Column: Why Notre Dame earned to revel in every moment and second of its College Football Playoff win
SOUTH BEND, IN - DECEMBER 20: Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman reacts after the win against the Indiana Hoosiers on December 20, 2024, during the CFP First Round playoff game at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Brian
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - When Marcus Freeman took the podium to talk about a historical night at Notre Dame Stadium, he had one more novel moment to take part in.
Representatives from the Sugar Bowl joined Freeman at the podium to present Friday's winning coach with a game ball and an official invitation to the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.
Such a massive moment needs university approval, right? Freeman, as he's done in the right moments all season long, made the right call.
"We accept," Freeman said. "I assume we accept."
On to New Orleans.
It was a moment of levity, but who can blame the jokes? There's no set precedent. Notre Dame's 27-17 win over Indiana is the first win in the expanded CFP era. It was a historical moment. That wasn't lost on Freeman.
"I want them not to look past tonight. Celebrate tonight," Freeman said. "Celebrate this victory that they worked tremendously hard to achieve and obtain."
Freeman's team earned every second of its celebration on Friday.
For the first time, Notre Dame was on the other end of a big College Football Playoff win. The Irish weren't down 27-3 in the fourth quarter. Indiana was.
The college football community wasn't criticizing and questioning Notre Dame's credentials. They were asking about the Hoosiers' resume.
The way Notre Dame arrived at its historical crossroads on Friday night was the same way it had arrived to about 10 of its 11 wins in the 2024 season.
Get up on an opponent and hold them down until the clock hits zeroes.
Riley Leonard's three-yard touchdown run with just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter pushed Notre Dame's lead to 27-3 on Indiana sealed the win.
Before the game, on ESPN College GameDay, Cignetti was his usual confident self speaking with former Alabama coach and the consensus greatest college football coach of all-time Nick Saban to his left.
"We don't just beat Top 25 teams," he said, "we beat the s--- out of them."
After the game, Cignetti could only talk about what happened on the field and not in the past.
"Defensively, they pretty much suffocated our offense until the last minute and a half of the game," Cignetti said. "Their skill guys made good plays. They played well. And they beat us."
Notre Dame beat Indiana with a 98-yard Jeremiyah Love touchdown run that tied Josh Adams for the longest touchdown run in Irish history. One split gap, and Love was gone and Notre Dame Stadium became the most electric place on Earth.
In the past, Notre Dame was looked at as the blue-blood program that just didn't fit in the modern age.
The Irish' last championship was in 1988. They hadn't won a New Year's Six, New Year's Day, BCS or CPF bowl game of significance since the 1994 Cotton Bowl.
The question stood: does the College Football Playoff first round count as a significant bowl game? One glance around South Bend on Friday was a resounding and emphatic "you bet."
Freeman's leadership brought Notre Dame to the dance, and the Irish are shuffling off to New Orleans. That leadership this season balanced the perfect amount of confidence with humility.
"My freshman year, I went 3-9," Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard said. "I as just begging to make a bowl game. To be playing the Sugar Bowl right now, I got to kind of go full circle now."
Everything for Notre Dame since Week 2 has been a do-or-die game. The Irish faithful could probably go the rest of their days without ever thinking about Northern Illinois. The fact remains, the program had to get over that 16-14 loss.
Notre Dame won 10 straight. Freeman deserves credit for leading his team to CFP history by instilling a culture of calm around the Irish that shined in the first quarter.
Before Love's seismic touchdown run, Leonard's first pass was tipped and intercepted. Xavier Watts answered with an interception of his own. There was no panic, just a team getting the job done.
"If you look around the sideline, no one was concerned or anything," Irish linebacker Jack Kiser said. "Everybody just knew, hey, we gotta do our job, right? I don't think it was too chaotic at all."
To be clear, Indiana belonged in the playoff.
The 11-1 Hoosiers only lost to Ohio State. Those clamoring for the SEC to have had another team in the field of 12 don't have much room to argue.
Indiana might not have had a top-10 win, but they took care of business in a top-heavy Big 10. The two left out SEC teams, Alabama and Ole Miss, lost three games. If there's a clear CFP disqualifier, it's three losses.
That shouldn't be the focus from Friday night. Notre Dame's all-world defense should be. Jeremiyah Love should be. The fact that on-campus CFP games are an insane atmosphere should be.
Notre Dame should be. They've shown they can be a program that can clear step one in chasing a national title in this 12-team playoff era. The Irish have to move forward, but this team has earned the right to revel in a moment that its head coach created after the program hit rock bottom earlier this season.
Take a bow, Freeman. Have a night, Notre Dame. It's well-earned.
"You don't get enough time in life and enough time in situations like this not to enjoy it," Freeman said. "I was reminded of that by a couple people I talked to but also just talking to the team. Enjoy this. Enjoy this. Don't look ahead. Enjoy this, and then we'll move forward."