Amid sub-freezing temperatures on a late-December Friday night in South Bend, Notre Dame hosted in-state foe Indiana in the first round of the inaugural expanded 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP). And for the 11th straight time, the Irish freight train kept on rolling, as Notre Dame controlled the game from start to finish in a comprehensive, wire-to-wire 27-17 victory. Here are five of the biggest moments that propelled Notre Dame to a postseason win and to New Orleand, where it’ll meet Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in the CFP quarterfinals.
Love’s 98-yard house call snaps sloppy start from both teams
With two of the nation’s best and most efficient offenses facing off, it’s safe to say that the opening minutes of the game didn’t play out how either side hoped. Indiana received the opening kickoff but was forced to punt less than a minute later after going backward three yards for a quick three-and-out. The Irish offense fared no better in its first time out. On Notre Dame’s second play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Riley Leonard’s pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and intercepted, setting the Hoosiers up with a prime opportunity to take an early lead, taking over possession in Irish territory. However, Indiana was unable to capitalize. Just two minutes later, the Hoosiers matched the Irish with an interception of their own, as graduate safety Xavier Watts – who else? – picked off his sixth pass of the season.
That gave the Irish another chance to strike first, but they started the possession pinned back at their own two-yard line, and given how the game had gone up to that point, a 98-yard touchdown drive seemed unlikely.
No one told that to sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love, though.
Love only needed a single play to get the job done, taking a handoff from Notre Dame’s own end zone and waiting patiently for things to open up before bursting through a hole in the Indiana defense and scampering down the sideline as the play quickly turned into a track race. There aren’t many players in the country who can keep up with Love’s otherworldly speed, and if there are any, they certainly weren’t on the field playing defense for the Hoosiers. Love beat everyone to the end zone, matching Notre Dame’s all-time program record for longest rush and surpassing 1,000 rushing yards on the season with his 16th rushing score of the year. His combination of elite burst off the line of scrimmage and pure straight-line speed has been a huge factor in the Irish’s offensive success all year and might him a nightmare matchup for opposing defenses, and his 98-yard score seemed to open the floodgates and provide a spark for the Irish offense on Friday.
Irish secondary answers the bell
Heading into the regular-season finale against USC, the Irish secondary had been consistently outstanding, ranking first nationally in fewest passing yards allowed per game. But while the unit recorded the two most memorable highlights from that game — a pair of long pick-sixes from Watts and sophomore cornerback Christian Gray — the matchup with the Trojans presented Notre Dame’s pass defense with its first true taste of adversity, as USC quarterback Jayden Maiava completed passes downfield at will for most of the game, finishing with 360 yards and three touchdowns.
With the Irish matched up against one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke on Friday night, the secondary needed to rise to the occasion with a bounce-back effort. Otherwise, they risked getting torched through the air by the Hoosiers in the same way that so many teams have this season.
Luckily for the Irish, that’s exactly what they did. Rourke — who entered the game ranked third nationally in quarterback rating — struggled to find a rhythm all night. Through Indiana’s first three offensive possessions, Rourke was just 1 for 6 with 28 yards and an interception, and things didn’t get much better from there. After three quarters — with the Irish in complete control of the game by that point — Rourke was still under 100 passing yards with a sub-50% completion percentage. The Hoosiers’ explosive passing attack had been a huge part of their success all year, and Notre Dame was able to stifle Indiana’s offense throughout the game by shutting down those downfield passing opportunities.
Notre Dame’s secondary has faced question marks ever since the season-ending injury to All-American junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison, and the unit’s performance against USC — which featured the most talented group of skill-position players it's faced all season — did nothing to silence those doubts. But its performance against Indiana certainly did. The play of the secondary — with freshman Leonard Moore stepping in for Morrison at cornerback alongside Gray while Watts and sophomore Adon Shuler manned the safety spots — played a critical role in Notre Dame’s win on Friday, and it provided a clear statement that this group is ready to compete, and do so at a high level, against any offense in the country.
Leonard bounces back from slow start with near-perfect drive
After a string of strong performances to close out the regular season, Riley Leonard entered Friday’s game with all the momentum in the world on his side. Momentum can dissipate at a moment’s notice, though, and when Leonard’s first pass attempt of the game was intercepted, it looked like it could be a long night for the Irish quarterback. That might have been the case for the Leonard we saw at the start of the year, but the current version — after a full season’s worth of growth and responding to adversity — remained as poised and confident as ever despite the early miscue.
Leonard didn’t need to do much on the following drive, with Love taking the opening handoff for a 98-yard score. But in the offense’s next time out, leading 7-0 and looking to double that advantage, he put on a quarterbacking masterclass that showed exactly why he’s been so highly trusted and well-regarded by his teammates and coaches through all the ups and downs that this season has had to offer.
