SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Blame it on the cold weather if you want. Blame Indiana’s soft schedule for making the Hoosiers seem more offensively imposing on a stat sheet than they were in Notre Dame Stadium on Friday night.
But don’t forget to credit Notre Dame’s dominant defense and a home crowd that provided a special atmosphere for the first College Football Playoff game hosted on a college campus.
No. 10 seed Indiana needed 58 minutes and 33 seconds of game play to find the end zone for the first time in a 27-17 loss at the hands of No. 7 seed Notre Dame. The Hoosiers (11-2) scored twice in the final two minutes of the game thanks to a successful onside kick and an apathetic effort from Notre Dame’s defense when the game was clearly in hand.
“I've never been a part of an environment like that,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “It was special. The crowd played a factor. The noise played a factor. It was a special thing to be a part of.”
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Indiana, who came into South Bend, Ind., with the No. 2 scoring offense in the FBS with 43.3 points per game scored in the regular season, entered the fourth quarter with more punts (5) than points (3). Notre Dame’s defense had the Hoosiers out of sorts from the start.
The Irish (12-1) forced Indiana into a three-and-out to open the game on a drive that netted a loss of three yards for the Hoosiers. But Indiana found itself in the red zone following an interception thrown by Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard and 28-yard completion from IU quarterback Kurtis Rourke to wide receiver Elijah Sarratt. Then Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts, a back-to-back consensus All-American, made one of the big plays he's become expected to make for the Irish.
Rourke threw his fifth interception of the season when he overthrew a double-covered Ke’Shawn Williams and Watts, who sat deep in single-high coverage, dove to haul in the pass. When Notre Dame’s defense needed to settle in, Watts’ fittingly provided his sixth interception of the season and gave Notre Dame fans a reason to wave the rally towels provided upon entry to the stadium.
“The fans were great tonight,” Watts said. “They were really loud. I think the towels was a good addition, pumping up the cloud. Every defensive drive was really fun. The crowd played a good part in tonight's win.”
But so did Watts, who undeservingly missed a second consecutive season as a unanimous All-American because the Football Writers Association of America relegated him to second team rather than the first-team honor given to him by the four other major All-America selectors.
Watts led Notre Dame with 10 tackles and at least doubled any of his teammates with that total. He prevented big plays on the back end and provided physical run support near the line of scrimmage.
“He just has a great look no matter what the situation is,” said Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden. “He just attacked, executed and finished no matter what.”
Notre Dame’s defense did an excellent job of shutting down Rourke early beyond the interception. On Indiana’s first four drives, Rourke completed just two of his eight passes for 38 yards. The timing and accuracy of his throws were impacted by pressure and tight coverage.
“I thought we actually did a pretty good job of protection for most of the game,” said Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan. “They made it really challenging on you to get completions and get him in rhythm.
“I think we had a drop early on on an RPO. And credit to Notre Dame's defensive backs. That's a really good unit, one of the better units we faced all year long. And we weren't able to win some of those 50/50 contested catches that we knew we were going to have to win a good amount of those in this game to have success.”
Indiana, which gave up 1.5 sacks per game in the regular season, surrendered three to Notre Dame on Friday night. But the Irish didn’t bring Rourke down for those sacks in the second half. Two came on IU’s first drive of the second half. Defensive tackle Rylie Mills, who appeared to injure his right knee on the play and didn’t return, sacked Mills for an eight-yard loss on first down. Freshman defensive end Bryce Young then took down Rourke for another eight-yard loss on third down.
“We've been banged up a little bit on the D-line, which is unfortunate, but the silver lining there is it's forced guys into roles, and they've responded,” Golden said. “Bryce is no different. He's the next guy in this evolution. I thought he played really well today. Obviously getting the sack there in the backup situation led to points. I think he's just doing a really good job of just doing what he needs to do every day to get better.”
Fellow freshman defensive end Loghan Thomas earned the third sack late in the fourth quarter when Indiana started gaining garbage-time yardage. The Hoosiers added 135 offensive yards on their final two possessions after falling behind 27-3 with 4:50 remaining in the game. That nearly matched the 143 yards accumulated on the previous nine drives.
Golden took the blame for allowing Indiana to get rolling at the end.
“We had the game in control the whole game, so I'm not worried about the end of the game,” Golden said. “There's things that we can learn from it. Obviously, we've got to finish better and I've got to make some calls there, but at that point, I just didn't think continuing to show elaborate pressures in that situation was to our benefit, to be quite honest with you. I could have called a better game at the end there for the guys and helped them out.”
Golden’s unit had plenty of help from the sold-out home crowd in a stadium of 77,622 most filled by Notre Dame fans. The crowd was engaged early in the game and only got louder as the defensive domination became more evident.
“They were just awesome,” Golden said. “You can't say enough. They were just awesome. You could feel it, the energy, and execution fuels emotion.
“The first third down and the place is going wild, and you get off the field — big, huge. The next time you get an interception, then you're off the field again on third down. So, execution fuels emotion, but they were just awesome. I thought the stadium was awesome. What a great environment.”
Notre Dame’s defense put together a performance worthy of ovations in limiting Rourke to 215 passing yards and two touchdowns on 33 attempts with 20 completions (60.6%). He only had 94 passing yards before the final two drives.
Indiana’s running game was stymied all night. Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run accounted for more rushing yards than Indiana’s entire offense. The Hoosiers were limited to 2.3 yards per carry with 27 carries for 63 yards.
Sixth-year linebacker Jack Kiser recorded five tackles in his final game in Notre Dame Stadium on Friday. It was his program-record 67th career game in a Notre Dame uniform. He’ll have a chance to play at least once more when the Irish take on No. 2 seed Georgia (11-2) at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1 (8:45 p.m. EST on ESPN).
The crowd won’t be as strongly in favor of Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal, but those that were in the building Friday night were party of a historical moment.
“I'll tell you what, when you walk on to that field and a snap hasn't even taken place yet and the crowd is going crazy, you're able to capture that momentum right off the bat,” Kiser said. “So that was a really awesome environment to be in. Hopefully that can be the standard here at Notre Dame for forever now.”
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