Notre Dame Opens Up as Favorite Over Indiana in College Football Playoff
Source: Indiana Football
SOUTH BEND, Ind.–There are only six teams with one loss in all of college football. The Indiana Hoosiers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish are two of them with records of 11-1. They play each other in the College Football Playoff Friday December 20 at Notre Dame Stadium.
“What stood out to me in the little bit I’ve seen of Notre Dame is that they are a team that executes at a very high level,” said Indiana Head Football Coach Curt Cignetti after the bracket was announced on Sunday.
Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman says he’s also impressed with Indiana when he watches them on film.
“They play complimentary football. Their defense is a pressure, attacking defense that really makes you earn everything you get,” said Freeman.
The Irish can certainly attack as well. They generate 2.5 sacks per game. Xavier Watts leads their secondary with five interceptions.
“They haven’t played in very many close games, so they will be quite the challenge. We’re looking forward to it,” said Cignetti.
Both teams played on November 30, so that means there layoff will be nearly a month in between games.
“Honestly, we can just replace class time with more film watching. We don’t have class this week or next week really. So, we’ll just be watching more film and seeing what Notre Dame does,” said Indiana Hoosier quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
Notre Dame has opened up as an 8-point favorite over Indiana.
“A lot of us have had to prove that we belong wherever we are. It just fuels us knowing that we’re the underdog and we’re counted out,” said Rourke.
The Irish have won 10 games in a row. Indiana’s only loss this season was to Ohio State, who is also in the College Football Playoff. In that loss to Ohio State, Cignetti has said they struggled with the crowd noise that day.
“I do think, having been in that environment and coming out individually and collectively, you benefit from the notes taken. I think where it affected us most was offensively, having to go to a silent cadence the third play of the game. Didn’t affect us the first series of the game, but once Ohio State had a chance to get their guys on the sideline, this is what they’re doing, they started to tee off on us pretty good. There are some things we can do and incorporate, which we’ve already begun to do. Then we did some uncharacteristic things in that game. We dropped a punt snap. We had poor location on a punt that resulted in a punt return for a touchdown. Still got to get the guy on the field. We had some communication errors on pass protection, and a couple critical missed assignments. I think we’re going to be a lot better the next time we’re in that environment,” said Cignetti.
Kickoff is at 8 pm on December 20.
