The college football season is finally upon us. Here’s 5 things to know about the state of Indiana’s teams before the season begins.

Notre Dame

The Fighting Irish are ranked 9^th to start the 2019 college football season and will be a real contender to make the college football playoff.
Notre Dame has the final game of the first weekend of college football, playing their opener in Louisville against the Cardinals on Monday night.
#3 Georgia, #7 Michigan, and #25 Stanford are the three ranked opponents on the schedule to start the season. All 3 games are on the road.
Senior Ian Book will be under center for Notre Dame. Last year he threw for over 2,600 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Head coach Brian Kelly said, “One of our themes this year is we have to be road warriors”. The Irish start and end their season on the road. Notre Dame toughest games of the year all on the road. Check out their full here.

Indiana

Indiana starts their season at Lucas Oil Stadium for a game against in-state rival Ball State.
The East division will be tough again this year. Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State are all ranked to begin the season.
Indiana is scheduled to play five ranked teams to start the season. Two at home against #7 Michigan and #5 Ohio State. The other three are on the road against #18 Michigan State, #24 Nebraska, and #15 Penn State. Check out their full schedule here.
Head coach Tom Allen announced that Michael Penix Jr. will be starting at quarterback for the Hoosiers. Penix is a redshirt-freshman who beat out last year’s starter Peyton Ramsey who had the job for the last two years.
Kicker Nate Snyder earned a scholarship and former Colts punter Pat McAfee helped out with the announcement. Check it out here.

Purdue kicks off their season with a Friday night game on the road against Nevada.
Purdue is scheduled to play four ranked teams to start the season. Three on the road against #15 Penn State, #20 Iowa and #19 Wisconsin. Their lone home game against a ranked opponent is against #24 Nebraska. Check out their full schedule here
Last year Purdue finished 3rd in the Big Ten West. The Boilermakers could be one of the top teams in the Big Ten’s West division again, but the division does seem to be a little tougher this year with Iowa and Nebraska both being ranked to start the season.
Preseason All-American Rondale Moore returns for his sophomore year and he is a must watch whenever the Boilermakers plays. Last year he had 1,471 yards of total offense (113.2 per game) and 14 total touchdowns. He also led the nation 114 catches last year.
Purdue will try to make it three bowl games in a row after competing in the Foster Farms Bowl in 2017 and the Music City Bowl in 2018.

Ball State starts their season with a neutral site game at Lucas Oil Stadium against IU.
Ball State will play two games that aren’t on a Saturday this year. Tuesday November 5 at Western Michigan and Friday November 29 against Miami (OH). Check out their full schedule here
Notre Dame was the only ranked opponent the Cardinals faced last year, and they currently do not have any scheduled for the 2019 season.
Ball State looks to bounce back after a tough season last year where they finished 5th in the MAC’s West division and had a final overall record of 4-8.
Mike Neu leads the Cardinals in his fourth year as their head coach. His record with Ball State heading into this season is 10-26. Neu’s confidence in his team continues to grow now that his recruits are becoming upperclassman.