SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Blame the cold weather, if you will. Indiana’s loose game plan is to blame for this, which ensures that the Hoosiers look more impressive offensively in the statistics than they did on Friday evening at Notre Dame Stadium.

But don’t forget to recognize Notre Dame’s dominant defense and home crowd, which created a special atmosphere for the first College Football Playoff game on a college campus.

No. 10 seed Indiana needed 58 minutes, 33 seconds of play to find the end zone for the first time in a 27-17 loss to No. 7 seed Notre Dame. The Hoosiers (11-2) scored two goals in the final two minutes of the game thanks to a successful onside kick and an apathetic performance by the Notre Dame defense when the game was clearly in control.

“I’ve never been a part of an environment like this,” the Notre Dame head coach said Marcus Freeman. “It was special. The audience played a role. The noise played a role. It was special to be a part of it.”

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Indiana, which came into South Bend, Ind., with the second-best offense in the FBS with 43.3 points per game scored in the regular season, entered the fourth quarter with more punts (5) than points (3). Notre Dame’s defense shut down the Hoosiers from the start.

The Irish (12-1) forced Indiana into a three-pointer and opened the game with a drive that gave the Hoosiers a loss of three yards. But Indiana found itself in the red zone after Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard threw an interception and IU quarterback Kurtis Rourke scored on a 28-yard completion to wide receiver Elijah Sarratt. Then Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts, a back-to-back consensus All-American, made one of the big plays expected of him for the Irish.

Rourke threw his fifth interception of the season when he brought down a double cover by Ke’Shawn Williams and Watts, sitting deep in single-high coverage, dived to catch the pass. Fittingly, as Notre Dame’s defense was forced to settle in, Watts threw his sixth interception of the season, giving Notre Dame fans a reason to wave the provided rally towels as they entered the stadium.

“The fans were great tonight,” Watts said. “They were really loud. I think the towels were a good addition, they pumped up the cloud. Every defensive drive was really fun. The crowd contributed a lot to the win tonight.”

But so was Watts, who unfairly missed out on a second straight season as a unanimous All-American because the Football Writers Association of America relegated him to the second team rather than the first team awarded to him by the four other major All-Americans -America selection players.

Watts led Notre Dame with 10 tackles, surpassing at least every one of his teammates. He prevented big plays on the back end and provided physical run support near the line of scrimmage.

“He just looks great no matter what the situation is,” Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator said AlGolden. “He just attacked, executed and finished no matter what.”

Notre Dame’s defense did a great job shutting down Rourke early after the interception. On Indiana’s first four drives, Rourke completed just two of his eight passes for 38 yards. The timing and accuracy of his throws were affected by pressure and tight coverage.

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“I thought we actually did pretty good protection for most of the game,” Indiana’s offensive coordinator said Mike Shanahan. “They made it a real challenge for you to get finishes and get him into the rhythm.

“I think we had a decline in an RPO early on. And credit goes to Notre Dame’s defenders. This is a really good unit, one of the better units we’ve faced all year. And we weren’t able to win some of those 50/50 contested catches that we knew we had to win a lot of in this game to be successful.”

Indiana, which gave up 1.5 sacks per game in the regular season, surrendered three to Notre Dame on Friday night. But the Irish didn’t bring down Rourke in the second half because of those sacks. Two came on IU’s first drive of the second half. Defensive tackle Rylie Mills, who apparently injured his right knee on the play and did not return, sacked Mills for a loss of eight yards on first down. Freshman defensive end Bryce Young then beat Rourke and lost eight yards again on third down.

“We got a little mixed up on the D-line, which is unfortunate, but the positive thing is the guys are forced into roles and they responded,” Golden said. “Bryce is no different. He is the next in this development. I thought he played really well today. Obviously the sack there led to points in the backup situation. I think he’s just doing a really good job of doing what he needs to do every day to get better.”

Loghan Thomas, a freshman defensive end, earned the third sack late in the fourth quarter as Indiana began to gain yards in garbage time. The Hoosiers added 135 offensive yards on their last two possessions after falling behind 27-3 with 4:50 to play. That nearly matched the 143 yards accumulated on the previous nine drives.

Golden took the blame for Indiana rolling in the end.

“We were in control of the game the whole game, so I’m not worried about the end of the game,” Golden said. “There are things we can learn from this. Obviously we need to finish better and I need to make some decisions there, but at that point I just didn’t think it would benefit us to continue to apply a lot of pressure in that situation, to be completely honest. In the end I could have given the boys a better game and helped them.”

Golden’s team received plenty of support from the sellout home crowd in a 77,622-seat stadium that was mostly filled with Notre Dame fans. The crowd was engaged early in the game and only grew louder as the defensive dominance became more apparent.

“They were just great,” Golden said. “You can’t say enough. They were just great. You could feel it, the energy and execution fueling the emotions.

“In the first third it starts and the pitch is raging and you leave the pitch – big, huge. The next time you get an interception, you’re off the field on third down. So the execution evokes emotions, but they were just great. I thought the stadium was great. What a great environment.”

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Notre Dame’s defense put together a performance worthy of an ovation, limiting Rourke to 215 passing yards and two touchdowns on 33 attempts and 20 completions (60.6%). He had just 94 passing yards before the final two drives.

Indiana’s running game was hampered all night long. Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run accounted for more rushing yards than Indiana’s entire offense. The Hoosiers were limited to 2.3 yards per carry, with 27 carries for 63 yards.

Sixth-year linebacker Jack Kiser recorded five tackles in his final game Friday at Notre Dame Stadium. It was his record-tying 67th career game in a Notre Dame uniform. He will be able to play at least one more time when the Irish face No. 2 seed Georgia (11-2) in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1 (8:45 p.m. EST on ESPN).

The crowd won’t be as supportive of Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, but those in the building Friday night celebrated a historic moment.

“I’ll tell you what: When you walk on the field and there hasn’t even been a snap and the crowd is going crazy, you can catch that momentum right away,” Kiser said. “So it was a really great environment. Hopefully that can be the standard here at Notre Dame forever.”

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