They said this was the most talented Notre Dame team in 30 years and I didn’t believe them. When they lost to Northern Illinois they said the season was over and I believed it. Not so fast! Whether it’s an embarrassing loss or injuries, this team continues to overcome and rolls into the College Football Playoffs Semifinals after a stout defensive performance punting the Georgia Bulldogs 23-10 in front of a frenzied New Orleans crowd.
The major bowl losing streak, officially over. The nation’s longest winning streak continues.
Let’s recap the Sugar Bowl win before we look forward to the Orange Bowl and northeast rival Penn State.
QUARTERBACK: B-
Any way you slice it, only 90 passing yards on 24 pass attempts is rough to look at in a big game. As such, I just couldn’t go with a higher grade than B- for Leonard although in aggregate with his running ability and leadership it sometimes felt like a stronger performance. He did take one bad sack, although it would be the only sack allowed in the game.
Things were too spotty, as well. Leonard started 5 of 6 throwing the ball but never completed more than 3 consecutive passes the rest of the game. With zero completions over 15 yards this has to be an area where they get something in the next round.
RUNNING BACK: D
Two playoff games so far and not great running back production–yet we advance and fight another day. Georgia had the right gameplan to stifle the line of scrimmage and slow down the Notre Dame rushing attack. For the most part, it worked to perfection.
The lead Irish tailbacks combined for just 60 yards on 18 carries, a really poor 3.3 yards per carry average. The running backs didn’t convert any 3rd down plays nor did they produce a single explosive play. With Jeremiyah Love tweaking his knee again it’s a cause for concern.
Leonard saved the day a bit for the running game with a team-leading 80 rushing yards, 3 explosive plays, and 4 conversions using his legs.
WIDE RECEIVER: C
Not a whole lot going on with this group, regrettably! The Beaux Collins touchdown reception will be memorable as it put the Irish in the driver seat heading into halftime and gave them a ton of momentum.
We’ll also shout out Jayden Harrison’s kickoff return for a touchdown in this section. I thought for sure he was going to get tackled or angled out of bounds but he just kept running until the end zone.
The holding call on Jaden Greathouse and a controversial illegal motion call on Jordan Faison will be things to clean up for the future. There was also another procedure penalty late in the game. Notre Dame doesn’t need to make it hard on themselves with these mistakes.
With a couple different calls from officials this could’ve been a fairly big game from Faison, to be fair. He continues to step up as the biggest weapon from the receiver corps this playoffs.
TIGHT END: B
At the time of this writing I haven’t seen the snap counts but it seemed like Notre Dame was deploying a few more heavy sets than normal and the tight ends were trying their best to move some bodies in the run game. Friday morning edit: Eli Raridon played 39 snaps so that tracks.
There was a screen set up for Mitchell Evans that could’ve been a big, big play but alas there was too much pressure on Leonard and his throw was inaccurate. I really think the Irish have to do something special with the tight ends against Penn State, particularly with Tyler Warren (98 receptions this year!) being a cheat code for the Nittany Lions.
OFFENSIVE LINE: B
This is a tough unit to grade. At times, Georgia really had their way pass rushing and Leonard was lucky to escape a few sacks and not have something catastrophic happen. I also went back and looked and Notre Dame had 1 successful rushing play from their running back in the 1st half and the second successful one didn’t come until Price took one 8 yards with just under 2 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter.
Notre Dame only gained 244 yards and 4.0 yards per play (both season lows which isn’t too surprising) after all.
Still, only 1 sack and no other tackles for loss allowed is pretty impressive. The offensive line went out and battled hard, no doubt. I think this is one of those games where the passing game was nowhere to be found and a 110-yards rushing would’ve been a death blow. So getting to 154 yards and doing respectable in pass blocking was a good outcome.
DEFENSIVE LINE: A+
HOW? Seriously, how did they do this?
In the game preview I thought Georgia’s 2024 running struggles might reverse a little bit, and nope. Nate Frazier had a nice 28-yard run for the Dawgs’ most explosive play on the ground. Frazier and Trevor Etienne would take their other 14 carries for just 47 yards. Georgia trailed for most of the game and couldn’t and wouldn’t rely on their ground game. They were pretty much a non-factor.
The pass rush, sweet Jesus they got after it in a way I didn’t think was possible. Sacks from Hinish, Tuihalamaka, and…RJ Oben?? Oben was the top rated Notre Dame player according to PFF by a large margin!
LINEBACKER: B+
Jaylen Sneed flew towards the sidelines to tackle Etienne for a 2-yard loss on the first play from scrimmage and that was the wake up call for Georgia that things were not going to be easy.
We got at least one big play from all of the main Irish linebackers, which was great to see.
That early sack/fumble from Jack Kiser, I keep thinking how much things change for the better if that ball lands in bounds and Notre Dame recovers and/or takes it back for a touchdown.
