SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Howard Cross III could have missed out on his last opportunity to play in Notre Dame Stadium.
When the Irish beat Virginia, 35-14, on Nov. 16, it was the last home game of the 2024 regular season for the Irish. Cross, Notre Dame’s starting nose tackle in his sixth and final season of NCAA eligibility, missed the game with a high ankle sprain and didn’t even wear his pads for the Senior Day ceremony prior to the game.
Cross wasn’t worried, though. He believed Notre Dame would win out and host a College Football Playoff game, which it did and will do Friday (8 p.m. EST on ABC/ESPN) with the first game in the first round for seven-seed Notre Dame (11-1) against 10-seed Indiana (11-1).
“I really had faith in my guys that we were gonna be able to get it done,” Cross said Sunday. “I felt at that time when we were to make to the playoffs, we would definitely have a game here first. I was in the locker room after. I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is for sure not gonna be our last game here.’”
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Friday’s game will be Cross’ last at home. This time he’ll get to play, too. He was cleared to return the week following Notre Dame’s regular season finale at USC, a 49-35 Irish victory, and has been practicing ever since then.
“I’m excited,” Cross said. “I’m gonna have fun. I’m just really happy to be back on the field.”
The final season of Cross’ college career hasn’t been ideal. He started it with a preseason hamstring pull that bothered him early on. Then the high ankle sprain came in Notre Dame’s 52-3 victory over Florida State in its ninth game of the season. Cross missed the final three games of the regular season.
That’s limited Cross’ production to 23 tackles, 5.5 tackles and four sacks after being named a preseason All-American by multiple outlets. He still set a career high in sacks with his previous high of three coming in 2021. He needs two tackles for loss to set a career high in that category.
Cross went through some of the warmups for the USC game in Los Angeles, but he wasn’t able to play. Cross said he wanted to wait until he was healthy enough to play well and not just be a body on the Irish defensive line. He was also very confident that junior Donovan Hinish and senior Gabriel Rubio could handle more responsibilities with him out of the lineup.
“I was telling them what to do,” Cross said. “I was watching them the whole time. Them doing well the last few weeks really made me happy watching that.”
Even as Notre Dame’s defense struggled to slow down USC’s offense for a large part of the game, Cross remained confident on the sideline that the defense would right the ship.
“It’s going to sound really corny, but I truthfully had faith in my guys that they were gonna get it done,” Cross said. “Not too happy, because rivals and everybody’s screaming and yelling at each other, mouthing off. I’m like, ‘Yeah! I don’t got pads on, but if I did …’ That part kind of sucked a little bit, but everything else was fun though.”
Notre Dame managed to do more than just get by with Hinish and Rubio contributing more in the final month of the season. Hinish produced 17 tackles and three sacks in the last four games. Rubio added six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack.
But getting Cross back alongside starting defensive tackle Rylie Mills makes Notre Dame’s defense more formidable with Indiana’s statistically impressive offense coming to town.
“Howard Cross is an excellent football player,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “When you don’t have him, he’s missed. We’ve had guys step up and do an unbelievable job. Donnie Hinish has played really well and Gabe Rubio and some of those guys. But we also know the type of football player Howard Cross is, and to have him back is going to be huge for our defense."
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Indiana’s offense is first in the FBS in team passing efficiency (179.08), second in points per game (43.3) and third in red zone scoring percentage (93.9). It’s led by quarterback Kurtis Rourke, a graduate transfer from Ohio. He’s averaging 257.0 passing yards per game, which ranks No. 21 in the country. He completed 202 of his 287 passes for 2,827 yards and 27 touchdowns with just four interceptions. Rourke missed one game with a thumb injury.
Cross compared Indiana’s offense to Army’s and Navy’s, but not in the schemes they run. Indiana doesn’t turn the ball over often — only Vanderbilt has committed fewer turnovers than Indiana’s 8 — and it does a good job of limiting tackles for loss — its 4.08 allowed per game ranks No. 20 in the FBS.
“It’s gonna be extremely tight-knit,” Cross said. “We’re not at all expecting any mistakes, any flags on their part. They’re going to be synchronized in everything they do.”
That will be tested with cold and possibly snowy weather in South Bend on Friday night. It’s nothing new for the Hoosiers, who played in snow in a 66-0 victory over Purdue. Notre Dame’s last snow game came in a 44-0 win over Boston College on Nov. 19, 2022. Cross laughed when retelling how he couldn’t see five yards past himself at certain times in that game.
Cross will embrace cold conditions as a product of New Jersey.
“I feel like I have some of my best games in freezing weather,” Cross said. “I don’t know. It’s cold. You’re not going to get very tired. You’re not going to get overheated. It’s freezing.”
Those might not be the best conditions for someone playing in a game for the first time in more than a month, but Cross expects to find his groove as kickoff approaches.
“I kind of put myself in that mindset. Even now, you go into the game and you’re nervous. That’s how it works,” Cross said. “But every football player will tell you guys are throwing up in the locker room. Then you come out and the first time you hit somebody, you’re like, OK cool. Then the game starts.”
The stakes don’t get much higher in college football than Friday night. Regardless of the outcome, it will be Cross’ last game in Notre Dame Stadium. A loss would be his last in a Notre Dame uniform.
And the battle for in-state supremacy leads to a CFP quarterfinals matchup with No. 2 seed Georgia (11-2). Even a Jersey boy can get fired up for that.
“I’m sure the entire state of Indiana is gonna be trying to get anywhere near this game,” Cross said. “It’s gonna be fun.”
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