Two things can be true — Indiana football deserved to be in the College Football Playoff. But, its loss shows how the ‘margin for error is so small’ in these environments

SOUTH BEND, Ind — It was a historic moment for the Indiana football program on Friday night, regardless of the result. A trip to the College Football Playoff showed just how far this program — and team — had come in just one year. That can’t be lost in the result. But, on Friday it was Notre Dame who neutralized all of the strengths that IU had this season and dominated in a 27-17 win over the Hoosiers.

Indiana came in as one of the most dominant and explosive offenses in the nation. Not on Friday. Kurtis Rourke was one of the most efficient quarterbacks all season long. Not on Friday against the Irish. Indiana’s offensive line was very much improved all year. But, not on Friday.

The list goes on, and on. Despite the growth and development Indiana had in year one under Curt Cignetti, its loss to Notre Dame shows still the improvement and growth it needs in order to not just beat the best, but compete.

“I think they played well,” Cignetti said about Notre Dame. “There were probably some pretty ordinary things that we normally would execute that we didn’t get done very well.

“They won the line of scrimmage. They won the one-on-one match-ups on the perimeter. They affected the quarterback and they swarmed to the ball.”

Indiana was 25th in the nation in yards per game at 438.8 and was held to just 278. IU averaged 173.6 yards per game on the ground coming into Friday and was held to just 63 yards. For most of the night — outside of the final two drives of the game — IU was dominated at the line of scrimmage forcing the explosive and multi-dimensional offense into a shell of itself.

Kurtis Rourke was just 20-of-33 for 215 yards on the night. But, when the game was in hand, at 27-3, Rourke was just 9-of-18 with one interception. He finished the last two drives 11-of-15 with two touchdowns.

“I thought we actually did a pretty good job of protection for most of the game,” IU offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan said. “They made it really challenging on you to get completions and get him in rhythm. I think we had a drop early on on an RPO. And credit to Notre Dame’s defensive backs. That’s a really good unit, one of the better units we faced all year long. And we weren’t able to win some of those 50/50 contested catches that we knew we were going to have to win a good amount of those in this game to have success.”

Take away the final two drives for Indiana football and it had punted on every possession of the second half, and six of the eight previous possessions. In the third quarter alone, Indiana ran six plays for -7 yards.

“Defensively they pretty much suffocated our offense until the last minute and a half of the game,” Cignetti said.

“The D line created some penetration,” Shanahan added. “We were trying to establish the run, which we were doing a good job of. We had some runs come out early in the first half. And whenever we went back to it, maybe it was a one-yard gain or they were in the backfield for a TFL. Kind of got off schedule there, and weren’t able to overcome whenever we got behind the chains.”

Indiana had been a team all season that had played complementary football and been able to ride waves of momentum. That was not the case against the Irish. Any potential momentum swing made by the defense was halted by little to no movement from the offensive group.

Indiana had four drives of two minutes of less. It also had six possessions with fewer than two first downs.

On both sides of the ball, the lack of capitalizing on field position or matchups — and details — was a significant difference in Friday’s loss vs wins throughout the season.

Overall, the sentiment from the entire Indiana football program was the discussion about the margin of error. The little details that move the needle in numerous areas

“The thing I notice is the margin for error is just so small,” IU defensive coordinator Bryant Haines said. “They get the ball on the minus-2-yard line. I put in a simple kind of gapped-out call. I was thinking of being even more aggressive. I was talking to Aiden Fisher; you want to go attack them, maybe we can get two points here?”

Whether it was missed tackles, dropped passes or second guessing, Indiana didn’t play its best on Friday, in large part to Notre Dame.

There are two things that can be true from its loss to the Irish — Indiana football deserved to be in the College Football Playoff and its losses to Notre Dame and Ohio State this year show how far the Hoosiers need to still go to compete at the level it needs to in these environments.

“They’ve probably got more depth than we do,” Cignetti said of Notre Dame. “They probably have some front-line guys that are just a little bit bigger, stronger, faster than our guys.”

Despite the loss — and now the potential narrative surrounding the Indiana football program — the 2024 season is one that will not be forgotten. It now sets the foundation for the future and the loss to Notre Dame is just part of the story.

“All good things come to an end. And when you’re my age, you’ve seen it all,” Cignetti said. “And I have a lot of guys hurting in there but a part of life is learning how to deal with disappointment the proper way and come back a stronger person because of the experience. You never get everything you want in life. That’s how life is. But it doesn’t diminish what these guys accomplished, for sure this season which everyone in this room can detail out what this team’s accomplished.”

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