I’ve always said losses are easier to write game reviews for because there’s more to unpack. Not this time. I went to bed immediately after the booth review on Ohio State’s game-winning touchdown wondering if I’d just skip article and move on with life.

This one really hurt. I’ll just be typing random thoughts and getting back to my regularly scheduled Sunday.

Stats Package
STAT IRISH OSU
Score 14 17
Plays 64 65
Total Yards 351 366
Yards Per Play 5.5 5.6
Conversions 5/12 11/20
Completions 17 21
Yards/Attempt 7.0 6.3
Rushes 39 27
Rushing Success 50.0% 44.0%
10+ Yds Rushes 7 1
20+ Yds Passes 3 6
Defense Stuff Rate 23.0% 19.0%

 

Offense

QB: B-
RB: B
TE: A
OL: A+
WR: C

Hartman made some tough and beautiful throws in this game. I wouldn’t have thought the game would be close if he was under 200 yards passing though. His 0 for 4 on runs (they scored the failed 1st down play on the last drive as a QB run) in this game were so crucial and a tough pill to swallow. It goes to show how a mobile quarterback can really be a huge difference in these tight and close games.

Hartman getting stuffed on 4th down, followed up by Henderson scoring from 61 yards on the next snap, only to see Harrison’s ankle look broken but for him to come back and keep playing is a really dark series of events for the Irish.

The offensive line had to feel pretty good about their performance last night. If there’s a silver lining, they more than held their own against a really good defense. Notre Dame out-rushed Ohio State (without a really long carry like OSU), won the success rate battle, didn’t give up a sack, and only surrendered 2 tackles for loss.

Estime started 0 for 4 on successful carries and never really got going into a good rhythm until much later in the game.

I am super impressed with Jeremiyah Love and his maturity in this game. He only had 13 fewer yards than Estime but with 6 fewer carries.

Rushing Success

Estime – 6 of 14 (42.8%)
Payne – 4 of 6 (66.6%)
Hartman – 0 of 4 (0%)
Love – 6 of 8 (75%)
Ford 2 of 2 (100%)
Price – 1 of 3 (33.3%)
Greathouse – 0 of 1 (0%)

Mitchell Evans’ NFL stock went up about 2 rounds after this incredible game. He caught all 7 targets for 75 yards, including a wonderful circus catch with 1 hand that will be played on highlights for years to come.

Jayden Thomas with only 1 catch for 7 yards and then getting hurt really stinks. I still haven’t seen any news on his prognosis.

I could be wrong but I believe there were only 2 targets to non-freshmen receivers in this game.

Defense

DL: B
LB: C
DB: C+

Giving up a long touchdown run in such a low-scoring game is brutal but damn it Notre Dame bottled up Ohio State’s run game. Henderson gained 43 yards on his other 13 carries and outside of his long touchdown the Buckeyes didn’t have a single rushing attempt for 10+ yards.

I think we can put to bed the notion that Notre Dame was just “containing the quarterback” prior to Ohio State. This is a poor pass-rushing team. Botelho was credited with the lone sack of the game on the play that McCord got called for grounding.

Only 4 tackles for loss (2 apiece) from both teams in this game is nuts. We really do have very similar defenses that have strengths at all 3 levels but struggle to create havoc in the backfield.

Bertrand was very up and down throughout this game. We finally saw Jaylen Sneed come in and make a couple plays so that was nice to see. We put so much on the linebackers to help with the pass rush and it didn’t go very well. They need more out of Kiser and incredibly Liufau finished with 0 tackles, yikes.

Setting aside the whole pass rush and havoc thing, the defensive line really played well and were strong as hell throughout the game. We really don’t seem to get much out of NaNa these days but JJB played the game of his life against his former program.

Stuffs vs. Ohio State

JJB – 3.5
Bertrand – 2
Botelho – 2
Cross – 2
Mills – 2
Rubio – 1
Burnham – 2
Morrison – 1
Kiser – 0.5

I really struggled judging the defensive backs in this game. A few massive plays were there for the taking (the DJ Brown late dropped interception christ why) and they couldn’t come through. Credit the Ohio State receivers for making some really tough plays. It was a tough assignment but I thought Harper really got worked over too many times.

This was the fewest points Ohio State scored in nearly 6 full years. We’ll see how McCord develops, I’ll be curious to see if the Buckeyes offense can remain in the elite of college football or if we’ll look back at this loss and think Notre Dame should’ve done a little better preventing McCord from making a few plays. I bet it’ll be a combination of both.

Final Thoughts

I don’t get the harsh criticism of Parker on the final offensive series, to be honest. They ran a play on 1st down that worked wonderfully early in the game, the screen was set up perfectly (it very well might’ve been a touchdown), and the defender just made a great play to stop it. This all feels like very normal circumstances where things don’t work out. How much would 3 runs up the middle have been criticized if it didn’t work? Ohio State had 2 timeouts, I don’t think the win expectancy is really going up a ton if you’re just concerned with killing the clock. But i get the disappointment of not making a 1st down to ice the game.

Ohio State’s secondary was very impressive and very physical. For a lot of this game, it felt like Notre Dame’s lack of big time playmakers at receiver was going to be the talking point in comparison to the Buckeyes. Given that, I came away thinking Parker called a really good game.

On the other side, I can’t argue this was a terrible game from Al Golden (there were some brilliant moments in this game, remember the 4th down stops!?) but the 10-men on the field and several chances missed to put the final nail in the coffin for the win will loom large for years. The defense had advantages (McCord inexperienced, Harrison injured) that the offense didn’t have and still coughed up the win in the end.

I don’t see the upside in keeping Golden beyond this year, and I’ve felt that way for a long time. He’s solid but whatever he’s trying to do to get this defense to the next level isn’t working. He’s said he never really wanted to come back to college anyway. Surely next year they will go in a different direction?

There were so many 50/50 plays that didn’t go Notre Dame’s way, it’s ridiculous.

Notre Dame missed their only field goal in a 3-point loss, so that’s cool.

No one better be criticizing the green uniforms after this loss. If you do, it’s off to the Wheel of Pain for you. The Irish looked phenomenal under the lights, although I think the all-green was too much and maybe hard to see the players set against the field.

My gut reaction after this loss was to hit the eject button on the season. Maybe even longer if I’m honest. This season was set up to do something special if you believed Hartman could help rise the tide and now all of a sudden it’s difficult to handle a loss already (in such soul crushing fashion!) with a lot of the country watching same old Notre Dame falling on its face.

If I can claw back some optimism the season still looks completely wide open and the Irish have the opportunity to get back up and stay in the race. If they win their next 3 games, which would conclude with a win over USC, it’s quite possible Notre Dame is ranked in the top 4 of the playoff poll (they’d probably need some help over the next month but still) or at least be considered the best 1-loss team with a clear shot to make the playoffs.

Still, I get it. When Notre Dame can’t win these games the urge to say “what’s the point?” creeps in and it’s really hard to buy into the rest of the season. If they can’t win this game what is to think they can go on and beat USC or a playoff game? I don’t think anyone has that much faith in this program now and that is sad. GameDay is coming to Durham for next week’s game and right now I don’t even feel like watching.