Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2025 25 0-47 Record for Indiana in road/neutral games, and 1-71 overall, against As- sociated Press top-five teams. The Hoosiers now have a 3-11 record in major bowl/College Football Playoff games, last winning one in 1991 (a 24-0 victory over Baylor in the Copper Bowl). 1st Matchup in a BCS/New Year's Six/College Football Playoff game between in-state opponents since Florida State and Miami faced off in the 2004 Orange Bowl. It marked the first time the Irish and Hoosiers played since Sept. 7, 1991, and was just the second meeting between the two schools since 1959. Notre Dame now leads the all-time series 24-5-1, including 14-1-1 in South Bend. Indiana's last vic- tory in the series was a 20-7 triumph in 1950 at Bloomington, Ind. The time the Hoosiers won in South Bend was an 11-5 win in the first-ever meet- ing between the two schools in 1898. 3 Points is what Notre Dame held Indiana to in the first half, the Hoosiers' lowest scoring half of the season. The previous low was 7 in its eventual 38-15 loss to Ohio State Nov. 23. The Hoosiers, which entered the matchup with the Irish averaging 43.3 points per game, did not find the end zone until scoring a pair of touch- downs in the final 1:30 of the game. 8 Consecutive games with 150 yards both pass- ing and rushing for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame ran for 193 yards against Indiana's stingy rush defense (70.8 yards allowed per game enter- ing the contest) and passed for 201 while demon- strating excellent balance in its methodical victory. 9:08 Was how long Notre Dame possessed the ball on its 16-play, 83-yard touch- down drive that spanned the first and second quarters and staked it to a 14-0 lead over Indiana. The 16-play scoring drive was the longest for the Irish in their three College Football Playoff ap- pearances, surpassing their 15- and 14-play drives versus Alabama in 2021. 13.4 Million viewers on average for the ABC/ESPN broadcast of Notre Dame- Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff Dec. 20. The matchup between the Irish and Hoosiers peaked at 14.8 million viewers be- fore finishing as the third-most-watched college football game of the 2024 season. Only the Tennessee-Ohio State matchup Dec. 21, which peaked at 16.5 million on ABC/ESPN, was higher during the opening round of the CFP with an average of 14.3 million (second-highest of the 2024 campaign, behind only Georgia and Texas at 16.6 million for the SEC Championship Game on ABC/ESPN Dec. 7). Clemson-Texas and SMU-Penn State averaged 8.6 and 6.4 million, respectively, on TNT/Max Dec. 21. 15-8 All-time record — and 1-0 at Notre Dame Stadium — for the Fighting Irish in games played on Friday. Five of Notre Dame's games played on Fridays are considered home games. All occurred from 1888-1900; three took place at the Brownson Cam- pus, and one each at Green Stocking Ball Park and Cartier Field. Eight of Notre Dame's all-time Friday games were postseason games, playing in the Cotton Bowl (1971, 1988, 1993), the Gator Bowl (1999), the Sun Bowl (2010, 2023), the Fiesta Bowl (2016) and the Rose Bowl (2021 College Football Playoff semifinal). 55:57 Was the amount of time that In- diana trailed during its first-round matchup with Notre Dame. In their first 12 games of the season, the Hoosiers trailed for a grand total of only 52:41. 98 Yards on sophomore running back Jeremi- yah Love's touchdown run against Indiana in the first quarter. That is the longest by any Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision player in the country during the 2024 season and the longest in the 11-year history of the College Football Playoff, breaking the previous mark set by Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott (85 in 2015). It is also tied for the longest rush in Notre Dame program history, matching running back Josh Adams' 98-yard scoring run versus Wake Forest in 2015. 11,311 Days between postseason wins over an Associated Press top-10 team for Notre Dame. Prior to their 27-17 triumph over No. 9 Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff in South Bend on Dec. 20, 2024, the last time the Fighting Irish achieved that feat was a 24-21 win over No. 7 Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Jan. 1, 1994. BY THE NUMBERS BY STEVE DOWNEY 27 Straight wins for Notre Dame, all under head coach MARCUS FREEMAN, when leading at halftime. The last time the Irish lost after holding the halftime lead was when they had a 10-7 advantage after 30 minutes at Ohio State before the Buckeyes rallied for a 21-10 win on Sept. 3, 2022. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER