Notre Dame passes the test and takes down Indiana, 27-17

Absolutely DAUNTED

After a week of final exams, the last test was inside Notre Dame Stadium on Friday night and the Irish passed with flying colors (and towels) for a 27-17 win over the Indiana Hoosiers.

The game got off to kind of a wild start. After Notre Dame forced Indiana to punt after three plays, a Riley Leonard pass was tipped and intercepted by the Hoosiers — with great field position. Four plays later, however, Xavier Watts intercepted a Kurtis Rourke pass on the 2 yard line.

All it takes is one play — especially with Jeremiyah Love. So on the first play after the interception, Jeremiyah Love took a handoff off to the left side and went 98 yards for the touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.

Notre Dame’s next offensive drive was considerably different. The Irish went 83 yards on 16 plays to hit paydirt again. This time it was a 5 yard touchdown pass from Riley Leonard to Jayden Thomas to take a 14-0 lead.

Indiana finally got on the board late in the second quarter with a field goal, but the Irish canceled out those three points with a 49 yard Mitch Jeter field goal to make it 17-3 at the half.

Throughout most of the first half, and a lot of the second half, Indiana was determined to stick with their running game — but the Irish defense was more than up to the task throughout the game and closed any running lanes down quickly.

The entire third quarter consisted of both teams continuing to pound the ground, and when Indiana tried to throw — Notre Dame’s pressure and coverage were a real problem for the Hoosiers. Mitch Jeter kicked another field goal lat in the third to make the game 20-3.

The Irish truly put the game away in the fourth quarter with a 9 play, 78 yard drive that took up almost six minutes. Riley Leonard scrambled into the end zone from 2 yards out to put the Irish up 27-3.

By the way… Jordan Faison had a terrific game with 7 receptions for 89 yards.

Indiana got the ball back and went 76 yards on 12 plays to score a touchdown and a two point conversion to make it 27-11 with 1:24 left in the game. The Hoosiers kicked an onside kick and recovered to set up for another chance at points — which they did masterfully with 25 seconds left in the game, but failed on the two point attempt to make it 27-17.

Indiana tried another onside kick, but Beaux Collins snagged it to essentially end a game that was over for a long time.

Punch the ticket for the Sugar Bowl and the Georgia Bulldogs.

More to come on OFD