Rakes Report #251: Every night will end and every day will start with a grateful prayer and a thankful heart (The Indiana Review)

Notre Dame made history (complimentary) with a dominant home playoff win as Marcus Freeman’s team reaches new heights.

~optional musical accompaniment~

1) The pressure on Notre Dame football against the Hoosiers was immense. Hosting the first-ever on-campus FBS playoff game against a nothing-to-lose opponent having a dream season who happened to reside down the road a little ways, there was so much potential downside. Imagine trying to watch a few minutes of a random bowl over Christmas week and seeing a commercial for Georgia/Indiana in New Orleans? No thank you. Regardless of what happened on Friday night, the result was going to be a trivia question answer.

But while a loss would have been devastating, there was so much upside available with a win. A chance for Marcus Freeman to show his recently signed extension was an unimpeachably wise decision by the administration. A chance for this team to show a large audience how much they had grown since the first weekend in September, that the offense was better and the defense was still elite and that the list of talented guys we’ve been able to root for all season was lengthy. A chance to remind everyone that the Fighting Irish aren’t just an integral part of college football history but remain an unquestionable part of the sport’s present. There was no reason this had to be close, and thanks to a tremendous effort from Freeman, his staff, his roster and the home crowd, it wasn’t.

You will be hard-pressed to ever find a better consecutive two-play sequence to define what a season has been about than Xavier Watts coming up with his 13th career interception before Jeremiyah Love scored a rushing touchdown in his 13th consecutive game in the most badass fashion imaginable. Indiana was technically in the contest after that since only four minutes had elapsed, but with the crowd in a frenzy it was effectively over. After so many rotten postseason draws over the years, it was nice to pull a team that simply didn’t have the horses to compete with the Irish.

Notre Dame didn’t just win, but the entire campus put on a show that I think is going to be great for the future of college football. So much national attention was directed toward South Bend — thank you to ESPN for the bonus “GameDay” — and between the pregame festivities, tailgate scene, gorgeous snowy campus and hyped crowd, the push to move at least one more round of games away from bowls is already on. A perfect day and perfect night. Let’s talk about it some more.

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Brief interlude to thank everyone who has donated to Christmas Giving. We’ve nearly doubled a second stretch goal for the Center for the Homeless, which is wild stuff. The GoFundMe will be open the rest of the month if you get the urge. Also I want to point out that Bridget’s “There’s No Place Like Home For the Holidays” shirts are now commemorating a win. Also Jess and I did a reaction podcast available wherever you listen — we were both so very tired and so very hungover but I think it’s still fun.

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2) The working theory coming into this game was if Kurtis Rourke and company struggled to move the ball on Ohio State and Michigan then they would likely have some issues with the Irish defense. That was proven correct in loud fashion as Al Golden put the Hoosier offense in a box and drained the oxygen out during the competitive portion of the evening. In his final game at Notre Dame Stadium, Xavier Watts was incredible, coming through with the interception, leading the team in tackles and allowing fans to feel very comfortable via his general calming presence. The fact he isn’t a two-time unanimous All-American is absolute bullshit so two-time consensus All-American and Beloved Fighting Irish Legend will have to do.

The speed and violence were a thrill to watch all night. Howard Cross was back and healthy, playing 56 snaps, more than anyone on his unit that wasn’t a defensive back. All the young linebackers flashed, with Jaiden Ausberry, Drayk Bowen and Jaylen Sneed combining for 4.5 tackles for loss. Rylie Mills was a terror before his injury, Joshua Burnham helped set the tone early and Bryce Young no longer looked like a freshman (not that he ever really did at his size). It remains easy to forget Adon Shuler is only a sophomore because he’s been so steady all season but he was so good once again and provides the promise of light in a post-Watts world.

The Hoosiers were able to do some damage attacking the middle of the field with slants but their run game was choked off outside of the early success. With the exception of the initial third-down catch that preceded the X interception, it seemed like nearly every time Rourke tried to target someone up a sideline a) They were blanked by at least two and sometimes three Irish players (Leonard Moore, you’re incredible) and/or b) The ball was woefully off target. Rough offensive process, rough execution.

The Irish let off the gas at the end and allowed some cosmetic scores but here’s Golden postgame when asked what he takes away from the final minutes:

“We had the game in control the whole game, so I'm not worried about the end of the game. There's things that we can learn from it. Obviously we've got to finish better and I've got to make some calls there, but at that point, I just didn't think continuing to show elaborate pressures in that situation was to our benefit, to be quite honest with you. I could have called a better game at the end there for the guys and helped them out.”

If a primary takeaway after a double-digit playoff win is the prevent defense could have been a little tighter, we’re in a nice place. Also shoutout to Jack Kiser, who had five tackles and earned his 68th game in blue and gold, a record that’s going to stand for a very long time if not forever.

