The 2024 College Football Playoff brought with it the first-ever installment of the 12-team bracket. On Friday, Indiana and Notre Dame played the historic first game in that new era between 2 programs with vastly different histories.

And, facing the Fighting Irish on the road, Indiana was unable to pull off the upset and deliver a resounding win to further the best season in program history. The Hoosiers did provide a spirited finish to the game but only after the Fighting Irish had built an insurmountable 27-3 lead in the 4th quarter.

In the end, Notre Dame secured the win by a final score of 27-17 to move onto the Sugar Bowl and a CFP quarterfinal matchup with Georgia. As for Curt Cignetti, Indiana’s 11-win season comes to an end, but Friday’s game will provide lessons for the future as the Hoosiers try to build on the success of 2024.

Here are the key takeaways from IU’s season-ending defeat:

Rushing defense breaks early — and often

Coming into this game, it was clear Indiana’s defense was going to be tested heavily by the Notre Dame offense. While the Hoosiers led the nation with just 70.83 rushing yards allowed per game, the Irish boasted the No. 10 rushing offense at 224.83 yards per game.

And it was clear early on Notre Dame had the edge in the trenches.

Star running back Jeremiyah Love broke things open with a 98-yard touchdown early in the game. In case you didn’t catch on a few sentences earlier, that means Love’s touchdown eclipsed Indiana’s full-game average for rushing yards allowed. And that was just the start.

Love finished the game with 108 rushing yards, but Notre Dame as a team pummeled Indiana for 193 rushing yards and 5.5 yards per carry.

That performance allowed Notre Dame to stay ahead of the chains and convert 7-for-13 on 3rd downs. The Irish also held the ball for nearly 36 minutes of game clock, an advantage of 11 minutes over the Hoosiers.

Kurtis Rourke, offense disrupted by Irish defense

While Indiana looked to be balanced on offense this season, it was clear coming into this game that the Hoosiers were going to need to throw the ball effectively to pull off the stunner. Unfortunately, that never happened.

Kurtis Rourke’s final numbers of 215 passing yards and 2 touchdowns look decent enough, until you consider that he averaged 257 yards per game. A lot of his yardage came late in the game after Notre Dame built its 27-3 lead, and Rourke’s 61% completion percentage in the game greatly trailed his 70.4% from the regular season.

Some of the issues of the passing attack reside in the offensive line with an inability to protect Rourke throughout the game. The Fighting Irish were able to harass Rourke and keep him on his toes all game long, but it was also clear something was just not right from the start.

After an early interception from the Hoosier defense, Rourke converted a big play to move Indiana into the red zone. Unfortunately, he got greedy and threw a pick deep in Irish territory shortly after.

The very next play resulted in Love’s 98-yard score, and the rest is history.

The task ahead

The disappointment of Friday’s performance is steep. There’s no getting around that fact, and it’s a performance the Hoosiers will dwell on for some time.

There is still a need, however, to focus on the positives of this season while balancing an outlook at the path ahead.

No one entering the 2024 season had any realistic expectations of a historic season for IU. Well, everyone except Curt Cignetti, maybe.

AN 11-2 season seemed unthinkable, and there is a lot to be said about that kind of historic breakthrough in Year 1. But now the task becomes making sure the 2024 season is not just another footnote in Indiana’s football history.

The Hoosiers were 100% deserving of being in the Playoff, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. That being said, the schedule was a major beneficiary, and it did not appear that way when IU drew the two teams that competed for the national title last season in Washington and Michigan.

The 2025 Big Ten schedule is already out, and it feels safe to say that Indiana will not have quite as positive as a path next year. So while it would be easy to relish in the success of this season, Cignetti and his staff will need to turn right around and prove it can do something special as a follow-up to 2024.

You set your own expectations, and Cignetti came in talking the talking and backed it up by walking his walk straight into the Playoff in Year 1. He doesn’t need to immediately get back into the Playoff next season, but he better get the Hoosiers in a bowl game and competitive in every game of the season.

Otherwise, 2024 will be just a feel-good story that was as opposed to the initial building stone of a true football program in Bloomington.