Lessons From Ohio State Loss Loom Large for IU's CFP Trip to Notre Dame

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The 2024 Indiana Hoosiers only lost a single regular season game, a 38-15 defeat at Ohio State in front of over 100,000 screaming Buckeye fans. The Hoosiers tried to prepare for the noise and their performance showed that they were not ready for it. IU’s silent count on offense led to Ohio State’s defense teeing off making it nearly impossible for the offense to do anything. The Hoosiers will get a chance at redemption when they head to Notre Dame Stadium (77,622).

“I do think, having been in that environment and coming out individually and collectively, you benefit from the notes taken. I think where it affected us most was offensively, having to go to a silent cadence the third play of the game.” Cignetti said. “(It) didn't affect us the first series of the game, but once Ohio State had a chance to get their guys on the sideline, this is what they're doing, they started to tee off on us pretty good. There are some things we can do and incorporate, which we've already begun to do.”

The Hoosiers looked rattled against the Buckeyes when James Evans let a punt snap slip through his hands and had another punt returned for a touchdown. Those hiccups turned a 7-7 game into a 21-7 game quickly.

“I think we're going to be a lot better the next time we're in that environment.” Cignetti said on Sunday.

Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher said that dealing with the crowd noise was “a big learning experience, a lot of people, not a lot of cheering, a lot of boos.”

Fisher added that “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 when it comes to Saturdays. Especially when you're in a hostile environment, 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.”

The crowd noise affects the offense more than the defense on the road. Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke and the Hoosier offense struggled at Ohio State, but has hope that IU will perform better at Notre Dame.

“I felt like we didn't play to our standards in that game.” Rourke said of IU’s loss at Ohio State. “It was also a really important game for us to -- a learning opportunity just how to deal and how to win those big games, something that 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.”

While Notre Dame Stadium holds around 30,000 fewer fans than Ohio State it is still one of the louder environments in college football. Add it that it’s a playoff game between two teams that have not played since 1991 and it’s at night, it should test how much the Hoosiers learned from their lesson at Ohio State.