3) The game plan from Mike Denbrock and Freeman felt borderline disrespectful in the best way, with a clear understanding that the Hoosiers weren’t going to put up many points so there was no reason to get cute. I was skeptical of how much the Indiana defensive numbers were the result of their schedule (particularly with opposing quarterbacks faced) but we now have a 13-game sample size that they were legit. Tip of the hat but bigger acknowledgement of what the Irish were able to do to them with a couple big plays, one clinical drive and limited mistakes.

I expected a bunch of Riley Leonard runs but they didn’t have to tap into that, plus there were only ten total touches for Jeremiyah Love. Love obviously made the most of those opportunities, ripping off the 98-yarder, getting in a hurdle and unleashing a stiff-arm from hell. The Love touchdown run was incredible and also entirely predictable because that’s the kind of thing he’s done all year. There was so much time to celebrate because it was pretty clear what the result was going to be with about 80 yards of field to go. It’s very cool to see something and know “As long as they play Notre Dame football, that’s going to be in the highlight reel.”

Sturdy game from Leonard, who had the early pass batted into an interception but otherwise protected the ball well. He engineered the 16-play drive that ended in a fun touchdown toss to Jayden Thomas but he really showed out on the final scoring drive, casually converting a third-and-four with his legs, stepping up in the pocket while bracing for contact to deliver the beautiful post to Jordan Faison and then walking in the touchdown. (In classic Leonard fashion, he apologized to Aneyas Williams for not letting him get the score.) Leonard’s legs were also key when the offensive line started to wobble a bit in the second half (following an injury to Rocco Spindler), escaping pressure that was at times coming immediately on the snap.

(Leonard now owns the single-season rushing touchdown record for quarterbacks while also completing 67% of his passes. Monster test coming up with a defensive guru like Kirby Smart but Healthy Riley has been a very good college QB this season.)

Faison has played two postseason football games. In the first, he earned the Sun Bowl MVP. In the second, he had seven catches for 89 yards, a 43-yard kickoff return and a fumble recovery that saved the day. Pretty good, especially considering that doesn’t include his other Fighting Irish postseason in which he won a lacrosse national championship. Beaux Collins had a nice third-down catch on the monster touchdown drive, and Jaden Greathouse’s only catch of the day was a third-down snag in traffic. Aneyas Williams and Jadarian Price both ran hard and were close to breaking some really fun stuff. I have accepted there is likely information about health/practice/scheme/fit not available to me but 56 snaps for Collins versus 19 for Thomas seems like too big of a gap.

4) Great effort by Mitch Jeter, I was expecting his 49-yard attempt at the conclusion of the first half to end up somewhere near Mishawaka the way things had been going but it was his first of two makes. The managing of that two-minute drill could have been a little cleaner between timeout usage and urgency but a minor complaint, it was far more in the “Shaggier than necessary” category versus being anything approaching a debacle.

Nifty work by Marty Biagi with the reverse on the opening return of the second half and the fake field goal formation that caused Indiana to burn a second-half timeout. (That could have potentially mattered quite a bit if not for the fact Notre Dame completely dominated.) I cannot imagine what the Georgia special teams meetings are going to be like as they watch cut-ups of the numerous blocked kicks allowed by Notre Dame this season. Incredible onside kick attempts by the Hoosiers, picture-perfect.

I’m trying to think of a coach suffering a bigger reputational hit after one game than Curt Cignetti is going to take out of this performance. If you want to talk that much crap, you can’t kick field goals down 14-0 on fourth and four (especially when the preceding two plays are runs up the middle), and you sure as hell can’t punt from midfield down three scores with only 10 minutes left in the game. Cignetti had way more elimination game experience than Freeman going into Friday but there was nothing in the way the evening played out that would have made you think that.

Elite atmosphere, the noise level for the opening three-and-out was special and the majority of the crowd stood the entire game. I’ve been adamant for years that while Notre Dame Stadium will never be confused with The Swamp or Death Valley or a full-bore Happy Valley White Out, the crowd has brought/can bring it for the big games. This was no exception and concerns over any sort of crimson and cream takeover were unfounded and unnecessary. I guess it’s possible the Hoosier fans present would have been louder if they hadn’t watched their team get thrown from pillar to post for the whole game but they did.

While I will remember and cherish my experience Friday for as long as my broken brain is firing synapses, I was disappointed by a lot of the in-game production. Outside of the band playing “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” there was no acknowledgement of the holiday season. Given an opportunity to have something special before the fourth quarter with Notre Dame up multiple scores in a playoff game, the choice was a video of a rodent doing Freddie Mercury call-and-response followed by a sprinkling of “Seven Nation Army” during what felt like an abbreviated light show. There was an acknowledgement of the legends in attendance (Jerome Bettis gave a brief address and discussed his familiarity with towels) but it felt like too much of a normal game for how notable things were.

