Notre Dame beats Indiana in first game of expanded CFP

ByADAM RITTENBERG
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

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.

Freeman, fresh off a new contract in his third season as Notre Dame’s coach, took a moment to enjoy the scene.

“I’ve never been part of an environment like that,” Freeman said. “Not many times in life you’re the first to do something, and as I told the [team] in there, we were the first to win and play a playoff game in Notre Dame Stadium. That’s historic. Something we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives.”

Defensive coordinator Al Golden, whose group drove Notre Dame into the CFP and overwhelmed Indiana for much of Friday’s game, doesn’t walk around campus or the team’s facility with blinders on. He absorbs the national championship banners and other symbols of the program’s distinct path.

“The lineage is so strong and so storied that it’s hard to come about something that’s the first,” Golden said. “So everybody in that locker room, everybody that’s a part of it, can say that for the rest of their lives.”

Notre Dame ensured that its first home CFP game would not be its last of the season, jumping ahead 14-0 after Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run and a 16-play, 83-yard drive capped by a Riley Leonard pass to Jayden Thomas.

Love’s run through the left side of the line marked the longest play in CFP history, the longest run by an FBS player this season and the longest play Indiana has ever allowed, and it tied for the longest run in Notre Dame history (Josh Adams in 2015 against Wake Forest). The sophomore isn’t fully recovered from a knee injury sustained in the regular-season finale at USC and had been dealing with an illness.

“He is the engine that sparks this thing to go in a real positive direction,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said.

Love said he was “gassed” after crossing the goal line, and after the game his voice sounded weak and could barely be heard as he spoke to reporters. He logged only eight carries in the game but made sure no Indiana defender could chase him down on his most impactful play.

“I was looking up on the videoboard, [and] he wasn’t going to catch me,” Love said. “I slowed down. I knew I was going to score.”

Safety Xavier Watts set up Love’s touchdown with an interception and propelled Notre Dame’s defense with 10 tackles. The Irish kept Indiana’s offense out of the end zone until less than 90 seconds remained and turned away the Hoosiers on 8 of 12 third-down opportunities while racking up three sacks and 10 tackles for loss.

Notre Dame led 17-3 at halftime and 27-3 with 4:50 left before Indiana scored two late touchdowns.

“They pretty much suffocated our offense until the last minute and a half of the game,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said.

Leonard rebounded from an interception on his first pass attempt to complete 23 passes for 201 yards and had two total touchdowns in his final game at Notre Dame Stadium. Leonard spread the ball to 10 receivers, including wide receiver Jordan Faison, who set a career high with seven receptions.

A Duke transfer and Alabama native, Leonard will continue his quest closer to home in the CFP quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Georgia at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. Notre Dame has lost 10 consecutive major bowl games since its last win in a marquee New Year’s Day game, the 1994 Cotton Bowl.

“This is special for us,” Leonard said. “My freshman year, I went 3-9 [at Duke] and was just begging to make a bowl game. To be playing in the Sugar Bowl right now, I’ve got to go full circle. It’s really cool. We’re just staying alive, and we’re just trying to play as many games as we can.”

Notre Dame’s win might have come at a cost, as starting defensive tackle Rylie Mills did not return after sustaining a right leg/knee injury when sacking Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke on the first series of the second half. The Irish also dealt with injuries to offensive lineman Rocco Spindler and defensive lineman Bryce Young.

Freeman told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt that he has “optimism” about Mills, whose injury likely won’t end his season. Mills leads Notre Dame with 7.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.

“We just got to get him right here in the next 10-11 days and get him ready for this upcoming contest down in New Orleans,” Freeman told Van Pelt.