The 10th-seeded Indiana Hoosiers battle the seventh-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Friday. The winner of the game will then face the second-seeded Georgia Bulldogs in the quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. The Hoosiers (11-1), who tied for second with Penn State in the Big Ten Conference at 8-1, are 3-1 on the road this season. The Fighting Irish (11-1), who are 5-1 on their home field this year, are 4-0 against AP Top 25 teams this season. Indiana will be without at least 11 players and Notre Dame without 10 due to injury or the transfer portal. Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (leg) is questionable.

Kickoff from Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Ind., is set for 8 p.m. ET. The Fighting Irish are seven-point favorites in the latest Indiana vs. Notre Dame odds, while the over/under for total points scored is set at 52.5. Notre Dame is a -277 money-line favorite (risk $277 to win $100), while Indiana is a +224 underdog.

Before making any Indiana vs. Notre Dame picks or predictions of your own, you NEED to see which side SportsLine NFL expert Micah Roberts is on. 

Micah Roberts has worked in the Las Vegas sportsbook industry for 20-plus years, including a 13-year run as Station Casinos' book director. Most importantly, Roberts has a strong read on the pulse of the Nittany Lions. In fact, he is an AMAZING 9-1 (+795) on his last 10 picks in games involving Indiana! Anybody following is WAY UP!

Now, Roberts has locked in another confident against-the-spread pick for Notre Dame vs. Indiana.

We can tell you he's leaning Over the point total, but he also knows a crucial X-factor makes one side of the spread a MUST-BACK! You ABSOLUTELY need to see what it is before locking in any picks of your own.

So who wins Notre Dame vs. Indiana in the College Football Playoff first round, and what x-factor makes one side of the spread a MUST-BACK? ... Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the Indiana vs. Notre Dame spread hits HARD, all from the expert who is an AMAZING 9-1 on picks involving the Hoosiers!