SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Mikail Kamara laid face-first on the Notre Dame Stadium turf, his arms extended and his eyes down.
Indiana football’s redshirt junior All-American defensive end, who’s been one of the Hoosiers’ most outspoken players from the early goings this season, only lifted himself to his feet after University of Notre Dame redshirt junior receiver Jayden Thomas jumped over him.
Thomas was on his way to the corner of the South endzone, racing to join his teammates after Notre Dame senior quarterback Riley Leonard’s one-yard touchdown run inside of five minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The score extended the Fighting Irish’s lead to 27-3.
Perhaps then reality set in: Kamara and the Hoosiers’ dream season had reached the finish line. The air had been let out. The final result decided. The alarm clock ringing.
No. 10-seed Indiana (11-2) scored two touchdowns in the waning minutes, but the Hoosiers still fell 27-17 to No. 7-seed Notre Dame (12-1) on Friday night at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
“All good things come to an end,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said postgame. “I have a lot of guys hurting in there, but a part of life is learning how to deal with disappointment the proper way and come back a stronger person because of the experience. You never get everything you want in life. That's how life is.”
Keeping in perspective, Cignetti said the Hoosiers’ defeat doesn’t diminish what they accomplished, which includes a laundry list of first-time feats — most notably the first double-digit win season in program history.
Indiana, which went 3-9 last season, had an eight-win turnaround this season, the biggest flip in college football this fall. Sixth-year senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke threw two touchdowns Friday night, which gave him a single-season program-record 29 scores through the air this season. Cignetti won AP National Coach of the Year in his first season with the Hoosiers.
Known as a basketball school, Indiana captivated Bloomington with perhaps the best story in college football. It’s a ride that ended four wins shy of a national title, but one that first-year defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, who was a graduate assistant at Indiana in 2012, said is the start of a new, long-lasting era of Hoosier football.
“I think what we have here is a foundation,” Haines said postgame. “I told some of the guys that are hurting in that locker room, ‘We built something here.’ This is a building block. This is a foundation that's laid. And now the standards are up. I'm just proud. We could have done a lot of things better, but it doesn't take away from what we've accomplished — it's the first step to many.”
Several Hoosiers said they made too many mistakes to keep their season alive. They discovered the razor thin margin of error — from filling the wrong gap on defense to failing to capitalize on red zone opportunities offensively — that exists in games against elite opponents.
Indiana’s defense allowed a season-high 164 rushing yards in just three quarters. Offensively, the Hoosiers totaled just 152 yards from scrimmage before a late charge in their final two drives of the fourth quarter.
Junior linebacker Aiden Fisher said postgame Notre Dame simply played a better game and deserved to win. But it’s also worthwhile, Fisher said, to appreciate the program’s development.
On Dec. 20, 2023, Cignetti held a Zoom press conference, which is when his viral, “I win. Google me,” quote arose. Exactly one year later, he led the Hoosiers out of the tunnel in the first game of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
It’s fair to wonder where Indiana will be this time in 2025. Fisher thinks he knows.
“You look at the track that Indiana football was on previously before we got here, then you look now, it's kind of a full 180,” Fisher said. “I think we've laid a foundation of what Indiana football can be and what it is now, and I expect to be right back here next year.”
The path to doing so starts right away. The Hoosiers have seven transfers scheduled to visit Sunday, and Cignetti said the nature of modern college football requires teams to start over each year. Everything is about recruitment, development and retention, he said.
But Indiana’s hopes of replicating its roster-building success from last offseason face an unintended consequence of making the College Football Playoff.
“You're kind of penalized in the portal recruiting area because, like, we didn't have official visits this week because I wanted 100% focus in preparation for Notre Dame,” Cignetti said. “So that's time that, last year, we were spending on the portal. But we've got a good nucleus coming back, and we'll be okay.”
Fisher, Kamara and sophomore cornerback D’Angelo Ponds are among the key members of the defensive nucleus with eligibility remaining. Offensively, the Hoosiers could return two of their leading receivers in junior Elijah Sarratt and redshirt sophomore Omar Cooper Jr., to go along with redshirt sophomore left tackle Carter Smith.
However, Indiana is losing several core pieces to the foundation it built — seven starters on offense and five on defense played their final college game Friday night.
Perhaps none built more sweat equity than sixth-year senior center Mike Katic, who made his 50th start in the Cream and Crimson on Friday night. Katic, who took the postgame podium with bright red ears and tears in his eyes, said he’s most proud of how Indiana stuck together and, despite being underdogs nationally, proved many people wrong.
Katic rode the highs and lows of Indiana football during his time in Bloomington. He started his career on an eight-win team in 2019 and the Cinderella team during the 2020 COVID-19 season before winning just nine total games the next three years.
He initially entered the NFL Draft after last season but returned after talking with Cignetti — a decision he’s since said is the best he’s ever made. Despite Friday night’s loss, Katic is excited about the program’s future.
“I think fans and everyone should see what we did this year,” Katic said. “We changed the trajectory of Indiana football. We changed the way people think about Indiana football. And I'm just so happy that I could have been a part of it.”
Katic noted his appreciation for Rourke and fifth-year senior Justice Ellison, who joined him on the stage. Sixth-year senior defensive tackle James Carpenter did the same with the two players on his right in Fisher and senior linebacker Jailin Walker. Both players then thanked their teammates as a collective.
Indiana has portrayed itself as a family all season. Carpenter said he hopes to see each of his teammates at his wedding someday, a nod to the Hoosiers’ bond — one formed through breaking down barriers at the all-time losingest program in college football.
For Carpenter, Friday night may be one to forget. He picked up an unnecessary roughness penalty for a late hit on Leonard, gifting the Irish an extra set of downs in the third quarter. But that play — and this game — don’t dim the light on Carpenter’s final collegiate season.
“Coming into this year, no one thought we'd be here,” Carpenter said. “A lot of doubters, a lot of haters. For us to make this run, get to this point, it's been surreal. It's been unbelievable. Something I'll remember for the rest of my life. This program is only going up. Coach Cig is just getting started here. He wins. He's going to get it done and this program's on the right track.”
The Hoosiers didn’t get a fairytale finish. Late in the fourth quarter, they heard jeers of “Hoosier Daddy” from the Irish faithful, some of whom had long removed their shirts despite 20-degree temperatures. They endured deflating plays on both sides of the ball time and again across the three-and-a-half-hour contest.
But Indiana’s season should — and by Hoosier fans, will — be remembered for what it was, not what it wasn’t: the greatest season in program history.
So far.
“Although it wasn't the way we wanted to end it, glad we were able to do it together,” Rourke said, “and kind of start the dynasty of Indiana as it moves forward.”
It’s only fitting Rourke finished his press conference, and career, sitting next to a pair of teary-eyed captains with different paths, different stories and the same pain of a dream ending three games too soon.
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and columnist Jhett Garrett (@jhettgarrett) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
