After 12 "Keys to the Game" stories, here's one more, but this one comes with a little bit more weight. That's because Indiana will be playing in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, with its quest for a National Championship starting on the road at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame presents a ton of challenges, both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, and has been exceptional other than its week two loss to Northern Illinois.
From its dominant rushing attack, to its skilled front seven, the Fighting Irish are in the playoff for a reason and should give the Hoosiers all they can handle on Friday night at Notre Dame Stadium.
Indiana, though, has been just as good as the Irish on both offense and defense, with the numbers pitting these two teams as neck-and-neck in terms of total season statistics, yet Notre Dame is still the seven point favorite at home.
With that, here are three keys that could allow Indiana to pull off the upset in South Bend and move on to the Playoff Quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl.
LIMIT NOTRE DAME'S RUSHING ATTACK
The first key deals with something that both the Indiana coaches and players have talked about all week when meeting with the media, and that's limiting the Irish's rushing game.
Both Jeremiyah Love and Riley Leonard pose huge rushing threats, with Leonard being a very interesting case because IU hasn't prepped for a QB like him all year.
Love has 949 yards and 15 touchdowns on the season, while Leonard comes in with 721 yards and 14 scores on the year. It isn't just those two to watch out for wither, as Notre Dame's second running back, Jadarian Price, has 651 yards and 6 touchdowns to his name.
This makes the ND rushing attack extremely talented, but also extremely versatile, allowing it to have the number two rushing offense in yards per rush, going for an average of 6.2 yards on each and every rushing play.
This certainly poses a challenge for Indiana's defense, but they should be as ready as anyone could be, as it ranks number one in opponent rushing yards per game, only giving up 76.2 yards on the ground per game.
This makes for a must-watch battle between Notre Dame's offensive line and Indiana's front seven, as whoever wins this battle will likely come away with the victory in this first round matchup.
Another must-see matchup comes when Riley Leonard decides to rush, as he averages over 60 yards and a touchdown per game, making limiting his unique rushing ability the most important part of this entire equation.
If Indiana can stop the ND run, or even just limit it to well under its 224.8 yards it gets on average, the Hoosiers have a serious chance to come away with the upset victory in South Bend.
PROTECT KURTIS ROURKE AT ALL COSTS
Just like the battle between Notre Dame's offensive line and Indiana's front seven will be extremely critical, the same can eb said for the clash between the Indiana offensive line and the Notre Dame pass rush, making protecting Kurtis Rourke another key for this one.
The Irish front seven has generated 30 sacks and 61 tackles for loss, meaning that they can get after the Hoosiers in the backfield, although these numbers are not ad daunting as those seen from Ohio State.
That's good news for Indiana, as it can not afford to have a repeat of what happened against the Buckeyes. In that game, OSU sacked Rourke five times, while also tackling a Hoosier in the backfield eight times.
If this happens once more, it'll practically be game over for IU, especially considering the measly 68 yards Rourke passed for against OSU due to constant pressure he was under.
In order for IU to get the road win here, Rourke needs to have a big day, meaning that he needs to be protected, and protected well, which he was for 10 of his 11 starts on the season.
If the offensive line can match its performance for all but one of its games, allowing Rourke to do its thing, Indiana will have the offensive tools it needs to have a great passing day once more, something its quite familiar with, with its 255 pass yards per game.
Because of all this, it's simple, protect Rourke, limit what Notre Dame's front seven can do, and the Indiana offense could power the Hoosiers to victory.
DON'T LET THE MOMENT GET TOO LARGE
This last key isn't an X's and O's key at all, but one about the mindset Indiana needs to carry in order to get the job done in this CFP game. With all the noise surrounding this matchup, it can be easy to look beyond the game at hand but, if IU wants any chance of winning, this can't happen.
The Hoosiers have said all week that they are just focused on the game, not concerned with anything the media says, which is promising if you're an Indiana fan, but it'll be a whole different animal when they run out of the tunnel at Notre Dame Stadium.
It'll be loud, it'll be cold, and it'll be the biggest game that any Indiana Hoosier has ever played, meaning that emotions could start to run high early.
Indiana has played with poise the entire season, meaning that this may not be a problem at all, but in order to limit is from becoming an issue, the Hoosiers need to treat this like just any other game.
While it isn't any other game and there is so much to prove in this one, focusing on all the implications may prevent the Hoosiers from focusing on the opponent at hand.
Especially late in the game, when it may come down to one play, IU needs to just go out there and play football, play with the joy it has played with all year and play with the confidence that it belongs.
Doing all this will allow IU to not let the moment get to large and play the brand of football that led it to an 11-1 season, which means that, if the Hoosiers can stay poised, they have a real chance at an upset win over the Fighting Irish.
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