NOTEBOOK: ‘Mind Over Matter’ -- Hoosiers Ready for Notre Dame Playoff Opportunity
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - When it comes to the possibility of snow for Friday night’s college playoff opener at No. 7 Notre Dame (11-1), Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti doesn’t hesitate.
“I hope it snows a foot and a half,” he says.
His logic starts with quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
“We have a Canadian quarterback,” Cignetti says. “Did you see him throw the ball against Purdue?”
Under snowy, windy cold night conditions at Memorial Stadium last month, Rourke shredded Purdue by completing 23-of-31 passes for 349 yards, six touchdowns, and no interceptions.
“This guy grew up in the frigid north,” Cignetti says. “He looked pretty good to me that night. I don't think it's going to bother him very much. So much revolves around him.”
Rourke says he’s ready for any weather condition.
“I always try to keep the mindset of not letting the environment affect me. Go out, execute and play.
“Snow games are fun. I’m looking forward to it if that’s the case.”
As far as the rest of the No. 10 Hoosiers (11-1), Cignetti says, “Everybody else will find a way to stay warm. It's not a concern. It's going to be cold. It's going to be windy. There could be snow on the ground. Both teams have to play on it.
“We've been practicing outside in the cold for a long time. We played in it against Purdue. When we started the game, there was snow on the turf. It was cold. It was windy. So, we've been through it.”
Adds receiver Elijah Sarratt: “You can’t do much about the weather. It’s mind over matter. Just go out there and play football.”
IU’s offensive success -- it ranks second nationally in scoring at 43.3 points behind Miami (44.2 points) -- comes from early failure, from struggles, from a summer scrimmage that went so poorly, players held a closed-door meeting to fix it.
“We didn't look too great,” running back Justice Ellison says. “So, we had an offensive meeting, just players. Me and a few other guys led it. We locked the doors and had a heart to heart.
“We let everybody know, ‘I believe in you, you believe in me, and we can do it together. We believe in each other.’
“We went around the room and explained to everybody, what do we want to get out of this season? Why are we here? Why come to Indiana?
“That’s when I knew that we were going to be a very talented team, that we were going to be a team that would fight through adversity and be resilient. We have that in the back of our minds every time we step onto the field.”
IU leads the nation in passing efficiency. Notre Dame leads the nation in pass efficiency defense, has 17 interceptions and holds opposing quarterbacks to 48.7 completion percentage and opponents to 13.6 points.
As the Hoosiers’ leading receiver with 49 catches for 890 yards and eight touchdowns, Sarratt will have a big role.
“Notre Dame has a great defense from the D-Line all the way to the back end,” he says. “They’re coached well. They are ranked for a reason. They are in the playoffs for a reason. They run a lot of man (pass coverage), so the key is winning our one-on-ones when we get a chance. Whenever (Rourke) throws the ball, just going up, making a play, and going from there.
“They have younger cornerbacks, but they play with a lot of confidence. They’re coached well. They have great technique. I’ll have to change up what I give them each play, change up my releases, and just making plays. I’ll have chances to make plays. I’ve got to do it when it happens.”
It helps to have the experienced Rourke throwing to him. A former Mid-American Conference offensive MVP at Ohio University, Rourke completes 70.4 percent of his passes for 2,2827 yards, 27 touchdowns, and four interceptions.
“He puts his time in,” Sarratt says. “He’s a vet. He has a great coach telling him what to do. He loves the game. He tells me what I’m doing wrong. He’s a good leader. I wouldn’t want anyone else being my quarterback.”
It’s no secret Notre Dame seeks to run the Hoosiers into submission with its combination of tailbacks Jeremiyah Love (949 rushing yards, 15 touchdowns) and Jadarian Price (651, seven), and quarterback Riley Leonard (721 yards, 14 TDs).
The biggest burden in stopping them falls on linebackers Aiden Fisher and Jailin Walker, who have combined for 180 tackles.
“We know Notre Dame has a great run offense,” Walker says. “For us, it’s attention to detail every day in practice. We want to have (Leonard) have trouble escaping the pocket. We know he’s a great quarterback. We have a lot of plays built to stop his effectiveness.
“As linebackers, we know the game is going to be put on us. Just being able to lean on your brother (Fisher) and have fun when he's right beside you. When he's down I bring him up and when I'm down he brings me up.”
More history is there for an IU team that has spent an entire season doing what no one outside the program believed possible, from the first 10-0 start to a first-ever playoff opportunity and more.
Now comes a huge postseason challenge -- beat the Irish for the first time since 1950, for the first time at Notre Dame since 1906.
“You have to take it like another game,” sophomore cornerback D’Angelo Ponds says. “You can't just do extra things. You can't be Superman. You've got to do your job. Don't make it too big of a game.”
At the start of the semester, Ponds, a James Madison transfer, and all the football Hoosiers drew little on-campus attention. But as victories mounted, Memorial Stadium crowds grew (the last four home games sold out) and performance escalated (Ponds earned All-America honors while totaling 53 tackles, two interceptions and a team-leading nine pass breakups), fame followed.
“Everybody noticed the crowd changed since the first game,” Ponds says, “but even around campus, things were a lot different. Now people walk up to me on campus and start talking. That wasn’t happening the first couple of weeks.”
Ponds’ success doesn’t surprise Sarratt. They have battled each other in practice for months.
“He’s the best cornerback I’ve gone against since stepping foot in college,” Sarratt says. “That’s how good he is. He’s twitchy. He knows the game. I could see him playing on Sundays (in the NFL) in a couple of years.”
Cignetti added the Football Writers Association of America Eddie Robinson Coach of the year Award and Sporting News Coach of the Year this week to the other top coaching honors he’s received, including the Associated Press National Coach of the Year, the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Coach of the Year, the American Football Coaches Association National Coach of the Year and the Home Depot National Coach of the Year, after delivering a remarkable turnaround in his Hoosier debut for a program that won a total of nine games in the previous three seasons.
Cignetti credited the success to the players, coaches, strength coach Derek Owings, athletic director Scott Dolson and IU President Pam Whitten.
“When you're young and you aspire to be good in any profession, these things are meaningful,” Cignetti says. “But I've got to give a lot of credit, first of all, to our administration for providing the support and commitment that allowed us to have the means to be successful. and then our staff who had a major role, Derek Owings, our strength and conditioning coordinator, the assistant coaches in developing these players.
“Then, the players themselves, who chose Indiana, who bought into a vision and a dream. They had to dig deep. They had to do their research, and believed it was possible. A lot of them were looking for a bigger stage to prove themselves, and they bought in. They received the message. They apply it daily. They've been very consistent. They've been a great group to coach.
“It's never perfect. There are hiccups here and there. But this team has a lot of kids that are great leaders. There’s a lot of character, a lot of experience, a lot of guys that have been two, three, four-year starters, have been very consistent through the years. You know, it all came together.”
Beyond the victories and individual success, Ellison says, Cignetti taught him how to be a man.
“It’s about being the same guy every day, no matter the positive or the negative you had before. It’s handling the accomplishments and the adversities. I watch him all the time to see how he handles when we do well and when we don’t. I’m thankful to be at a place with Coach Cignetti.”