba.” And Jerome Bettis, Bass! — Inspired the fans with his on-field speech at halftime.
All of this led one athletic director to publicly wonder why his team in the playoffs doesn’t get a chance to host a game.
“So happy to be able to watch this Notre Dame game from home,” Boise State athletic director Jeramiah Dickey tweeted. “The game at BLUE is going to be elite.”
Indeed, it will be.
However, the quarterfinals will not be played at on-campus venues, but at bowl venues in major cities, three of which will be held at indoor stadiums. The same goes for the semifinals.
In a world with so many opt-outs and coaching changes, the future of bowl structure remains a topic of uncertainty and uncertainty. But what will the venues for future playoff games be? This weekend might show us that they belong on campus.
However, it’s not that simple. University leaders face a delicate balance. Of course there is history and tradition that must be preserved. Bowl games are one of the hallmarks of the industry, the fabric of college football’s tightly knit sweater.
When college football was struggling financially (and it was at one point), it was bowl games that provided the platform and the finances. They should not be pushed aside.
The 10 FBS conferences have signed agreements with six bowl games for the future of the CFP, which runs through the 2031 playoffs. However, these contracts have not yet been finalized or signed beyond the 2025 playoffs. A change to the playoff format is on the horizon, but shouldn’t there also be a change on the horizon for the playoff venue?
A shirtless student shivering from the cold? A campus covered in snow? 7 dollar beer? This is the place.
“It’s crazy,” Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard said as he looked around the stadium. “A special place.”
History was made here. we always remember that.
It was the unlikely culmination of a nearly 50-year effort to host a multiple-round College Football Playoff in an industry where the postseason has been dominated by bowl structures and limited by academic calendars.
At least five times since 1976, college football and NCAA leaders have failed to approve such an expanded playoff. Since this particular format was introduced, it has taken one of the format’s leading architects over three years to realize this stunning campus spectacle. Former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who retired this spring, attended his first Irish game this season and watched a dream come true before his eyes.
He was part of the four-member committee that created the format in 2021 and was integral to key compromises in the proposal. He agreed to a deal that excluded Notre Dame from first-round bye eligibility. This is a tradeoff for the school not having to compete in the conference championship game as an independent school.
What is this year’s award? The home game is expected to have a $40 million economic impact on the South Bend area. And it snowed too. A snowstorm began falling Thursday night, the night before the game, coating the school campus in a layer of white.
Fans in big coats, ski caps and wool mittens poured into Notre Dame Stadium when the gates opened 90 minutes before kickoff. Nearly every seat was filled in time for venue announcer Chris Ackles to chime in, “Welcome to Notre Dame Stadium.” “And welcome to the College Football Playoff!”
As kickoff approached, the temperature dropped to below freezing. The temperature at the start was 27 degrees with a windchill of 19 degrees.
That didn’t matter to the Golden Domers. More than 77,000 people arrived here when ticket prices were announced two weeks ago, even as ticket prices soared into four digits.
The weather is getting warmer now. The Irish (12-1) beat defending SEC champion Georgia (11-2) in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, where they will likely play without their starting QB. The quarter-final matches will kick off on the evening of New Year’s Day. It takes place in a closed, temperature-controlled environment in a large metropolitan area, miles from the participants’ campus.
