Indiana Hopes To Learn Road Lessons In College Football Playoff Game At Notre Dame

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti wants the Hoosiers to do a better job in a hostile environment than they did in a loss at Ohio State.

Indiana Hoosiers running back Ty Son Lawton (17) runs the ball as Ohio State Buckeyes safety Caleb Downs (2) comes up to make the tackle during the fourth quarter at Ohio Stadium. / Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – One of the advantages of Indiana’s 2024 schedule was that the Hoosiers only played four road games.

Of those, only one was really challenging in terms of the atmosphere the Hoosiers had to face. When Indiana went to Ohio State on Nov. 23, they got the full brunt of the Ohio Stadium experience. The vast majority of the 105,751 fans at the game wanted to make life as difficult as possible for the Hoosiers.

They accomplished that mission. Indiana had to go to a silent count when the Hoosiers had the ball, and it had a negative effect on their offensive efficiency in a 38-15 defeat.

Indiana will face another difficult road environment in the College Football Playoff as No. 10-seeded Indiana travels to No. 7-seeded Notre Dame. It will be a Friday night frenzy as the Hoosiers and Fighting Irish will do battle at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 20.

Notre Dame Stadium doesn’t have the capacity Ohio Stadium does – Notre Dame Stadium seats 77,622 – but that hardly matters in terms of noise generated. Notre Dame fans can make it just as hard on opponents as Ohio State fans did.

Indiana and the other first-round playoff visiting teams get a ticket allotment of 3,500 according to the Athletic, which includes the allotment for the Marching Hundred. So unless Hoosiers fans hit the secondary market en masse Indiana will face a true road crowd.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti acknowledged that the Hoosiers didn’t handle it well at Ohio State and have to do better this time.

“We've been working on that since that game. We always practice with crowd noise. Last week we did every practice and turned it up loud so that we can operate offensively,” Cignetti said during the ESPN selection show. “Because what happened at one point in that game, we had no offense until the end when we got back within two scores.’’

It isn’t just noise. Road games are challenging for every team in every sport. Cignetti thought there were uncharacteristic lapses in concentration for the Hoosiers.

“We did some uncharacteristic things in that game. We dropped a punt snap. We had poor location on a punt that resulted in a punt return for a touchdown,” Cignetti said. “We had some communication errors on pass protection, and a couple critical missed assignments. I think we're going to be a lot better the next time we're in that environment.”

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke is an important piece in making sure the Hoosiers can cope with playing on the road. The crowd gets loud when the opposition has the ball. The count, silent or not, has to be handled by Rourke first and foremost. Rourke feels the Hoosiers are more prepared if they have to go to a silent count again.

“We've been repping it ever since that game even though we might not know if we have to use it or not,” Rourke said. “It's going to be an afterthought for us if we have to go to it just because we repped it so many times.”

Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end JT Tuimoloau (44) sacks Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke (9) in the second half at Ohio Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. / Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In a bigger picture sense, Rourke just wants the Hoosiers to be able to handle adversity better than they did at Ohio State.

“(It was) a learning opportunity just how to deal and how to win those big games. Watching and digesting the game afterwards, knowing how well we have to play and we have to minimize our mistakes and be able to handle the environment,” Rourke said. “I think it was really important for us to have a game like that, to be tested in knowing what it takes to win games.”

The defense doesn’t have to face the noise in the same way the offense does. But Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher noted that playing on the road requires a kind of bunker mentality as far as contending with it is concerned.

“I think the biggest thing we learned is just to be able to keep the main thing the main thing. No fan has an impact between the white lines,” Fisher said. “You’ve really just got to block it out. It gets loud. It gets hostile. You're hearing a lot of different things. The biggest thing is just blocking it out.”

It helps to kind of accept that you’re in the role of the Christian facing the lions.  

“In my opinion, I love it. You go into a stadium, and you can quiet their fans. It's a really good feeling,” Fisher said.

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