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Notre Dame-IU could be interesting. Both teams lack quality wins. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois in South Bend. IU lost to Ohio State in Columbus with two uncharacteristic special teams breakdowns ballooning the margin. Notre Dame has given up a lot of points to second tier teams.

Indiana is obviously vulnerable to a good pass rush. Ohio State blitzed them to death, which of course means Ohio State’s defensive backs were fast enough to play man. IU’s receivers are tough and usually sure handed, but they don’t have breakaway speed and rarely get big yards after the catch. The good news for IU is that Ohio State had to blitz to get pressure (as did Michigan the game before). The bad news is that IU didn’t have the speed to burn a gambling defense.

I don’t know how Notre Dame stacks up there.

I got tired of all the “IU hasn’t played anybody” chatter. That was true, but .... IU’s non-conference schedule was weak, as befits IU’s historical status. But then they went into Big XX play, and the Big XX was weird this year. Michigan State, Northwestern, Iowa, Wisconsin and Purdue all went walkabout. But IU still played and beat Michigan, the defending national champion, and Washington, last year’s tournament runner up. But both Michigan and Washington picked this year to slip, leaving IU with a soft conference schedule, playing Ohio State but missing Oregon and Penn State. Weird year.

I don’t give either Notre Dame or IU much of a chance in the semifinal.