Notre Dame is in good shape to defeat Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff. There wasn’t a whole lot of action in the third quarter, but there was enough that people will talk about at game’s end.
[autotag]Jayden Harrison[/autotag] pitched the ball to [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] on the opening kickoff of the second half, and that got the Irish into Hoosiers territory. The ensuing possession went nowhere, but [autotag]James Rendell[/autotag] punted the ball 31 yards to back the Hoosiers up to their own 12-yard line.
The Hoosiers went three-and-out after Kurtis Rourke was sacked by [autotag]Rylie Mills[/autotag] and then [autotag]Bryce Young[/autotag]. Mills’ sack proved costly though as he went down and ended up limping off the field. Fortunately, he was up and moving on the sidelines and could return to this game.
The Irish began their next possession at the Hoosiers’ 41. A late hit out of bounds on third down put them in the red zone, but even that nearly went for naught. They came up short on a fake field-goal attempt but were bailed out by a Hoosiers timeout right before the ball was snapped. That prompted them to do the sensible thing and have [autotag]Mitch Jeter[/autotag] actually kick a field goal, which he did from 33 yards out after a false start penalty.
After another Hoosiers three-and-out, the Irish drove for a few minutes before ending the quarter on the outskirts of field-goal range. That 20-3 lead sure looks safe, but stranger things have happened in college football. We’ll see.
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