SECONDARY: B+
Full credit for Gunner Stockton because he got so little from the Bulldogs running game and had to carry their offense quite a bit. He threw a handful of really nice passes, including an absolute dime for 67 yards to Arian Smith. Plus, he was pressured quite a bit and kept a pretty cool head without throwing an interception.
I’m not sure if Notre Dame’s secondary won this matchup but it was no worse than a draw. In addition to the completion above, Stockton connected for passes of 32, 21, and 19 yards–not bad. But for the rest of the game he was 16 of 28 (57.1%) for 95 yards and Georgia had a really hard time moving the ball through the air with any consistency.
The Adon Shuler forced fumble on Georgia’s long 2nd drive, that’s one of the plays of the game. Outstanding playmaking and fundamentals.
NOTES:
What a game for Notre Dame’s special teams. There is so much to cover. Bryce Young running into the kicker twice in a row. A pretty good punting performance from James Rendell. The Harrison kickoff return for a touchdown. Mitch Jeter nailing all 3 tough field goals. The late substitution on 4th down that resulted in an offsides by Georgia.
This was a very weird referee game. To me, this had the feeling of a crew that hadn’t worked together very much. Or maybe they worked together too much! The penalty for the Georgia player being in the white area on the sidelines and running into the referee is legit funny. Watch the replays, the ref acts so dramatic about it.
I absolutely hated that DPI call on Kiser to give Georgia a first down on a 4th & 13 pretty lousy throw and decision from Stockton. The good news is that the Dawgs burned 2 more minutes off the clock only to turn it over on downs anyway. By the way, great coverage by Rod Heard on this 4th down stop. How many more depth guys can we see make something happen!?
For the record books, a school-record 13 wins.
Notre Dame did lose the total yardage battle (-52 yards) and YPP (-0.9 yards/play) which probably chaps Georgia’s ass more than anything. The Irish head into the semifinals with a healthy +1.9 YPP differential and an impressive +338 point differential on the season.
Sneaky great stat that I didn’t expect to see in the boxscore: Georgia was only 2 for 12 on third down. Even worse, they were 0 for 3 on fourth down–turning the ball over on downs on each of their last 3 drives.
I’ll be interested to see how Georgia bounces back next year in this first real downturn for the Kirby Smart era (in which they still won the SEC). They have an early season trip to Tennessee and also face Alabama later in September, too. They have a pretty easy OOC schedule that shouldn’t trouble them much but also have Ole Miss, Florida, and Texas in league play.
Jeremiyah Love’s rushing touchdown streak came to an end in the Sugar Bowl. Let’s hope he can recover quickly over the next week.
Officially, Leonard was credited with an -8 yard reception on his double pass penalty. Remember that one for the record books!
I got really invested last night. As I’ve grown older and accustomed to the disappointment around Notre Dame Football I’ve learned to take things in stride and believe if good things are going to happen, they’ll happen and it doesn’t make sense to get too worked up either way. Most of the time, this leads to being very relaxed and chill during games. Also, having small kids now you are forced to move on mentally from games no matter the outcome. Boy, I was hooting and hollering during the Sugar Bowl, though!
Outstanding review.
I do wonder how the game unfolds differently without the 72 seconds of glory. I think we win tight and probably show more offensively in the 2nd half. Feels like we had less than 3 pass attempts in the 4th quarter. That’s why the YPP deficit doesn’t bother me as much.
Totally agree on the watching with kids calming me down…usually. I exploded on the Kiser PI though, it looked bad in slo mo but real time was near perfect.
Yes, we definitely took a lot less chances throwing the ball being up a few scores than we otherwise probably would have done if it was much closer.
Yeah, only 2 throws 15+ yards downfield…but both were fairly close to being completed. If 5 of those get called at least 2 are gonna get caught, but if we don’t need them i can see Denbrock not pushing it.
Also, i was confused all game why so few runs to the outside, especially for Price…Leonard and the receivers seemed to be able to get to the edge pretty well.
Jamie U responded to that question by saying something like that with those runs there’s also a greater risk of a negative play so maybe Denbrock was also trying to avoid negative plays.
That tracks seeing as the only TFL was the one sack. The way the game unfolded they didn’t need to take many risks, so they didn’t. i like being in the position to complain about not winning by enough against the #2 team in the country 🙂
We attempted 4 passes in the 4th quarter, but two were wiped away by penalty (4th down deep shot when UGA jumped offsides after the mass substitution and Faison’s 4th down catch after the illegal shift)
Still feel like there was DPI on that 4th down throw, but no one was really paying attention because of all of the hullabaloo before the snap.
There was some chatter that Beaux screwed that pass up by slowing up for half a step and he otherwise would’ve had it. I’ve been the first to blame him for everything this year but I’d have to look at a replay to see if I agree with that.
He loses a half yard advantage halfway down the field. I can’t tell from the replay whether he slowed, slipped, or whether the corner slowed him.
Why do we do this as fans? “Oh without these 2-3 plays…” They’ve done it all season. Does anyone think it’s a glitch?
Denbrock circled the wagons the same way he did versus IU bc he knew that the offense didn’t need to do more than burn clock to win. There are no style points in a playoff.
