Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 FEBRUARY 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE T he first sign Notre Dame's College Football Playoff game against In- diana would look, sound and feel like a Fighting Irish home game was the Coogan family tailgate. Hosted by Michael Coogan, father of senior center Pat Coogan, the tailgate was in the same spot it always is. It's impos- sible to miss, walking out of the Bulla Lot, northeast of Notre Dame Stadium. It was tented, like many tailgates around cam- pus. Its speakers played "The Boys Are Back" by the Dropkick Murphys, the team's tra- ditional intro video song. This was at about 1:30 p.m. ET. Kickoff was six- and-a-half hours away. Many tailgates were up that early. The stadium lot might have been a little more sparsely attended than usual, but that could be chalked up to the below-freezing temperatures and light snow throughout the morning and early afternoon. The statue of legendary Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne was caked in snow, mostly on its right shoulder. Turn around, and the set of College GameDay had already filled up. There seemed to be more references to the current team than usual in the sign contingent. A couple kick-started sopho- more running back Jeremiyah Love's 2025 Heisman Trophy campaign. The winner might have been a Christmas tribute to graduate student safety Xavier Watts. "Better Watts out," the green-and- gold sign read to the tune of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." "Better not try. Prolly gonna pout, I'm telling you why: Xavier Watts is picking you off." Some might call that foreshadowing. UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS Night fell on Notre Dame Stadium at around 5:20 p.m. ET. The video board, as Irish athletics director Pete Bevacqua said it might, featured College Football Playoff imagery. For most of the pregame, it was a black screen with the IU logo on the left, the ND logo on the right and the CFP logo reading "Playoff First Round" under pic- tures of stadium lights in the middle. Much of the pregame, though, felt awfully familiar. Notre Dame did its Victory March un- der cover of darkness, around the set of College Game Day. When the Irish entered the stadium, the same bagpipe music that always blares from the public address system came on. Shortly after that, the Notre Dame student section started to fill in. It filled in a whole lot faster than usual. (The university had slightly adjusted the aca- demic calendar for the students, and Bevacqua stressed they were critical to the game-day atmosphere.) The stu- dent section rained heavy boos down on every round of uniformed Hoosiers that jogged onto the field for warmups, and it brought its loudest pregame cheers for senior quarterback Riley Leonard. What a difference a few months can make. "I didn't really get to take it all in be- cause you're focused on doing your job, but pregame I did," Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said after the game. "I took a minute to take it in." Everything about the pregame rou- tine — and the game day atmosphere in general — felt normal, but better. The marching band did its traditional routine. The public address announcer, Chris Ackels, ended his introductory spiel with "… and welcome to the Col- lege Football Playoff !" The Indiana hype video that caused so much anxi- ety throughout the week cut off David Guetta's "I'm Good (Blue)," and it was swiftly booed by the South Bend crowd. "The Boys Are Back" would wait until the start of the second half. Instead, Notre Dame debuted a new intro video, featur- ing Aerosmith's "Dream On." After it was over, Ackels shouted, "Here come the Irish!" and the team ran out to thunderous cheers and pyrotechnics. Any concerns of a crimson takeover were put to bed early. NO WINE AND CHEESE HERE Notre Dame Stadium has a reputation for being quiet. Sometimes, particularly during some early season day games this year, it has earned that reputation. This was not one of those times. That place was loud. It was loud when Love turned the corner from the shadow of his own goal line and the crowd collec- tively realized there was no one between him and the end zone. It was loud when Indiana had the ball. It affected Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke in ways it does not usually affect opposing quarterbacks. "It was awesome," Irish defensive co- ordinator Al Golden said. "They were just awesome. You can't say enough. They were just awesome. You could feel it, the energy, and execution fuels emotion." During the fourth quarter, Notre Dame fan Jon Bon Jovi's "Living On A Prayer" played alongside a light show. When the game was all but wrapped up, Irish fans chanted, "Hoosier Daddy." They were re- warded with a second rendition of Cathy Richardson's "Here Come The Irish." "Unbelievable," Freeman said. "The crowd played a factor. The noise played a factor. It was a special thing to be a part of." ✦ UNDER THE DOME The atmosphere for the first-ever College Football playoff game in South Bend was electric. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER ONCE IN A LIFETIME Inside the first College Football Playoff game day at Notre Dame Stadium