Notre Dame wins big against Iowa State in Camping World Bowl
No 14 Notre Dame took a handsome 33-9 victory over Iowa State on Saturday in the Camping World Bowl in Orlando.
“I’m just so proud of our football team. 2019 will be one that I’ll always remember, for a group of guys that just loved to play the game. They had such a strong brotherhood,” coach Brian Kelly said. “They did not listen to what the naysayers had to say about them. The negative tone, the negative people out there. All they cared about was playing the game,” Kelly added. “It was clean. It was about competing. Always looking to better themselves.”
Ian Book threw for 247 yards and a touchdown, Tony Jones Jr. scored on an 84-yard run and game MVP Chase Claypool had seven receptions for 146 yards and a TD for the Irish (11-2, No. 15 CFP), who finished on a six-game winning streak after losing to Michigan to tumble out of contention for a playoff berth in late October.
Book completed 20 of 28 passes without an interception, including a 27-yard TD throw to Claypool, who went over 1,000 yards receiving for the season and also recovered a fumble on special teams to set up an early field goal.
Iowa State (7-6) lost to four ranked teams — Iowa, Oklahoma, Baylor and Oklahoma State — by a combined 11 points this season and was hoping to end its fourth season under Matt Campbell with a signature win for a once-downtrodden program.
“You know, when we got here … there wasn’t even a thought that we could compete with teams like this. There was no thought that we could compete with the best teams in our conference,” Campbell said. “And, you know, to be quite honest with you, I don’t know if there was a lot of people that thought we could compete with our rival in our own state.”
Brock Purdy was 17 of 30 for 222 yards and no interceptions for the Cyclones, but he was unable to get his team into the end zone after throwing for a school single-season record 27 TDs during the regular season.
After losing four games to ranked opponents by a combined 11 points during the regular season, Iowa were looking for a signature win against Notre Dame. Instead, they made mistakes in promising positions with the early turnovers and paid the penalty. Notre Dame ran 33 plays and gained 207 yards in the first half, while Iowa State had gained 204 yards on 32 plays up to that point. Ultimately, the difference were the fumbles and the Cyclones’ inability to get the ball in the end zone after scoring a school single-season record 53 touchdowns and 409 points during the regular season.
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