Marcus Freeman led Notre Dame to victory over Indiana, 27-17, on Friday in the first game of the new 12-team College Football Playoff format. Notre Dame ended up winning by 10 points on the scoreboard, but the Fighting Irish took control from the start. Quarterback Riley Leonard started the game with an interception, and Notre Dame’s defense forced an interception by Indiana forward Curtis Rourke. The Fighting Irish responded on their next offensive possession with Jeremiah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead. From then on, Notre Dame held the lead.
Despite the Indiana blowout loss, Freeman praised Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti and his program.
“I told Coach Cignetti after the game that I thought the football team we played was a terrible team that showed they weren’t quitting. It was a good coaching opportunity for us,” Freeman told reporters. We’re going to use that fourth quarter defensively, but on special teams we have to learn from some of the situations that happened in that game.”
Freeman previously revealed that he Googled Cininetti before the game to learn more about his background.
Freeman’s studies clearly paid off. Facing a resurgent Indiana program that went 11-1 during the regular season, the Fighting Irish completely stifled the Hoosiers’ offense and game plan. Indiana entered this game ranked second in the FBS in scoring offense and second in total defense. During the regular season, they averaged over 43 points per game, but only three points came in the final two minutes of games.
As Freeman said, Cininetti still deserves credit for the program’s success this season. In his first season coaching a Power 4 team, Cignetti led Indiana to its first CFP appearance. He led a team that went from 3-9 a year ago to winning all but one regular season game. Although Indiana ultimately lost to Notre Dame, they had already made more progress than many thought the program would have in one season.
