{"id":70679,"date":"2024-12-21T08:00:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=70679"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:14:14","slug":"notre-dame-is-sugar-bowl-bound-after-win-over-indiana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/12\/21\/notre-dame-is-sugar-bowl-bound-after-win-over-indiana\/","title":{"rendered":"Notre Dame Is Sugar Bowl Bound After Win Over Indiana"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 3 Notre Dame (12-1) is headed to the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year\u2019s Day. The Fighting Irish earned the Sugar Bowl berth with a 27-17 victory over the upstart Indiana Hoosiers<\/a> in South Bend under the lights on Friday night. Now winners of 11 consecutive games since a shocking Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois, the Fighting Irish are just three wins away from a National Championship. It would be their first title since 1988 and 12th<\/sup> overall. The Irish will face No. 3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl in the quarterfinal game of this year\u2019s expanded 12-team playoff. With Friday’s win, Notre Dame is 24-5-1 against its in-state rival.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame Is Sugar Bowl Bound<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said on ESPN. \u201cIt\u2019s a good football team that we played. They didn\u2019t quit, so I have a lot of respect for them. We\u2019re going to enjoy this one. We\u2019ve earned ourselves another one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on Notre Dame\u2019s defense, which prevented the high-scoring Hoosiers from scoring a touchdown until late in the game, Freeman said, \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of guys that buy-in. They give everything they\u2019ve got to Notre Dame. They put the work in, and they are performing at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victory was the biggest win of Freeman\u2019s three years at the helm of the Irish. It also extended Freeman\u2019s program record to 12 wins over ranked teams in his three seasons. Freeman has much to celebrate, especially after signing a four-year contract extension this week that will keep him in South Bend through the 2030 season.<\/p>\n

Another Strong Showing for Notre Dame\u2019s Defense<\/h3>\n

Al Golden’s vaunted Irish defense kept Indiana off balance, pressuring quarterback Kurtis Rourke<\/a> and stifling Indiana\u2019s running attack for much of the contest. Rourke finished the game going 20-of-33 for 215 yards. He threw two late touchdown passes and had one interception.<\/p>\n

Both offenses turned the ball over early. Riley Leonard<\/a> had a tipped pass intercepted by D\u2019Angelo Ponds<\/a> on the Irish\u2019s first drive. Also in the first quarter, back-to-back consensus All-American Xavier Watts<\/a> intercepted Rourke when Indiana was threatening to score. It was the sixth pick of the year for Watts<\/a> and his 13th<\/sup> in the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

All told, Notre Dame outgained Indiana 393 yards to 278 yards. Despite the early miscues and a couple of sputtering drives, Notre Dame\u2019s offense moved the ball well and ate up plenty of clock, keeping Indiana’s high-flying offense off the field. Notre Dame won the time of possession 35:04 to 24:24. The Irish converted 53.8 percent of their third downs. Indiana converted on just 33.3 percent of their third downs.<\/p>\n

Ground Control<\/h3>\n

Notre Dame utilized its explosive rushing attack to dictate the early going. Running back Jeremiyah Love<\/a> continued to showcase his speed and ability as he has done all season. Love opened the scoring with an electrifying 98-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to give the Irish an early 7-0 lead. It was the longest rushing touchdown in college football this season and tied for the longest in school history. Josh Adams ran for a 98-yard touchdown in 2015 against Wake Forest. Love, who has scored a rushing touchdown in every game this season, finished with 108 yards on eight carries.<\/p>\n

The Irish exploited Indiana\u2019s rush defense, which ranked No. 1 in the country heading into Friday\u2019s first-round playoff game. Between Love, Jadarian Price<\/a>, and Leonard, the Irish racked up 129 rushing yards against the country\u2019s best-rushing defense in the first quarter alone. For the game, the Irish rushed for 194 yards compared to Indiana\u2019s 73 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n

Riley Leonard On the Mark<\/h3>\n

Early in the second quarter, Leonard found Jayden Thomas<\/a> for a 5-yard scoring pass on a play-action fake. The score capped a 16-play, 83-yard drive that took 9:08 off the clock. The touchdown made it 14-0 Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

Leonard connected with Jordan Faison<\/a> late in the game for a 44-yard completion. The play set up Leonard\u2019s 15th<\/sup> rushing touchdown of the season. The score established a single-season school record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. For the game, Leonard went 23-of-32 for 201 yards. He completed passes to 10 different players. Faison finished with seven receptions for 89 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy. This is such a special place. There is no place like Notre Dame,\u201d Leonard said on ESPN immediately after the game. \u201cThis is why you come here. This is why I came here to compete in the College Football Playoffs. It is such a blessing. I owe it to all these guys. Everyone around me just complements my game day in and day out. We were fighting to stay alive every single game. It\u2019s a testament to the character of this football team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notre Dame And Indiana: Tale of Two Programs<\/h3>\n

Under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti, Indiana entered the game with a program-best 11-1 record. The success of the Hoosiers earned Cignetti the National Coach of the Year and three Big Ten Coach of the Year honors. The quotable and fiery Cignetti set the tone for his team throughout the year. Cignetti went viral multiple times during the season, saying things like, \u201cI win. Google me.\u201d Facing Notre Dame, however, Indiana\u2019s winning ways came to an end. The difference in talent between the two teams was evident from the opening kick. Notre Dame brought the physicality, which proved too much for Indiana to overcome.<\/p>\n

Forty Irish players took final exams at school this week. Then they went out and aced their first-round test against Indiana. The Irish faithful brought an electric atmosphere to Notre Dame Stadium. As a result, the team showed out for the raucous crowd. At the end of a hotly contested four quarters against their in-state rival, Notre Dame notched its first CFP victory in program history. It was clear the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame were the better team. Not convinced? Google it.<\/p>\n

\"Notre
Photo courtesy: \u00a0Christine Tannous\/IndyStar \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No. 3 Notre Dame (12-1) is headed to the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year\u2019s Day. The Fighting Irish earned the Sugar Bowl berth with a 27-17 victory over the upstart Indiana Hoosiers in South Bend under the lights on Friday night. Now winners of 11 consecutive games since a shocking Week 2 loss to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4854,"featured_media":70688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10906,8,11,35676,2056],"tags":[1512,5144,641,2490,6850,259],"class_list":["post-70679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cfb","category-fbs","category-independents","category-notre-dame-fighting-irish","category-top-25","tag-al-golden","tag-curt-cignetti","tag-indiana-hoosiers","tag-josh-adams","tag-marcus-freeman","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4854"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70679"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70689,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70679\/revisions\/70689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}