What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 27-17 victory against Indiana in the CFP
In the first ever matchup in the expanded, 12-team playoff era, Notre Dame took care of business against Indiana, knocking off the Hoosiers 27-17. And the game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated with Indiana getting a couple garbage time touchdowns.
In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about the Fighting Irish’s triumph against the Hoosiers, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Tim Hyde giving their instant reaction to the game in a YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player below.
Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: ‘That same journey’: Why this Notre Dame football team can win it all
Riley Leonard showed up for his postgame press conference in a Jeremiyah Love t-shirt. He poked fun at Jordan Faison, who was sitting in the room waiting to step onto the dais next, for not scoring a touchdown on their 44-yard fourth-quarter connection.
Faison was stopped at the 1. Leonard scored his 15th rushing touchdown, an all-time Notre Dame single-season record for a quarterback, two plays later. Earlier on, Love scored his 16th on a 98-yard, record-breaking sprint to immortality. He’s scored at least one time in every game this season.
Big things. Little things. Things that illustrate how this Notre Dame football team is different.
The Fighting Irish, into the Sugar Bowl following a 27-17 win over Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff, have that feel to them. They can do no wrong. They have each other’s backs.
They can absolutely win the national championship. They have the right mindset, and it’s the right people in the locker room making the right decisions.
Everything about it — everything about them — just feels right.
These guys at the end of the day, these guys are pleasers.
Jack Soble, Blue & Gold: Five thoughts—Notre Dame defense instilled fear in Indiana
It started on the first play of the game.
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden called a heavy run blitz. By the time Indiana redshirt senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke handed the ball to senior running back Justice Ellison, sophomore Irish linebacker Drayk Bowen was three yards deep in the backfield. Ellison bounced around for a second, searching for a direction until junior Notre Dame defensive end Joshua Burnham decided his direction was backward.
The Irish attacked the Hoosiers from the jump. They allowed no breathing room until the final 5 minutes, when Notre Dame led 27-3 and the game was over.
“I just didn’t think continuing to show elaborate pressures in that situation was to our benefit, to be quite honest with you,” Golden said.
Throughout the rest of the game, Notre Dame’s pressures were as elaborate as they were ferocious. And to some extent, I think that influenced the way Indiana played and called the game.
The Hoosiers ran the ball up the middle on third-and-10 from the Notre Dame 48-yard line, losing a yard in the process. They did it again on third-and-5 deep in Irish territory, only to gain 1 again and settle for a field goal. They punted on Notre Dame’s side of the field with a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter, which is akin to waving the white flag.
“We have an aggressive mindset,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said. “We called the game aggressively.”
Indiana was cautious on offense. Rourke was rattled. Quite frankly, the Hoosiers played scared. Notre Dame, on the other hand, stayed on the attack until the game was in hand.
Andy Staples, On3: In a mirror image Sugar Bowl against Georgia, Notre Dame may open as a slight favorite
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The enduring image of the first on-campus College Football Playoff game will be one of two moments:
- Notre Dame tailback Jeremiyah Love tearing toward the left sideline en route to a 98-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
- Indiana coach Curt Cignetti screaming “WHY?” after Indiana defender James Carpenter hit Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard out of bounds and drew a late hit penalty that kept a seemingly interminable Notre Dame third-quarter drive alive.
The Irish smushed the Hoosiers 27-17, hogging the ball on offense and suffocating Indiana defensively. Down in Athens, Ga., Kirby Smart probably watched the game and thought “I know of a program that loves to beat teams that way.”
Get ready for the Spider-Man meme Sugar Bowl, where Notre Dame and Georgia each will try to smash the other with the run game and the team that forces the opposing quarterback to make the most mistakes will probably win. And if you still think Notre Dame’s week two loss to Northern Illinois disqualifies the Fighting Irish from competing for a national title, you may want to consult your favorite oddsmaker.
Adam Rittenberg, ESPN: Notre Dame beats Indiana in first game of expanded CFP
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame players and coaches linked arms in the northeast corner of the field late Friday, waiting to sing the alma mater for the final time at home in 2024.
After a slight delay, coach Marcus Freeman bounded into the group, pumping his first toward the student section before the band began to play. No. 7 Notre Dame had beaten No. 10 Indiana 27-17, using a familiar formula of stifling defense, big-play runs and relentless physicality to overwhelm a lesser opponent, just like the Fighting Irish had done for most of the season.
But Friday’s win and setting was different. A Notre Dame program steeped in history became the first to win a campus College Football Playoff game. The Irish, who had not won a CFP contest before, played their first Friday home game since 1900 before a full-throated crowd, many of whom came to campus on a snowy morning and celebrated throughout the day and night.
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Freeman, fresh off a new contract in his third season as Notre Dame’s coach, took a moment to enjoy the scene.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman
Opening statement from postgame press conference:
“It’s a great honor to obviously be a part of what’s to come, and I don’t want to downplay that, but tonight is about tonight and about what this team did to achieve the outcome that we all desired. I want them to celebrate that. I want them not to look past tonight. Celebrate tonight. Celebrate this victory that they worked tremendously hard to achieve and obtain.
“Then I told them they’ll have (Saturday) off. They can take one day off, and we’ll get them back on Sunday. Then, we’ll start thinking about the Sugar Bowl and the opportunity we have at hand.
“You don’t get enough time in life and enough time in situations like this not to enjoy it. I was reminded of that by a couple of people I talked to, but also just talking to the team. Enjoy this. Enjoy this. Don’t look ahead. Enjoy this, and then we’ll move forward.
“Proud of the way they played. I told (Indiana) Coach (Curt) Cignetti after the game, I think that’s a heck of a football team we faced that obviously showed wouldn’t quit until the end. Some good teaching opportunities for us. We’re going to use that fourth quarter defensively. Special teams-wise we’ve got to learn from some of those situations that happened in this game because we have to be better because of it.
“I’m actually kind of glad it did happen because it’s going to be a chance for us to humble ourselves and get back to work and work on ways to improve as we get ready for this next opportunity.”
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti
Opening statement from postgame press conference:
“All good things come to an end. And when you’re my age, you’ve seen it all. And I have a lot of guys hurting in there but a part of life is learning how to deal with disappointment the proper way and come back a stronger person because of the experience. You never get everything you want in life. That’s how life is.
“But it doesn’t diminish what these guys accomplished, for sure this season which everyone in this room can detail out what this team’s accomplished. A lot of firsts.
“So proud of them. It’s easy to say we didn’t play our best game, but a lot of that was probably because of who we played. I thought Riley Leonard was excellent handling the pressure, getting rid of the ball.
“Defensively they pretty much suffocated our offense until the last minute and a half of the game. And their skill guys made good plays. They played well. And they beat us.
“And I am happy that our guys didn’t give up and pounded those two scores in on two-minute drives at the end. You just never know. You make that two-point play and you recover one more kick, it’s just a crazy game, right? I mean, the way it was going, you’re looking at the game saying to yourself, well, this is probably going to end up about 40-3 or something like that. I’m not saying that, but you’re probably thinking that. Here you are scoring, 27-17, with an opportunity to make a two-point conversion, kick another onside kick to tie the game.
“So, Notre Dame is a good football team. Wish them the best of luck moving forward. And I’m proud of our guys.”
