SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WDRB) — For Indiana, the end came with question marks and periods, not exclamation points, like the 11 the Hoosiers strung together on their unlikely march to the College Football Playoff.
What happened to the dependable decision making of IU quarterback Kurtis Rourke? Didn’t see much of it during Indiana’s 27-17 playoff loss to Notre Dame Friday night.
What was Rourke doing locking his eyes onto his first receiver or throwing the football into double coverage when the Hoosiers were in position to score the game’s first points midway through the first quarter?
What about Indiana’s tackling, tackling that was so dependable that the Hoosiers ranked first in the nation in rushing defense as IU won 11 of 12 games?
How can a unit that averaged giving up 71 yards rushing whiff multiple times on a 98-yard Notre Dame touchdown run, that was the longest run in all of college football this season?
Was it merely the Notre Dame speed that left Indiana looking a step behind or out of place?
What were the Hoosiers doing punting, down three scores with less than 11 minutes to play if they intended to win the game?
Why did Indiana settle for a fair catch on all but one Notre Dame kickoff?
And, I’d better not forget this question because a chunk of the college football world started asking it before halftime:
Did the Hoosiers’ flat, conservative performance for more than three quarters in the mostly one-sided loss at Notre Dame Stadium Friday night leave America questioning whether Curt Cignetti’s team deserved its spot in the 12-team playoff?
For many, I’m certain that it did. For Cignetti, it did not.
"This team earned the right to be here," Cignetti said. "I'm not sure we proved it tonight to a lot of people."
Louisville came into Notre Dame Stadium on the last Saturday in September, giving the Irish considerably more trouble in a 31-24 loss than the Hoosiers did in this playoff opener.
The Irish looked vulnerable in their final regular season game against USC. The Trojans scored 35 points with a freshman quarterback. The Irish looked like they belonged in a different league against the Hoosiers.
"It's easy to say we didn't play our best game but a lot of that was probably because of who we played," Cignetti said.
(Notre Dame will have to prove it belongs in a different league during its second playoff game against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1.)
The doubters will doubt, louder than they have all season, repeating their questions about the softness of IU’s schedule, which included only Ohio State among the Big Ten's best teams.
Around the Indiana program, the first batch of questions about strategy in this game will be asked. The last one will not be. The season will be punctuated with T-shirts, hats and public celebrations.
And it should be considering, this is a program that had never won 11 games and that Indiana beat Michigan, Washington and Nebraska, programs that have long been above the Hoosiers’ weight class.
ESPN’s College Game Day made its first real visit to Bloomington. The program’s national media coverage vibrated from coast to coast. All with a first-year coach whose team was projected to win 5 1/2 games by Las Vegas in August.
"All good things come to an end," Cignetti said. "At my age, I've seen it all. Lot of guys hurting in (the locker room). Part of life is learning to deal with disappointment in the proper way ...
"...but you are what your record says you are, right? So 11 wins, tied for second in the Big Ten and made the college football playoff, packed the stadium, made a lot of people proud and had a historic season. Set the stage hopefully for what's to come."
"You look at the track that Indiana football is on previously before we got here," IU linebacker Aidan Fisher said. "Then you look now, it's kind of a full 180. I think we've laid a foundation of what Indiana football can be and what it is now, and I expect to be right back here next year."
For Indiana, the misery in this game started early. After intercepting a pass by Irish quarterback Riley Leonard on the second Notre Dame play, the Hoosiers quickly advanced the ball to the Irish 17.
Great time to grind to the game’s first touchdown.
Reasonable time to at least scramble to the game’s first three points.
Terrible time to overthrow a receiver who was double-covered directly into the arms of Notre Dame all-American safety Xavier Watts.
That’s precisely what Rourke did. It was his first bad throw on a night when he went for 20 of 33 for 215 yards.
"He's made that throw a thousand times," IU offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan said. "He was just a little bit off."
One play later Notre Dame Stadium was as loud as it got all night. Jeremiyah Love crackled through a hole on the left side of the line bounced outside, shed a pair of Indiana tacklers like loose fur and roared to a 98-yard touchdowns.
In 14 seconds the Hoosiers went from a position of strength to gasping.
"Had a (defender) in the wrong gap," Cignetti said. "Bigger, stronger, faster. We can't catch him."
They never recovered. Not completely.
James Evans shanked a pair of punts. Rourke was unable to complete more than two consecutive passes in the first half. Notre Dame tight end Jayden Thomas slipped behind the IU linebackers for a 5-yard touchdown reception early in second quarter.
The teams traded field goals to end the half, but Notre Dame was even more impressive in the kicking game. The ND field goal carried 49 yards while Indiana’s was merely 34.
The second half was similarly uneventful for Indiana. The Irish kicked a field goal and added a touchdown, surging ahead 27-7, easily covering the 7 1/2-point spread.
The Hoosiers finally found the end zone with 1:27 to play when Rourke and Myles Price teamed for a 7-yard touchdown pass, that IU punctuated with a 2-point conversion. A successful on-side kick led to another consolation score with 25 seconds to play.
So the Hoosiers’ season ends with a school record 11 wins and a pair of losses. That the losses came in the final three games against the two highest ranked teams IU played (Ohio State and ND) will ensure that their doubters will howl about Indiana’s worthiness to participate.
But at Indiana, it will be celebrated as the best season in school history, one that ignited the Curt Cignetti Era, changing the limit of what was possible with IU football.
Heck, Cignetti said the team was scheduled to return to the football complex at 3:30 am -- and then host seven recruits out of the transfer portal later Saturday morning.
"We've got a good nucleus coming back," Cignetti said. "We'll be OK."
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