Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531388
28 FEBRUARY 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Seriously, pick any of them. They're all outstanding. But none of them are better than graduate student safety Xavier Watts. Did Watts have more total tack- les than anyone else involved in Notre Dame's 27-17 win? No, he shared the top of the podium with Indiana linebackers Jailin Walker and Aiden Fisher. They all had 10. But did Watts have the most impactful of those takedowns, plus an interception near his own goal line that led to a 98-yard touchdown run? Yes. Yes, he did. "He was major," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said of Watts. "He made some big-time tackles, tracked the ball carrier well, was close to getting a couple balls out, had the interception. He's a leader out there." Watts leads. His teammates follow. And try to emulate his playmaking te- nacity. You can't go wrong in trying to be like Watts, a back-to-back consensus All-American and Notre Dame's first multiple-time consensus All-American since Aaron Taylor accomplished that feat in 1993. Take over a game as a quarterback, running back or wide receiver? Sure. Happens all the time. Defensive ends and linebackers can do it too, if they're good enough, given their proximity to the football to start and/or finish each play. At safety, it's less of a surefire thing to end up around the ball. Watts does it anyway. He is that good. Notre Dame being 12-1 and in the quarterfinals of the Col- lege Football Playoff is a lot of his do- ing. Pretty dang good for someone who spent some of his career at multiple other positions before finally settling in at safety. He's actually only just getting started there, which is a scary reality. "Everyone knows my story; I've bounced back and forth between re- ceiver and DB, and I just feel like I have so much more room to grow, just con- tinuing to improve," he said. Watts doesn't have to improve one iota between now and Jan. 20 for him to be Notre Dame's No. 1 helper in try- ing to win a national championship for the first time since 1988. He's plenty NOTRE DAME VS. INDIANA QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 7:57 7:25 11:15 9:06 15:22 20:21 35:43 Third-Down Conversions 2-2 3-5 0-2 2-3 5-7 2-5 7-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 Average Field Position ND-20 ND-19 ND-47 ND-36 ND-19 ND-42 ND-31 Indiana 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 7:03 7:35 3:45 5:54 14:38 9:39 24:17 Third-Down Conversions 2-4 1-3 0-2 1-3 3-7 1-5 4-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 1-1 1-1 Average Field Position IU-36 IU-28 IU-18 IU-38 IU-32 IU-30 IU-31 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND IND Nega ve 11 10 0-5 26 28 6-9 20 10 10-19 6 9 20-29 1 3 30-39 0 0 40-49 1 0 50 or more 1 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 4 2 1 1 Indiana 3 1 1 1 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 1-10 ND2 Love rush for 98 yards and a touchdown • 2-4 IU45 Leonard pass to Faison for 44 yards to IU1 Indiana • 3-13 ND45 Rourke pass to Sarratt for 28 yards to ND17 Watts (No. 0) racked up a career-high 10 tackles and notched a game-changing interception in Notre Dame's College Football Playoff win over Indiana. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER