The 2024 School Soccer Playoff opened on Friday evening with No. 7 seed Notre Dame incomes a convincing 27-17 win over No. 10 seed Indiana.
Listed here are 4 takeaways from Notre Dame’s win.
1. Notre Dame did what it wanted to do
Don’t let the comparatively shut rating idiot you into considering this recreation was extra aggressive than it was. At no level within the evening did this recreation ever really feel like the end result was in jeopardy, whereas Indiana’s solely two touchdowns got here within the remaining two minutes when a comeback was nearly not possible. It was window dressing. Nothing extra.
As quickly as Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love broke free for a 98-yard landing within the first quarter to open the scoring, the sport appeared to be over.
Notre Dame got here in as a large favourite, had the home-field benefit, the higher roster and was anticipated to win.
It did.
Simply.
Exterior of that early-season slip-up in opposition to Northern Illinois, Notre Dame has been among the finest and most constant groups within the nation. It confirmed that once more on Friday.
Now it strikes on to the quarterfinals the place it’ll play No. 2 Georgia.
2. Indiana didn’t do itself any favors
If Indiana was making an attempt to ship a message that it was among the finest groups within the nation and silence the critics of its placement within the playoff discipline, it failed in an enormous approach.
The most important knock on the Hoosiers all season was its poor energy of schedule and the truth that its finest win was over a Michigan group that had a down 12 months whereas making an attempt to switch its beginning quarterback and head coach from a 12 months in the past (amongst others).
The one actually elite group they performed all season was Ohio State, which changed into a 38-15 defeat.
Regardless of that poor energy of schedule, the 11-1 regular-season file — and offense that averaged over 43 factors per recreation — was sufficient to earn them a No. 10 seed within the 12-team playoff discipline.
In some methods, this recreation went even worse than the sport at Ohio State a number of weeks in the past.
It might be unfair to say that Indiana didn’t deserve its spot. It had an ideal 12 months and did sufficient to be one of many 12 groups. However it merely didn’t have sufficient to match up with Notre Dame, and primarily based on its video games in opposition to the Preventing Irish and Ohio State, it isn’t fairly on the extent of a nationwide title contender.
Typically you’ve gotten that in playoffs. In any sport, in any league and at any stage.
3. Curt Cignetti didn’t grasp the second
Having mentioned all of that about Indiana, head coach Curt Cignetti didn’t appear to understand the second or perceive what was wanted from his group with some shockingly conservative teaching choices.
The primary of these got here within the first quarter when, going through a 4th-and-7 from the Notre Dame 37-yard line and already trailing 7-0, he elected to punt the soccer again to the Irish.
He ended up getting a 20-yard punt that netted Indiana solely 20 yards of discipline place and was adopted by an 83-yard Notre Dame landing drive.
At that time, the sport was just about over.
Late within the second quarter, with Indiana now down 14-0 and going through a 4th-and-4 on the Notre Dame 16-yard line (on what might need been his group’s finest drive of the sport), he elected to easily take the factors and kick a discipline objective as a substitute of going for a landing.
Subject objectives have been by no means going to get Indiana again into this recreation.
Within the fourth quarter, he had yet one more extremely conservative transfer when he once more punted from the Notre Dame aspect of the sphere (on a 4th-and-8) whereas trailing by 17 factors.
Even ESPN’s announcers have been shocked.
