As much as I'd finally like to get that home date that ND has owed us for a generation, there's a sweet spot for hosting that first round that I don't think we're going to hit.

Main job: make it to the conference championship game.

If we win the CCG, we should get a bye through the campus round.

If we lose the CCG, we might fall out of the playoff entirely. But, if we're still hanging onto a spot, it would almost certainly be in the 9-12 range, playing at the home stadium of the higher-ranked opponent.

In order to lose the CCG and still end up at the front end of the playoff standings, both B12 teams would have to be top-5 at that point. Not impossible, but seems pretty unlikely.

A playoff game at LES during the week of Christmas would certainly be an event, but I'm pretty OK with just getting a bye.