SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Curt Cignetti facilitated the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history. He turned one of the nation’s biggest punching bags into a College Football Playoff team in one season with a cast of overlooked Power Four players and Group of Five standouts, earning countless coach of the year honors for his efforts. That said, No. 10 Indiana’s 27-17 loss at No. 7 Notre Dame in the first round of the Playoff showed that good coaching only goes so far without high-end talent.
On big stages, the biggest stars tend to shine the brightest. Think back to the 2024 Playoff: Maxwell Award-winning Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (a former Hoosier, of course) threw for 430 yards and two touchdowns to beat Texas, giving Washington a chance at a national title. Two-time All-American Michigan running back Blake Corum racked up 134 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns in the Wolverines’ 34-13 win over Washington.
All playoff teams are well-coached. That’s how they rise above the pack. Talent then plays a key role in separating the good teams from the great teams.
Per 247Sports, Notre Dame has 57 four-star players on its roster to Indiana’s 10. Notre Dame has one five-star player, Indiana has none. The most notable of the 57 four-stars on the Irish roster is 2025 Heisman Trophy-contending running back Jeremiyah Love, whose 98-yard touchdown run followed a Kurtis Rourke red zone interception and spelled trouble for Indiana.
“We couldn’t catch (Love),” Cignetti said postgame. “(He was) bigger, stronger, faster.”
That can be said for Notre Dame as a whole. The Irish racked up 394 total yards and averaged 5.5 yards per rush while holding Indiana to 2.3 yards per rush and 278 total yards. Marcus Freeman’s squad looked quicker and more physical all night long, keeping Indiana on its heels until the late stages. Notre Dame led 27-3 before Indiana scored a pair of touchdowns and a two-point conversion in the final five minutes.
“They’re not the biggest group,” Indiana center Mike Katic said. “But they’re twitchy and fast.”
Another big-time player who stepped up for the Irish was safety Xavier Watts, a unanimous All-American who won the Bronco Nagurski Trophy in 2023. Along with his first-quarter interception, Watts led the Irish with 10 tackles. He spearheaded a Notre Dame defensive backfield that Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan described as one of the better units the Hoosiers faced all season long.
Much like Indiana’s 38-15 loss at then-No. 2 Ohio State on Nov. 23, quarterback Kurtis Rourke never settled in. He missed on seemingly routine throws and forced passes into unnecessarily tight windows on plays like the interception that set up Love’s 98-yard gallop. Rourke took three sacks and faced two quarterback hurries — by and large, he had clean pockets. He and the rest of Indiana’s offense just failed to execute.
Notre Dame’s high-end talent made plays when it needed to. The Irish racked up 10 tackles for loss and, by and large, clogged up Indiana’s running lanes. Justice Ellison and Ty Son Lawton both averaged 3.4 yards per carry and neither eclipsed 40 yards on the ground. Wherever they tried to find a gap, there were multiple golden helmets waiting for them.
“Defensively, they pretty much suffocated our offense until the last minute and a half of the game,” Cignetti said. “They beat us, and they deserved it.”
Let’s look at the big picture for a moment: Yes, Indiana fell flat on a big stage for the second time in a month. Yes, Cignetti and his staff, by their own admission, were too conservative. That shouldn’t take away from the remarkable job that they did in turning the program around.
“Look at the track that Indiana was on before we got here,” linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “Now, it’s a complete 180. I expect to be right back here next year.”
“Part of life is learning how to deal with disappointment the proper way and coming back a stronger person because of the experience,” Cignetti said. “It doesn’t diminish what these guys accomplished this season — a lot of firsts. I’m proud of them.”
Moving forward, it’s clear that Indiana must attract higher-caliber talent to compete on the biggest stages in college football. College football’s perennial powers tend to send lots of players into the pro ranks, something that Indiana has not historically done well.
This historic 11-2 season that featured four consecutive home sellouts will help Cignetti and his staff recruit higher-ranked prospects and big-name transfers. Hoosier fans should trust Cignetti to find diamonds in the rough, too. Defensive lineman James Carpenter is living proof — the former walk-on had a team-high six solo tackles, a sack and a pass breakup that led to an interception in Indiana’s loss to the Fighting Irish.
“Coming into this year, nobody thought we’d be here,” Carpenter said. “This program’s only going up. Coach Cig is just getting started here. He’s going to get it done.”
Yes, he talks a lot. Yes, that talk came back to bite him again on Friday. But Cignetti has also awoken a sleeping giant at the corner of 17th Street and Woodlawn Ave. Carpenter said it best: He’s just getting started.
