“Is it the season of giving?” Unless you’re Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman.
“You know I’m greedy,” Freeman said Friday after the Fighting Irish beat Indiana 27-17 in the College Football Playoff. “Even though I didn’t want it, [the team’s] I’m going to focus on that and find a way to get 13 points.”
The number 13 in question is Notre Dame’s number of wins this season. And with 2024 marking the 100th anniversary of the program’s first 11 national championships, this year’s team will achieve its 13th championship, marking the biggest milestone the Fighting Irish have ever reached. We will reach an area where there is no such thing.
By defeating Indiana, the 2024 team achieved another feat that Notre Dame’s team was unable to accomplish: winning a playoff game.
Well, maybe that particular “first” importance needs an asterisk. Friday’s contest was the first round of matchups in the original 12-team format.
The tournament expansion means that if Notre Dame loses its next matchup in the Sugar Bowl against No. 2 seed Georgia, the 2024 Fighting Irish technically won’t be able to win the title during the period. This means that they will be further away from 12th place in the national championship than in any of the previous tournaments they have competed in. 21st century.
Still, it’s significant that Notre Dame has finally gotten over the playoff hump. The Irish have lost the past three national championship postseason games (the 2013 BCS Championship Game and the 2018 and 2020 semifinals) by an average of 24 points per game.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Riley Leonard’s walk-in touchdown carry late in the fourth quarter extended the lead between Notre Dame and Indiana to…24 points.
Two Hoosier touchdowns late in the game made the Irish victory look less impressive and negate its symbolism. But the consistent theme remained the same: Notre Dame’s 12 wins, the second-longest winning streak in the country, and its path to the quarterfinals.
And in turning the tables on IU and starting the first-ever 12-team playoffs, Notre Dame at times looked like the team that could win the program’s first national championship since 1988.
For about 58 minutes, the Fighting Irish’s defense, which has been excellent throughout the regular season, took the intensity to another level. Notre Dame’s defense combined for three sacks, but IU quarterback Curtis Rourke was flushed out of the pocket with a golden dome after a much more routine rush.
The Hoosiers’ offense, which averaged more than 43 points per game, couldn’t sniff the end zone until the end result was no longer in doubt. Where Notre Dame’s teams failed this past postseason was that they lacked the toughness to face tough competition in the South.
We’ll have a better judgment on whether that’s still the case by the end of New Year’s Day, but this Fighting Irish defenseman certainly looked the part physically.
Jeremiah Love’s workload was limited. By-products of the illness evident when he speaks in a choked voice At the post-match press conference. But all it took from the running back was one 98-yard carry to prove he could set the tone for an entire game in an instant.
“I went into this game fighting against a few things,” Love said. “It’s special to be able to join this team and do what I can for this team.”
And against a Hoosiers team that was in doubt for a playoff spot, the Fighting Irish made mistakes that could have cost them against tougher competition. Love’s improved health over the next two weeks leading up to the Sugar Bowl will be crucial for Notre Dame’s offense, which carried the ball into the red zone four times but scored a touchdown on only half of those runs. is.
Freeman said riding on the momentum of their 11-game winning streak, especially this 11-game winning streak, will be another important point heading into the Sugar Bowl.
“But more importantly, it’s going up. It’s getting better,” Freeman said. “This is not a normal game week. We have to find ways to improve and improve… How can we get a little bit better every week?”
Notre Dame may have found a way to get a lot better in their postseason efforts while getting a little better little by little.