His first attempt of the possession fell incomplete, but that would be the last time one of his passes touched the ground for quite some time. Over the rest of the drive, he would complete seven consecutive passes — spreading the wealth to six different receivers — for 52 yards and capped things off with a five-yard touchdown pass that was dropped perfectly into the hands of senior wide receiver Jayden Thomas. He also converted a key third-down opportunity with his legs in the red zone. When all was said and done, Notre Dame had reeled off a 16-play, 83-yard scoring drive that lasted more than nine minutes — the Irish’s longest of the season — and ate up a solid chunk of the first half while putting Indiana into a deep hole that it would never be able to crawl out of.
Leonard was calm, cool and collected. He was comfortable in the pocket and a decisive passer. He used his standout running ability when needed. He finished the game with over 200 passing yards along with two total touchdowns, and on that game-changing drive, he looked like exactly the quarterback the Irish need him to continue to be if they want to continue to compete for a national title.
Jeter field goals provide Irish with breathing room
Kicking has been a challenge for Notre Dame this season, to say the least. Entering the year, it looked more like a potential strength as the Irish secured a commitment from graduate transfer Mitch Jeter, who had made 23 of 25 field goal attempts over his last two seasons at South Carolina. And Jeter lived up to that reputation at the start of the year, converting three key field goals in the season-opener against Texas A&M and making five of his first seven attempts of the season, with the only two misses coming on kicks that were blocked.
But Jeter suffered a hip injury in the Irish’s October win against Stanford, and since then, things have gone off the rails for the kicking unit. A combination of multiple backups and a visibly less-than-full-strength Jeter entered Friday’s game just 8 for 18 on field goals on the season, a percentage that ranked dead last in the country.
So it was understandable that Irish fans may have been pessimistic when Notre Dame sent Jeter out to attempt a critical 49-yarder in the final seconds of the first half. But Irish head coach Marcus Freeman has consistently expressed full confidence in Jeter, noting that his health and confidence are improving by the week, and Jeter calmly drilled the kick to extend the Irish’s lead to 14, looking just as smooth as he did in the opening weeks of the season. In the third quarter, he sent another through the uprights, this one from 33 yards out to give Notre Dame a three-possession advantage that added some comfort and insurance down the stretch.
It would be a reach to say that all of the Irish’s kicking issues have been suddenly resolved — Jeter had a third field goal attempt blocked in the fourth quarter — but his pair of makes on Friday were crucial in helping Notre Dame put the game out of reach, and the fourth quarter might have played out very differently had either of those sailed wide or fallen short. For the first time since the opening weeks of the season, the Irish appear to be in a good place kicking-wise — after all, a fully-healthy Jeter has been one of the nation’s best over the past three seasons — and on Friday night, that helped them beat Indiana in a significant way. It can only bode well as they progress deeper into the postseason.
Defense holds firm while Leonard and Faison provide the final dagger
Notre Dame didn’t add much to the scoring column in the second half, but thanks to its defense, it didn’t need to. The play of the secondary was highlighted earlier, but as a whole, the Irish held one of the nation’s most dynamic offenses — the Hoosiers entered Friday averaging over 43 points per game and almost 440 yards of offense — to just three points and well under 200 yards of offense prior to a pair of Indiana touchdowns in the game’s final two minutes when the outcome was already well in hand.
With the Irish defense looking nearly impenetrable for most of the game, and Notre Dame holding a 17-3 halftime advantage, it felt like one more touchdown, one more key play, would likely seal the victory, and late in the fourth quarter, it was Leonard and sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison who sealed the Irish’s spot in the CFP quarterfinals.
After spending most of the night relying on a quick, efficient passing attack, the Irish offense finally broke free for a big play. With Notre Dame near midfield, Leonard stepped up in the pocket to escape heavy pressure and launched a perfect strike down the middle of the field to Faison, who snared it in stride and was tackled just short of the end zone after a 44-yard gain. Just two plays later, Leonard ran it in himself for his 15th rushing touchdown of the season, the most ever for a Notre Dame quarterback. Faison, meanwhile, finished the game with seven receptions for 89 yards — season highs in both — while looking like the Irish’s most dangerous receiving threat throughout the game. After the game, Leonard described his rushing touchdown and the emphatic team-wide celebration that followed as the moment when he knew that the Irish had gotten the job done and secured the win in front of their home crowd, “the first time when [he] was able to look out into the crowd and really embrace this moment, because it really is special.”
Leonard and Faison made certain that the story of the Irish’s 2024 season isn’t done being written just yet, and did so in highlight-worthy fashion in front of an electric Notre Dame Stadium crowd that got to witness the Irish win the first-ever CFP game played at a school’s home stadium. They, as well as the rest of their Irish teammates, will look to continue making those special moments as they move on to the Sugar Bowl, and just maybe — if they can maintain the level of play that’s brought them to 11 consecutive wins — beyond.
