There was a hurdle to clear Friday in South Bend. On this stage, for too long, Notre Dame had been exposed.
The hurdle was figurative, but there was definitely a bar to get over in the minds of the Fighting Irish. If it didn’t, something was wrong. The spectacle was nice for the first ever College Football Playoff game on campus. The weather was football-perfect with snow earlier in the day. But the story was in waking the championship echoes that had been asleep for too long.
The big-game failures have piled up for a while. The last time the Irish won a major bowl — Notre Dame 24, Texas A&M 21 in the 1994 Cotton Bowl — the BCS didn’t even exist yet. It’s a streak of 10 straight losses, eight of which have come in the BCS/CFP era, dating back more than 30 years to when Lou Holtz was the coach.
The Irish did a fine job of getting a participation trophy during that stretch. It was on the losing end of one of the least competitive national titles in the 16-year history of the BCS (42-14 to Alabama in 2013). In two recent CFP games against Alabama and Clemson (2018 and 2021, respectively), the Irish were outscored by a combined 44 points.
And while Friday’s historic 27-17 win over Indiana wasn’t a bowl and the result was expected, all of it was definitely needed for the Notre Dame psyche.
While major bowls mean something totally different these days in the CFP, that’s the point. Notre Dame showed well in the opening of this new era of expanded win-or-go-home games. The season continues in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal 12 days from now against No. 2 seed Georgia.
That’s another, bigger hurdle.
But first things first. Remember when the season was over after that Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois? Not as much as you used to. Since then, the Irish are on a roll that demands our attention. They’ve won 11 in a row, tying Boise State for the second-longest winning streak in the country.
Friday marked the continuation of an Irish rebound that has lasted three months. Quarterback Riley Leonard told The Players’ Tribune this week his depression after the NIU loss was such that he asked a cop for a ride home from Notre Dame Stadium that day.
“I didn’t want to show my face outside the building,” he said.
“My phone,” he told reporters this week, “is still shut off.”
That’s sad, but the subsequent play has reflected mass concentration. Notre Dame has a complete team now for reasons that extended beyond its raucous home Friday night. The Irish aren’t as flashy as Oregon. They might not have the talent level of Ohio State. But with clear minds and full hearts following Friday’s win, they can have a meaningful look at this thing.
Michigan won a national championship last season flipping the modern championship script. It played defense and ran the ball. The Wolverines were downright boring at times with their physicality. Notre Dame has that same look.
Too soon? Probably. Indiana’s magic this season will definitely be questioned. But that’s less of a story than what lies ahead for the Irish. Georgia suddenly looks gettable with quarterback Carson Beck likely to miss the Sugar Bowl with arm surgery. And Notre Dame suddenly looks like the squad that can bow up and knock off the Dawgs.
There are other reasons to make that case on Friday. Indiana came into the game with the nation’s best run defense (70.8 yards per game). Notre Dame tailback Jeremiyah Love ran 98 yards for a touchdown on the Irish’s third snap. That tied a school record and set the tone. Notre Dame rushed for 193 yards overall.
With 39 minutes left in the game, Notre Dame took over on its own 20. It was already up 14-0 and it felt like Indiana would never see the ball again.
Leonard stayed in the rhythm he perfected at Duke and refined at Notre Dame. The short passing game was numbingly effective as Notre Dame piled up 20 first downs and held the ball for more than 35 minutes. Leonard didn’t have to run that much with Love and two other tailbacks averaging more than seven yards per carry. He later broke a Notre Dame record for quarterbacks with his 15th rushing touchdown on the season
The first breakout star of the expanded playoff might be sophomore receiver Jordan Faison. He had caught only 16 passes all season. Against Indiana, Faison caught seven passes for 89 yards, five of them for first downs. The last catch for 44 yards to the Indiana 1-yard line set up Notre Dame’s final touchdown.
Marcus Freeman also coached like a budding star, looking completely comfortable. Those whispers of job security in September evolved into a contract extension this week. Freeman turned his top-10 defense loose in the best possible sense. A first-quarter interception tied James Madison for the national lead in turnovers forced (29).
Say what you want about Notre Dame’s schedule since NIU, but it did beat four ranked teams (Louisville, Navy, Army and now Indiana) by a combined 89 points. That’s a picture of a winning streak. That’s definitely concentration after a crippling loss.
We can talk about what Indiana was or wasn’t all offseason. Notre Dame deserves to be here now.
“It’s crazy to think that this same team lost that game early in the year,” Leonard said on the field on a night after those echoes woke up just a little bit.