3 Indiana players and coaches to blame for first-round flameout against Notre Dame

The dream season ended in an absolutely nightmare in South Bend, as Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers came crashing back to Earth in a 27-17 loss to Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoff. And frankly, it wasn't even as close as that final score would suggest: The Irish largely sat on the ball on the second half, content to simply throttle the Hoosiers and get out with a win as quickly as possible.

Everything that had gone right for Indiana during its 11-1 start disappeared when the lights were brightest. The aggerssion that was Cignetti's hallmark turned into curiously conservative game management when his team could least afford it. The defense got pushed around, missing an endless string of tackles against Notre Dame's backs and receivers. And the best scoring offense in the country looked outmatched from the opening play, unable to avoid the sorts of big mistakes that knocked them off schedule.

It was as thorough a beatdown as you're liable to see between two top-10 teams, and when a team loses like Indiana did on Friday night, there's plenty of blame to go around.

3. OC Mike Shanahan

It's hard to square the offense that we saw on Friday night with the one that lit up scoreboards all season long. There are plenty of reasons for that; the offensive line's inability to block one of the best defensive fronts in the country, for starters, as well as an off day from quarterback Kurtis Rourke. (More on him in just a moment.)

But it's also hard to argue that Shanahan put his players in a position to succeed against the Irish, especially in the first half. The Hoosiers actually were able to carve out some room on the ground early on. The passing game, however, was a schematic disaster, as Shanahan kept on pressing one of two buttons: 1) an RPO or 2) a go ball down the sideline, likely to leading receiver Elijah Sarratt. At its best this year, Indiana was constantly keeping opponents off-balance, delivering counter upon counter.

Notre Dame simply parked its defense at or near the line of scrimmage and dared Indiana to do something about it; the Hoosiers never could, and that's at least in part because Shanahan never adjusted.

2. QB Kurtis Rourke

It's a brutal way for a remarkable college career to end. Rourke's timing and accuracy were off from the Hoosiers' opening drive, when he missed Sarratt badly on a back-shoulder fade. Indiana's second drive came in plus territory after the defense forced an interception, only for Rourke to hand them the ball right back two plays later (a mistake that would set up Jeremiyah Love's 98-yard touchdown run to open the scoring).

Again, Shanahan didn't do him a ton of favors, calling several RPOs against tight man coverage that were dead on arrival. But even allowing for that, Rourke looked rattled, spraying the ball all over the place and missing high consistently. He was going to need to play a near-perfect game for Indiana to win this game; instead, he played his worst of the season, often not even giving his talented playmakers a chance to make him right. He finished 23-for-32 with 201 yards, a TD and a pick, and frankly, that oversells it based on a couple of late garbage-time drives.

1. HC Curt Cignetti

There were plenty of disappointing performances from Indiana on Friday night, but none more so than Cignetti, who seemed to betray everything he'd established over the course of this season. With under four minutes to go in the first half, Indiana faced a 4th and 4 on Notre Dame's 16, looking to cut into a 14-0 deficit heading into the locker room. The Hoosiers had called a run play on third down, suggesting Cignetti intended to go for it on fourth. And sure enough, Indiana's offense stayed on the field ... at first.

But then Cignetti called a timeout and decided to take the field goal to make it 14-3. Notre Dame then added a field goal just before the half, erasing whatever advantage Cignetti hoped to gain, and the Irish took the ball to start the third quarter and never looked back. And that wasn't the last moment in which Cignetti seemed to shy away from a big call: He also decided to punt on 4th and 11 from the Notre Dame 48 down 20-3 in the fourth quarter, a shocking move that more or less conceded the game.

Cignetti's team wasn't going to win tonight regardless of what fourth-down decisions he decided to make. But it was disheartening to see him shrink in the biggest moments, especially after all the brashness he displayed during the regular season.