I’m very excited about this game but I’m curious about how much interest there is around the country and with casual fans. Obviously it’s huge in Indiana. I spent my adolescence in northern Indiana about 30 miles from South Bend so I learned to hate Notre Dame, and Notre Dame fans, at an early age. I’m a Big Ten fan and I’ve been following (and profiting from) the Hoosiers’ history-making journey all season long. It’s complicated because my feelings about ND have softened since former Buckeye Marcus Freeman took over the coaching job.
I have a lot of reasons to be interested in the game. Obviously the Fighting Irish have a huge national fanbase. The Hoosiers don’t. My assumption is that this game doesn’t seem all that sexy to the casual fan. But I don’t know. Is this something people are looking forward to or is it something they might watch just because it’s on, otherwise most people just assume that naturally ND will crush IU and they’re waiting to see what happens in the games tomorrow?