Notre Dame Triumphs in College Football Playoff Opener

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00:00Our first-ever 12-team college football playoff has already begun. It did on a

00:08Friday night in snowy South Bend, Indiana, under the watchful eye of Touchdown

00:14Jesus, where the 7th seed in Notre Dame hosted the in-state foe in the team on

00:19the 10-line, that would be the Indiana Hoosiers. Notre Dame booked as near a

00:23touchdown favorite, entering our first-ever on-campus CFP game, and Notre

00:28Dame took advantage of the home crowd in an Indiana team that, in yet another

00:34step up spot for just the second time this year, did not perform even close to

00:39expectation. That final score, Kev, of 27-17, makes it seem as though we got

00:45close to a backdoor cover for IU. They were great in the final two minutes,

00:50offensively and aggressively, but not really for 58. It was all Irish last

00:56night in South Bend. Notre Dame is on to the Sugar Bowl in a matchup against

01:00Georgia. Yeah, look, I think we can get into the Irish, and we're gonna, of

01:04course, now be talking about them, but there is now a cloud that hangs over

01:08this game because of what Indiana did in their second of just two step-up spots

01:14this season, and that was, look, nowhere near the level. Indiana did not have to

01:20win this game to prove anything. They didn't really even have to cover this

01:26game. If that score was actually accurate and not one of the most

01:31misleading scores of the season, then it would be fine, and I know we've had

01:36blowouts before in the history of the college football playoffs, but very

01:41rarely within that four-team format were we looking at whether a team was even

01:48within any type of reasonable range. Indiana is very unique. They played just

01:55two games against teams, again, of the level within the playoff, and they

02:00were embarrassed in both. Let me tell you, nobody more embarrassing yesterday

02:05than Kirk Cignetti. I mean, look, that contract all of a sudden, if I'm

02:09Indiana, I'm dead serious. I'd be a little upset about it. That guy's running

02:12around talking about wins against Coastal Carolina before that game, and

02:17then coaches that way? Are you kidding? I'd be mortified if I was an Indiana

02:22fan. Listen, I agree with that, right? If you're going to talk the talk and be

02:26the salesman and the brash man that Kirk Cignetti is, incorrectly so. For most

02:31of his pedigree, you cannot perform the way you did against Notre Dame, and you

02:35certainly cannot make those decisions that you did three times in Notre Dame

02:40territory, including from the Irish's 27-yard line, down by 17 points midway

02:47through the third quarter, and punt the football away. And Joe, that's part of

02:51the issue for Cignetti and IU last night, because in their lone step-up spot in

02:57the regular season, the only other game prior to yesterday evening in South Bend

03:02booked as an underdog, they did not look the level or the part of Ohio State or

03:07truly a top 5 or top 10 team. But Cignetti told us they would learn from

03:12that atmosphere, they would learn from their mistakes. In fact, it looked as

03:16though they regressed last night against the Fighting Irish. Totally outclassed in

03:19the trenches, that's what it came down to. They played bully ball against

03:22mediocre opponents that they can run the football. They average 174 rushing yards

03:27per game during the regular season, plus 14 in turnover margin. They rushed for 53

03:32yards on the ground, 2.3 yards per carry. They were 5 of 12 in terms of third down

03:37conversions, and were even in terms of turnover margin. And when you don't stop

03:40the run and allow Jeremiah Love to rip off a 98-yard run to set the stage for

03:45that matchup, they were uphill from the rest of the way, right? The offensive line

03:50couldn't contain the front seven in Notre Dame. Curtis Rourke was short to

03:54intermediate on all the throws, under continuous pressure, can never sustain

03:58drives until the game was out of reach. And ultimately, they gave it their

04:02best shot. But in the trenches, that's where Indiana was outclassed by a bigger,

04:06more physical team. And Notre Dame is definitely one of the top teams in the

04:10nation. If they strike the upset or knock off Georgia, now they're dogs, they

04:15can make a run to a national championship. We'll see how it plays out.

04:18More consistency out of Riley Leonard and that passing attack, but hey, that was a

04:23great game last night, offensively and defensively. But look, for Notre Dame,

04:28right, like they hit the 98-yard home grand slam, if you will, right?

04:33IU's defense should not hang their head in shame. Curtis Rourke, or as I say,

04:39Curtis O'Rourke, has shown himself in the two step-up games in the O stands for

04:43Ohio. That's the kid that was playing for the Bobcats and nowhere belonged in a

04:46Power 5 school. I'm sorry, I really enjoyed his quarterbacking this year. I

04:50thought there was a world where if he showed up in this game, we might go,

04:54maybe IU is the best quarterback. No, they had a guy who didn't belong. And I

04:59will say this, and people might not like it, what they did in this game probably

05:04mattered moving forward. There was a benefit of the doubt that Indiana was

05:09given because they were 11-1. Let's remember, Indiana wasn't kept out. They

05:16were put in this without sweat. They weren't the team watching with bated

05:21breath. And I said this on the day it happened, and I still fully believe it.

05:26And maybe people think it would have been wrong. I don't know. If they did

05:30not have to give us weekly updates, Indiana and SMU both would have missed

05:37the playoff for Alabama and Miami. And in this moment, I'm not sure that would

05:43have been unfair to Indiana.

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