Under the crisp December lights of Notre Dame Stadium, an electric energy hums through the air. It’s a historic moment for Indiana football—a program long overshadowed by its basketball legacy.
On Friday, the No. 10 seed Hoosiers will face in-state rival and No. 7 seed Notre Dame in the first round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. The stakes couldn’t be higher with a trip to the Sugar Bowl and a quarterfinal showdown with Georgia awaiting the winner.
For Indiana, this season has been nothing short of a renaissance. Legendary broadcaster Don Fischer, the voice of Indiana football, called it “the greatest season in Indiana football history.”
The Hoosiers, under head coach Curt Cignetti, have defied expectations with an 11-1 record.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Fischer said. “In your own mind, you’re sitting there thinking, ‘How can that possibly be?’ Except it’s possible because Curt Cignetti came to Indiana.”
But to keep this magical run alive, Indiana must overcome a Notre Dame program steeped in tradition and built on physicality and relentless execution.The Fighting Irish boast an identical 11-1 mark, and their only defeat of the season came more than three months ago on a field goal as time expired against Northern Illinois.
Entering South Bend as 7.5-point underdogs, the Hoosiers are applying their lessons from a humbling 38-15 loss to Ohio State on Nov. 23 in Columbus. The deafening atmosphere of Ohio Stadium exposed cracks in Indiana’s preparation. Special teams mistakes, miscommunication in pass protection and an overwhelmed offensive line led to costly errors, including five sacks of quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
“It was definitely a disappointing loss. I think we left some things out there at Ohio State, things that have been corrected,” Rourke said. “I felt like we didn’t play to our standards in that game.”
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Indiana, but it was also an invaluable education.
“I don’t think anyone was happy with the way we came out of Ohio State,” Cignetti said. “We didn’t give ourselves a chance to be successful. I think our guys have learned from that, and we’ll be better in a hostile environment than we were that particular day.”
Notre Dame Stadium promises a similar challenge. The crowd noise in Columbus disrupted Indiana’s cadence, forcing the Hoosiers to go to a silent count and complicating protection schemes for the offensive line. Since then, the Hoosiers have emphasized non-verbal communication.
“If it comes down to that, we’re going to be prepared—more prepared than we were,” Rourke said. “We’ve been repping it ever since that game. I don’t see it being an issue.”
On the field, the game will be defined by the clash between Indiana’s top-ranked rushing defense and Notre Dame’s explosive ground game.
Indiana’s front seven has been dominant all season, allowing just 70.8 rushing yards per game and 2.46 yards per carry. On the other side, Notre Dame boasts one of the nation’s most dynamic rushing attacks, led by sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love and dual-threat quarterback Riley Leonard.
“When you play Notre Dame, offensively it starts with the run game, and the quarterback is a big part of the run game,” Cignetti said. “Not only on the designed quarterback runs, but when he drops back, escapes the pocket and creates plays with his arm and legs.”
Love has tallied 949 rushing yards and 15 scores this season, averaging 7.08 yards per carry, while Leonard has rushed for 721 yards and 14 touchdowns. Notre Dame’s ground attack will be an intricate puzzle for Indiana’s defense—but the key to the Hoosiers’ success may not be about solving it.
“It’s not necessarily about stopping the run,” defensive coordinator Bryant Haines said. “It’s making the quarterback pay a toll every time he decides he doesn’t want to run it. If that’s 20 times, then that’s 20 hits for the good guys.”
Meanwhile, defensive lineman Mikail Kamara downplayed the challenge presented by Notre Dame’s rushing scheme.
“For me, I feel like their scheme is pretty simple,” Kamara said. “It’s just for us to go out there and fit our gaps and do what we need to do. We’ve practiced it. We’ve seen it. It’s something different, but nothing that scares us at all.”
For the Irish, the key to cracking Indiana’s suffocating run defense will be forcing the Hoosiers to respect the threat of Leonard’s arm. For the Hoosiers, it’s all about discipline, pursuit and the chip they’ve carried on their shoulders all season long.
“The angles that we play with, the pursuit to the ball, that edge that we play with,” Fisher said. “A lot of guys that are here right now aren’t supposed to be here. They aren’t big enough. They aren’t fast enough. We carry that with us from the Monday walkthrough to Saturday kickoff.”
Beyond the Xs and Os, this game carries profound meaning for both players and fans. Running back Justice Ellison described the enormity of the moment.
“I’ve been dreaming of this moment since [I was] a little boy,” Ellison said. “That’s the reason why I came here. I came here for this. I came here to win. I came here for the playoffs.”
For the fans, the stakes are even more personal. The last time Indiana and Notre Dame met on the gridiron was in 1991. The rivalry, dormant for decades, still sparks fierce pride on both sides.
“I see it every day—I have to get off Twitter—I see it a little too much,” wide receiver Elijah Sarrat joked. “I see the importance to everyone who is involved with both programs.”
As the clock ticks down to kickoff, the Hoosiers find themselves standing on the precipice of history. It’s a chance to prove their mettle, silence the doubters and cement their place among college football’s elite. With a season for the ages and the stakes higher than ever, the Hoosiers are ready to rise to the challenge once again.
With lessons from Columbus, the strength of its defense and the hunger of a team on a mission, Indiana steps into Notre Dame Stadium ready to make the impossible possible.
About the Author
Zach Browning is a junior at Indiana University and is a senior writer for TheHoosier.com, a website powered by the Rivals Network that covers Indiana athletics. Zach also broadcasts Indiana sports for WIUX Sports, Indiana’s student-run radio station, as well as Big Ten Plus, a student-run broadcasting program powered by the Big Ten Network StudentU program.
