Notre Dame football earned their first College Football Playoff victory over the Indiana Hoosiers Friday night, 27-17. The Fighting Irish punched their ticket to the quarterfinals and will now face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 in New Orleans.
The Irish offense and defense picked up right where they left off and earned there 10th double digit victory of the season. Irish offense had many players step up and make explosive plays but one player in particular had his best game of the season.
Notre Dame football X-factor helps punch ticket to next round in win over Indiana
The Notre Dame football team will need a wide receiver to step up in these playoffs to take pressure of their run game and Jordan Faison was that player for the Irish in their first-round victory.
Notre Dame sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison, led Notre Dame in receptions and receiving yards to help lead the Irish to the quarterfinals. The Irish wide receiver out of Florida had the best game of the season with six receptions for 89 yards, including a 44-yard reception that put the Irish on the two-yard line and led them eventually going up 27-3.
Faison was the Sun Bowl game most valuable player in last year's victory as he caught five passes for 115 yards and earned a touchdown as well. Faison has stepped up in big games in his career with the Irish and is becoming a key piece to this Irish offense.
“He is a play maker.” Freeman stated on Faison in his press conference following the Irish win. “Today he was awarded and targeted intentionally in certain situation and made some big time contested catches. He is a weapon for us, obviously we used him on the kickoff return reverse.”
Faison had a 43-yard kick return in the second half, which led to an Irish field goal and to go up 20-3. The Irish special teams has come up big this season with fake punts and this time the Fighting Irish ran a trickery reverse on the kickoff in the third and gave Irish momentum to start the second half.
“He is a guy for us that has to touch the football.” Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrok stated. “I called the same play a couple different times hoping they would get into the coverage that they ended up in when we made the explosive pass down the field.”
Faison could be the x-factor for this offense as they move forward in the playoffs. The speedy wide receiver is a spark on the outside for Notre Dame as he is one of their main deep threats. He is also used in screens and check-downs because of his ability to make a defender miss.
Faison hopefully will be that guy in the Sugar Bowl and help this Irish squad get their first ever win over the Georgia Bulldogs.