“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.

The Irish have looked like one of the two or three best teams in the country for 11 of their 12 games this season. They stomped t

Notre Dame needed to claim a No. 8 seed or higher to host a first-round game at Notre Dame Stadium, where they are 14-4 in the past three seasons under Freeman. Those losses have come by a combined 12 points, but they include stumbles against heavy underdogs Marshall, Stanford and NIU.