Notre Dame defeats Indiana in College Football Playoff first round

On By Littum

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No. 7 Notre Dame shut out No. 10 Indiana’s high-powered offense and ended the Hoosiers’ dream season with a 27-17 victory in the debut of the 12-team College Football Playoff.

The win sends the Irish into the Sugar Bowl playoff quarterfinals against No. 2, Georgia. Notre Dame dominated most of the game. Indiana scored 14 points in the final 90 seconds after the Irish built a 24-point lead.

Hosting the opening round of the playoffs in South Bend as the higher seed, the Fighting Irish outmuscled the Hoosiers with 193 rushing yards to take advantage of cold temperatures that slowed both passing games.

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With a standout start — a 98-yard touchdown run by Jeremiah Love in the first quarter that broke the previous playoff record for longest carry — the Irish proved they could run on Indiana’s defense, which entered the postseason as the only team in Bowl Subdivision must have allowed fewer than 1,000 yards on the ground.

Notre Dame finished with two scores at 5.5 yards per carry. carry. Love had 108 yards at 13.5 yards per carry. carry, while Jadarian Price and Aneyas Williams combined for 56 yards on 15 carries.

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Indiana’s pass rush bothered quarterback Riley Leonard, who struggled to push the ball downfield outside of a 44-yard gain to Jordan Faison that set up Notre Dame’s final score. Leonard finished 23 of 32 for 201 yards with two combined scores.

Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke went 20 of 33 for 215 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. The Hoosiers entered Friday night averaging 9.7 yards per carry. attempt with an FBS-best 179.1 quarterback efficiency rating.

Overall, Indiana finished with 278 yards on 61 plays, with much of that yardage coming with the game already decided.

The Irish have now won 11 straight since an inexplicable loss to Northern Illinois in September. This year’s team is the fifth in program history to win 12 games, joining 2018, 2012, 1989 and 1988.

The loss ends what had been a remarkable season for Indiana and new coach Curt Cignetti. Having never won more than nine games in a season in program history, the Hoosiers went 11-1 in the regular season to earn Cignetti consensus national coach honors.

But while Indiana scored at least 30 points 10 times, the offense came up empty in games against Michigan, Ohio State and the Irish. The Hoosiers averaged 3.9 yards per carry. plays in those three games compared to 7.2 yards per carry. play against every other team on their schedule.

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