Ad Disclosure
Notre Dame smothered Indiana 27-17 at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday night, winning the inaugural first-round game of the newly expanded College Football Playoff,
The Fighting Irish were better than Indiana in every way, shaking off an interception by Riley Leonard on his first pass of the night to open up a 17-3 lead by halftime behind a steady run game and just enough from Leonard through the air. In the second half, Notre Dame’s marvelous defense did the rest, haranguing and harassing Indiana’s All-B1G quarterback Kurtis Rourke all evening and never letting the Hoosiers’ (on paper) explosive offense find a rhythm.
Held under 30 points just twice over an 11-1 regular season, the Hoosiers managed just 2 trips inside the red zone all evening on Friday night. One ended in an interception by Notre Dame’s consensus All-American safety, Xavier Watts. The other ended in a frustrating field goal that left plenty of fans wondering whether Curt Cignetti, whose aggressive coaching mentality was the foundation of Indiana’s remarkable turnaround from 3-win team in 2023 to Playoff team in his first season in Bloomington, simply lost his nerve in the dark chill of the South Bend night.
One play after Watts’ interception, Jeremiyah Love galloped 98 yards off tackle to stake the Fighting Irish to a lead they’d never relinquish. That’s a Playoff record, by the way.
The run was a reminder of an early Marcus Freeman mantra.
“You better learn to fit the power and counter when you play Notre Dame,” Freeman told SDS after Notre Dame piled up 263 yards rushing in a Gator Bowl win over South Carolina to close out Freeman’s first season as the Dick Corbett Head Football Coach of the Irish in 2022.
Love gained only 10 more yards the rest of the game, but the Fighting Irish played things close to the vest for the most part, content to allow their outstanding defense, which entered the game ranked 6th in success rate defense, 5th in SP+ defensive efficiency, and 9th in total defense, hold the Hoosiers at bay.
Notre Dame’s defense answered the bell.
The most impressive moment came early in the 4th quarter, after Indiana earned great field position by blocking a Mitch Jeter field goal attempt that would have put the Irish up 20 points. Indiana picked up 1 quick first down, then sputtered as Notre Dame generated 2 consecutive quarterback pressures and then stuffed a screen to Justice Ellison on 3rd and long. A play later, Cignetti, perhaps flustered and certainly flummoxed by the Fighting Irish’s defense, elected to punt, despite trailing 17 points with 11 minutes to play. On the night, the Fighting Irish pressured Rourke 16 times, hurrying 5 throws and collecting 3 sacks. Aided immensely by numbers he posted in garbage time with the game decided, Rourke finished the night with 215 yards passing. Indiana managed only 14 first downs, matching a season-low set against Michigan.
It was a dominant performance by one of the sport’s most dominant units, and it should give the Fighting Irish plenty of confidence as they travel to New Orleans to take on No. 2 seed Georgia — which will be without QB Carson Beck — in the quarterfinal round.
There will be cynics, of course.
As the 4th quarter melted away, there were already legions of tweets lamenting “It’s Only Indiana,” making Notre Dame’s dominant win more a referendum on Indiana’s inclusion in the College Football Playoff than a testament to Irish excellence.
No matter.
The Fighting Irish are used to doubters. That goes with the territory at Notre Dame thanks to championship game and Playoff failures past and this season’s lone loss, a mystifying home-field flop against Northern Illinois on Sept. 7.
Notre Dame has fed off that cynicism all season. Using the Northern Illinois defeat as a rallying cry, the Fighting Irish have won 11 consecutive games since that embarrassing September Saturday. Ten of those 11 wins have come by at least 14 points. No opponent has come closer than a touchdown.
In other words, write off the latest Notre Dame win at your own risk.
Play the eye test if you’d like. Be honest. Ask yourself if a Notre Dame offense that rushed for 195 yards and physically bullied an Indiana defense that had not allowed that many rushing yards all season simply can’t hold up against a defense chock full of blue-chip NFL talents like Georgia’s that just surrendered 260 yards rushing to mighty Georgia Tech.
Ask yourself if you think Georgia, with a talented but raw backup quarterback,, Gunner Stockton, making his first career start, will fare better against this tenacious Notre Dame defense than Rourke, who entered Friday night’s game leading the nation in passing efficiency and passing success rate.
There are other reasons to not doubt the Irish.
Freeman has upgraded every aspect of Notre Dame’s football operation since Brian Kelly abruptly resigned and departed for LSU in November 2021.
Notre Dame has a larger coaching staff, larger recruiting budget, and vastly improved talent. Freeman has a staff he trusts, as opposed to one he simply inherited, as in his first season in 2022. Freeman hired an offensive coordinator, Mike Denbrock, who coached a Heisman winner (Jayden Daniels in 2023) and hand-picked this season’s quarterback, Leonard, who was terrific against the Hoosiers, producing 231 yards and 2 touchdowns against a defense that entered the game ranked 2nd in the country in total defense. (Again, caveat: See: Schedule.)
Freeman has a defensive coordinator he trusts implicitly in Al Golden who has coached 7 defenses in his career that finished a season in the top 10 in total defense. Meanwhile, Freeman has vastly upgraded the talent. The Fighting Irish lead Playoff teams with 57 blue-chip players, and they rank 9th overall in the 247 Talent Composite, the best mark for Notre Dame since their 2020 Playoff semifinal team.
The Fighting Irish are deeper than that team on both lines of scrimmage, have more speed on the perimeter, and have arguably the best defensive player in the Playoff in Watts, the two-time All-American who is Notre Dame’s heart and soul and Marcus Freeman’s coach on the field.
The entire operation was built for this moment and run. The NIU loss simply changed the national narrative, not Notre Dame’s sense of purpose and belief.
“I think the thing we learned about ourselves when we lost to Northern Illinois is what the worst day would feel like,” Freeman recalled this week. “We did not waver about our direction as a program or who we were as a team. But fear is a motivator. But we also learned how to stay in the fight. We’ve been in Playoff mode since Week 3. There’s a mettle to us, a grit, an understanding of how to win and an appreciation for the work of winning. We are eager to keep doing the work.”
Is Notre Dame playing like champions?
Not yet.
But this finally looks like a Notre Dame team that can play on the same field as other champions, including one from the SEC.
Doubt that at your own risk.
Neil Blackmon covers Florida football and the SEC for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
