ORLANDO, Fla. -- So much for the notion that No. 15 Notre Dame didn't have anything to play for in the Camping World Bowl.
A year removed from an appearance in the CFP national semifinals, the Fighting Irish closed out an 11-win season with arguably their best all-around performance in a 33-9 victory over Iowa State on Saturday.
"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), who finished on a six-game winning streak after losing to Michigan to tumble out of contention for a playoff berth in late October.
Notre Dame also lost to Georgia in September; however, Kelly said the team remained focused and continued to focus and get better.
"Even this week. 'Notre Dame is not ready to play.' They used that as another form of motivation to show people wrong, They just read this team wrong," Kelly said. "It's just so satisfying that this group has been rewarded with 11 wins. ... They overcame adversity, lived the life lessons of it. They're not perfect. They never pretended to be perfect and never wanted to be, but always strived for excellence."
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 ... 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.
The sophomore quarterback left the game in the closing minutes with what Campbell described as a high ankle sprain.
Connor Assalley kicked field goals of 41, 26 and 42 yards .
"I think why you're so disappointed is because you feel how close you really are to where you want to be," Campbell said.
Notre Dame 10 10 10 3 -- 33
Iowa St. 0 6 3 0 -- 9
First Quarter
ND--FG Doerer 39, 9:29.
ND--Claypool 24 pass from Book (Doerer kick), 3:20.
Second Quarter
ISU--FG Assalley 41, 9:27.
ND--FG Doerer 51, 7:23.
ND--Armstrong 1 run (Doerer kick), 2:25.
ISU--FG Assalley 26, :50.
Third Quarter
ND--T.Jones 84 run (Doerer kick), 13:14.
ISU--FG Assalley 42, 4:58.
ND--FG Doerer 19, :15.
Fourth Quarter
ND--FG Doerer 39, 3:53.
Attendance--46,948.
ND ISU
First downs 17 14
Rushes-yards 37-208 27-45
Passing 247 227
Comp-Att-Int 20-28-0 18-32-0
Return Yards 70 48
Punts-Avg. 4-37.8 5-47.2
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 3-30 1-5
Time of Possession 32:48 27:12
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Notre Dame, T.Jones 11-135, Flemister 6-30, Book 7-30, Lenzy 3-12, Armstrong 8-8, (Team) 1-(minus 2), Finke 1-(minus 5). Iowa St., Hall 17-55, Croney 1-3, D.Jones 1-3, Mitchell 1-0, Purdy 7-(minus 16).
PASSING--Notre Dame, Book 20-28-0-247. Iowa St., Purdy 17-30-0-222, Mitchell 1-2-0-5.
RECEIVING--Notre Dame, Claypool 7-146, Finke 6-46, Kmet 2-33, T.Jones 2-1, Tremble 1-9, Lenzy 1-7, Armstrong 1-5. Iowa St., Pettway 4-54, D.Jones 4-45, Hall 4-45, C.Kolar 3-22, Milton 2-33, Shaw 1-28.
Sports on 12/29/2019