The 2024 School Soccer Playoff opened on Friday night time 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 pondering this recreation was extra aggressive than it was. At no level within the night time did this recreation ever really feel like the result was in jeopardy, whereas Indiana’s solely two touchdowns got here within the ultimate two minutes when a comeback was virtually inconceivable. It was window dressing. Nothing extra.
As quickly as Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love broke free for a 98-yard touchdown in 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.
Outdoors of that early-season slip-up towards 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 should play No. 2 Georgia.
2. Indiana didn’t do itself any favors
If Indiana was attempting to ship a message that it was among the finest groups within the nation and silence the critics of its placement within the playoff subject, it failed in a giant means.
The largest knock on the Hoosiers all season was its poor power of schedule and the truth that its greatest win was over a Michigan workforce that had a down 12 months whereas attempting to switch its beginning quarterback and head coach from a 12 months in the past (amongst others).
The one really elite workforce they performed all season was Ohio State, which become a 38-15 defeat.
Regardless of that poor power 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 subject.
In some methods, this recreation went even worse than the sport at Ohio State a couple of weeks in the past.
It will 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. Nevertheless it merely didn’t have sufficient to match up with Notre Dame, and primarily based on its video games towards the Preventing Irish and Ohio State, it’s not fairly on the extent of a nationwide title contender.
Generally 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 workforce with some shockingly conservative teaching selections.
The primary of these got here within the first quarter when, dealing with 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 subject 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 dealing with a 4th-and-4 on the Notre Dame 16-yard line (on what may need been his workforce’s greatest drive of the sport), he elected to easily take the factors and kick a subject purpose as a substitute of going for a landing.
Discipline objectives had 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 sector (on a 4th-and-8) whereas trailing by 17 factors.
Even ESPN’s announcers had been shocked.
