South Bend (IN)— Norte Dame and Indiana: two teams that are 200 miles apart and haven’t played each-other since 1991, kicked off the first-ever College Football Playoff game in South Bend, Indiana.
In the first quarter, both the Hoosiers and the Fighting Irish exchanged interceptions; Norte Dame on their opening drive, while Indiana threw their interception on their second drive that started in Norte Dame’s territory. And on the very next play, Norte Dame’s Jermiyah Love took it to the house from 98 yards out on an electric run to put Norte Dame up, 7-0 with 10:57 to go in the first quarter.
After another stalled drive from Indiana, the Fighting Irish went on a 16-play, 82-yard drive that culminated with a touchdown reception from Riley Leonard to Jayden Thomas for five yards to put Norte Dame up, 14-0 with 12:57 left in the second quarter.
Indiana’s offense finally gained some traction on their fourth drive as the Hoosiers went on a 9-play, 48-yard drive that was capped with a Nicolas Radicic 34-yard field goal to pull Indiana within eleven at 14-3 with 3:26 left in the half.
Norte Dame then took the the last drive of the half for 12 plays and 52 yards that ended with a Mitch Jeter 49-yard field goal to put the Irish back up, 17-3 to end the first half.
Norte Dame received the kickoff to start the third quarter and took it to the Indiana 47 yard line after a 44-yard jolt. The Hoosiers defense stepped up and caused the Fighting Irish’s first three-and-out of the game to reclaim possession with 13:17 to go in the third. On Indiana’s ensuing drive, they couldn’t get anything going as they were sacked twice to force another three-and-out drive before punting back to the Fighting Irish.
Norte Dame then had their fourth scoring drive of the night, a 33-yard field goal by Jeter, that was aided by a personal foul on Indiana’s James Carpenter for a late hit on Leonard out of bounds on third down. The drive ate up 6:43 off the clock on eleven plays to bring the score to 20-3, Norte Dame with 4:21 to go in the quarter.
The Fighting Irish forced another punt and went on a drive that ended the third quarter and started the fourth with Jeter’s third field goal attempt, but this one was blocked by the Hoosiers and it placed them with good field position at their 40-yard line.
After another punt from Indiana. Norte Dame put the game away with a 9-play, 78-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Leonard that broke the record for most rushing touchdowns by a Norte Dame quarterback in a single season and pushed the score to 27-3, late in the fourth quarter.
With the 27-17 win for Norte Dame, they advance to play Georgia in the Sugar bowl on New Year’s Day in New Orleans as part of the College Football Playoff Semifinals. Indiana finishes their season with a 11-2 record and being completely dominated by the Fighting Irish as they were held 26 points below their season scoring average of 43 points a game.