Fun things: Due to the rules of the College Football Playoff, Indiana got their own entrance video. I couldn’t tell you what was said in it because the crowd was booing so loudly. We got a “Crazy Train” in the second half and a reprise of “I’m Shipping Up To Boston.” Loved Father Pete getting his own vignette (Deacon Pete to Dillon Hall residents of a certain age.) I know I spent an entire paragraph above complaining but I will never take for granted the fact the stadium is playing DMX, Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator. Also loved the ovation for the women’s basketball highlights. Speaking of, the best backcourt in the nation was on one Sunday - Friend of the Report Olivia Miles you are nasty for this.

5) Variation of Winning Is Hard section to comment on some of the larger playoff discourse in abbreviated fashion: Indiana earned their way into the playoff, as did SMU, as did Tennessee. If you looked at most of the advanced stats models, the Hoosiers were ahead of or even with most of the teams Lane Kiffin and the pro-SEC media machine were crying should have been in over them, up until Lane and the rest of that crew got real quiet as the Big Ten’s fourth place finisher turned the Volunteers into a fine powder.

In addition to pushing for more on-campus games, it seems like the push to switch up how the byes work is already on, which is tremendous news for Notre Dame. (The response from many will be “Well, what about conference title games?,” but that seems like a problem for the bloated leagues who made questionable decisions, not the playoff bracket.) If you did five autobids for conference champs but straight seeding otherwise, your first-round matchups this season would have been Clemson at Notre Dame (a series that's split over the last four), Arizona State at Ohio State (uh, well, I guess we’ll see how the Sun Devils do against Texas), SMU at Tennessee (seems like a better matchup for both) and Boise State at Indiana (same).

Here’s the thing, though: The job of the committee isn’t to try and make a bunch of exciting match ups, it’s to try and pick the five conference champions and seven at-large teams with the best on-field resumes and seed them. Some years that’s going to result in one-sided competition like we had this weekend, and some years we’re going to get a lot of thrills, just like every other postseason model in existence. If you want guaranteed drama, turn to fiction.

6) My guiding philosophy about the importance of college football is that while I enjoy so many of the individual aspects — the lore, the stats, the debating, the pageantry, the strategy, the drama, the mascots, etc., etc., etc. — the primary thing to me is the community it creates. Getting to gather on campus a few days before Christmas with many people I care about deeply and then watch Notre Dame win a historic football game? That’s as good as it gets. Special day, special night and Marcus Freeman’s team still has the opportunity to make this an extra special season.

Getting past Indiana was huge for all the reasons outlined above. This is now a season in which Notre Dame won at Kyle Field and the Coliseum, blew out the AAC champ in primetime at Yankee Stadium, put together an 11-game winning streak (with the potential to grow) and dominated in the first-ever on-campus FBS playoff game. The path to the championship game is there (oddsmakers have the Sugar Bowl as a coin flip, and if they advance to the Orange Bowl, that would likely be a coin flip at worst) but we’re at the point where I won’t look back on this season with anything but warm feelings regardless of any future result.

We’ll see if Rylie Mills, Bryce Young, Rocco Spindler and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa are ready to go for New Year’s night, but the list of casualties has grown so long with them plus Benjamin Morrison, Jordan Botelho, Boubacar Traore, Ashton Craig and Charles Jagusah. It’s asking so much for this team to keep going, but it’s nice to know they’re going to face the SEC champions — albeit a two-loss SEC champion that’s shown flaws and is down its starting quarterback — with full confidence, swagger and focus. It’s going to be a rock fight, but this team can absolutely win one of those.

It’s an added wrinkle with the 12-team playoff these games have now taken on a very specific bit of stress you get from March Madness and other extended postseasons in that if the team you’re supporting loses, that sucks because losing is the worst but even more devastatingly there’s the finality that you will also never get to see that particular combination of players work together again when you could have if they had advanced. This is a damn good football team we get to cheer for, and if we’re lucky we’ll get to cheer for them for three more games. But we’re always going to have Friday night’s roaring success against the Hoosiers, and we’re also guaranteed the upcoming knock-down, drag-out brawl with the Bulldogs. Not bad for a program left for dead in early September being led by a guy with only three seasons of head coaching experience.

Thank you all so much for reading along this season. I wish you the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of holidays. I’m not sure if you’ll hear from me before the Sugar Bowl but until the next edition take care of yourselves and each other. Go Irish, Beat Bulldogs.