Notre Dame fans entered the weekend with stars in their eyes and visions of the coveted #5 seed in the College Football Playoff. Just about nothing that had to happen for that to transpire took place, and instead the Irish were seeded #7 (with a true rank of #5 by the committee) and matched up with Indiana in the first round, set to be played Friday night, Dec. 20 at Notre Dame Stadium. The winner will face SEC champion and No. 2 seed Georgia in the Sugar Bowl the evening of Jan. 1, with that bracket feeding into the Orange Bowl semifinal Jan. 9 prior to the Jan. 20 national championship game.

The full bracket below:

Some bracket takeaways:

All in all, not the worst path for Notre Dame

Of course we’re all looking at this bracket from a Notre Dame perspective, and…it could have been worse. Yes, the Irish could have gotten an easier draw (see a few paragraphs below), but they will open the playoff against a very good IU team that nevertheless defeated exactly one team with a winning record (Michigan), and barely escaped them at that. ND has a solid raw talent advantage over IU, and the computer folks see the game as roughly a touchdown spread in the Irish’s favor, which lines up with the Vegas opening lines. The Hoosiers struggled to move the ball against either Michigan or Ohio State, which bodes well for a matchup against an ND defense that is more comparable to those teams than any other IU opponents.

If there’s a part of the matchup that could be tricky, it’s that Hoosier coach Curt Cignetti has coached in a championship format several times as a HC and an assistant and Marcus Freeman has not – but given how adept Freeman has been for having his teams ready for the big games (even if they haven’t all ended well), how concerning is that gap, really?

Should ND earn a first-round win, Georgia in the Sugar Bowl isn’t the ideal scenario, as the Bulldogs probably have as much talent as any team in the country. That said, UGA has looked remarkably mortal for much of the season; the Bulldogs struggled to escape a Kentucky team that won one game over a power-conference opponent, got handled by Ole Miss, and were lucky to escape a home game against a Georgia Tech squad Notre Dame soundly defeated in Atlanta. This is to say nothing of the fact that Bulldog quarterback Carson Beck took a hand injury in the (now hilariously pointless in a 12-team playoff world) SEC title game and his status is unknown at the moment. Backup Gunner Stockton did enough to win but might have benefited from Texas being unprepared for his running threat. That said, Georgia’s defense is straight-up elite, and ND would have a hard time moving the ball on them. It’s likely the Irish would need a couple of game-breaking runs, impressive all-around play from the offensive line, and several clutch plays from Riley Leonard to have a chance to win.

That said, if ND somehow gets past that, none of the 3 teams that could emerge from the Penn State/SMU/Boise State triad would be, on paper, scary for the Irish if they bring home the Georgia pelt to hang on the wall.

Meanwhile, on the top half of the bracket, Ohio State, Tennessee, Oregon and Texas will all be slugging it out. That’s perfectly fine with me.

The team is reasonably healthy

Notre Dame has been crushed by injuries, by any reasonable standard, this season. However, Howard Cross (missed the USC game) and Jeremiyah Love (banged up during said game) are both going to be back for the IU game, per Marcus Freeman. (Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, however, is out indefinitely, and none of the other previously injured players will be back this season.)

ND, like IU, got what amounted to 2 bye weeks before this game, so we should be close to the best from both teams.

Penn State probably has the most enviable path, and that’s ND’s fault

I won’t pretend that anything about this is rational, but that the college football world has been forced to pretend Penn State is an elite program the past several seasons when their best accomplishments have involved losing close in mostly noncompetitive games against their best opponents has driven me and several of our writers completely nuts. So there’s something infuriatingly poetic about the Nittany Lions drawing probably the most navigable path to the finals of any team in the entire playoff –  SMU and Boise State teams PSU is on paper significantly better than, then a potentially compromised Georgia as the best possible semifinal opponent.

You can’t rule out James Franklin James Franklin-ing it up, but PSU really has no excuse not to at least reach the semifinals and probably make the finals. Let’s hope they don’t.

On that topic, I know some people do, but I have no particular arguments with Notre Dame’s seeding. I think the committee was pretty dead set against giving ND a #5 spot after that loss to NIU regardless of what else happened because it would’ve rendered the game effectively meaningless (since ND can’t get any higher in the seeding). Had the Irish been able to earn a signature win or two along the way, they would’ve had a solid argument to be ahead of either or both of Texas and Penn State despite that, but ND’s opponents didn’t hold up their end, with #22 Army serving as (by ranking) the best win. (Because I don’t think it really matters anyway, I’ll spare you my rant about us pretending #20 Illinois is good when pretty much any non-poll metric thinks they’re significantly worse than the Louisville and Texas A&M teams ND beat but are unranked.)

The first round games should be fun

I was on record as being against expanding the playoff beyond four. (BTW, who would’ve made a 4-team playoff this year? Oregon and Georgia seem obvious, then I guess you’ve got Notre Dame, Texas and Penn State in a debate battle royale for 2 open spots? Maybe IU gets involved too by virtue of being 11-1? That would’ve been quite the sight.) However, I always conceded that the actual new playoff games themselves would likely be fun, especially early. I’m optimistic these matchups will deliver the goods.

The most lopsided matchup on paper looks like Clemson @ Texas, but Dabo Swinney has come up big in huge matchups before, and Quinn Ewers frankly did not look good yesterday. He’s either hurt or he’s regressing, but he could barely move in the pocket and tossed floaters all over the stadium. If UT is going to stick with him and he’s going to play like that, I think Clemson has a puncher’s chance at an upset. SMU @ Penn State might be a bit of a slog, one of those 17-point PSU wins no one, even their fans, enjoys watching – but it’s not crazy to think the Mustangs could play with them. Tennessee/Ohio State has the makings of a banger, and you already know about ND/IU. (ESPN’s long-reported salivation over having the first ever campus playoff game be at Notre Dame came to fruition, and with one of this season’s best stories on the other side, too. It’s nice when a scrappy underdog like Disney gets their way sometimes.)

The dream is alive

All ND fans really wanted out of this season was a home playoff game and a chance. We got it. Notre Dame enters the playoff with a not-horrible draw, a lot of momentum and a team that pretty universally is thought to be a real threat. (Did you notice that a lot of media folks thought ND would or at least should be a #5 seed despite everything?)

It’s been 4 years since we had reason to think much about actual ND football games in December. It’s a fun thing to do and I could get used to it.