I think I’d rank the QB B+ , RB C and the Oline C. It was a tough ask for the Oline but, they weren’t moving anyone. Leonard’s runs stand out the most in the ND attack. I thought the ND skill guys played with great determination getting every yard that was blocked for.
Georgia had one brutal drop but, they scored on that drive IIRC anyway, on a wheel route by the RB 32. Bowen missed his coverage on that one but, I doubt he stays with the RB. I thought the Kiser PI call was legit. He didn’t make a play on the ball and ran right through the receiver on the under thrown pass. The Georgia LT had a tough night. “ND has a tough time stopping the run”, ya sure.
My first thought on the ref getting hit by #39 was, “oh he’s just following his head coach’s example”. Smart is out of control on the sidelines. Marcus had his lunch last night.
After complaining most of the fall about PSU’s ranking, we are going to find out if our complaints were legit.
https://x.com/tjmcaulay/status/1874997040717103368?t=OwXtpT-Wllg1vKSWmSCf8Q&s=01
Terry McAulay
@tjmcaulay
Not a foul. The contact is minimal and appears to occur only slightly before, or possibly even at the same time, as the ball arrives.
It is entirely too close for a foul to be called.
It’s really nice to read these after a game ND won anyway compared to other possible outcomes.
The 4th down conversion taken away is the other one we can shrug off.
Exactly, live i didn’t realize Faison was off the line…i just saw he was still moving and expected the flag. Then i heard the explanation of why it shouldn’t have been a penalty and got mad, but today i’m completely unbothered.
I don’t agree with that interpretation at all. Not one part of it.
Totally get you on the Smart being out of control…he kept saying You can’t do that on the punt that wasn’t…even said it to the Line Judge whose facial expression said, “i really don’t know what you’re talking about”
A great job by the coaching staff. I spotted some crucial 2nd half adjustments on offense. We’ve struggled to run the ball when teams know we’re running late. Passing on 1st down, running off tackle, and running Leonard between the tackles finally opened up the game. I think only a few sloppy plays and questionable penalties kept us from scoring 1 or 2x more.
Moving forward, we need to score more points. I know CMF comes from the Tressel tree, and we’ve clearly been playing conservatively. Not going to criticize 2 wins. But I think the Boise State game showed Penn State’s run D is good enough to shut us down if we don’t have a passing threat.
They’re actually not good enough. Being good enough for Boise is not really comparable. But I hope they’re confident that it’s the same deal bc they’re in for a rude awakening.
“I got really invested last night. As I’ve grown older and accustomed to the disappointment around Notre Dame Football I’ve learned to take things in stride and believe if good things are going to happen, they’ll happen and it doesn’t make sense to get too worked up either way. Most of the time, this leads to being very relaxed and chill during games. Also, having small kids now you are forced to move on mentally from games no matter the outcome. Boy, I was hooting and hollering during the Sugar Bowl, though!”
I thought I was going to be relatively chill, but I stood up and was pacing around basically the entire game, and did not leave my feet until we got the stop at the end where I involuntarily crumpled to the ground in joy
So yeah, i feel Rendell validated my support of him this year…only his final punt was under 40 yards and that was kicked from midfield and downed at the 20.
Plus, it landed close to the 10 and bounced backwards and the ND players didn’t stop it.
True, but at the same time it nearly hit a Georgia player on one of those bounces…that really would’ve been awesome!
Maybe it’s as simple as he’s calmed his nerves.
Something like that i’ll bet. When i made my rant backing him up a few months ago i mentioned the zero touchbacks, good percentage inside the 20, very good average starting field position etc. But being new to the game consistency was obviously not there yet, seems like maybe he’s putting it all together at the right time!
Back then I felt he was bound to hurt us at some point but hadn’t yet. Often he looked to be just trying to get the punt off. It seems now he’s more confident in his approach. If deep in our end he does have a big leg and can hit a bomb. Closer to mid field he looks to try to avoid a return and make the punt difficult to field. Anything inside the 20 is fine but, no touchbacks.
I think I’m in favor of Young going all out to block any punt where it’s 4th & 8 or more if he’s got good enough body control to only get Running into the Kicker. He came so close to blocking both of those. Unleash him every single time! If Kirby had re-kicked again after the 2nd one, I think I would have sent Young after it again!
Great review of a great game. They just don’t flinch, these guys.
Now it may be time to enlist your kids in the investment. Started when Ray was 3 ourselves (the Michigan tie): Daddy, it’s Rick Mirer — and Reggie Brooks!
I’m still speechless. What a gutty performance by the whole team. This has to be the best I’ve ever seen ND play on defense and it’s not even close. It seemed like we had defenders swarming every time Georgia touched the ball, while somehow staying fundamentally sound (minus the two busts, the TD and the awful drop). The defensive line was supposed to be overmatched by a huge Georgia line full of top recruits, and they responded by clogging the middle, stuffing the run, and absolutely owning the offensive tackles. And my god the linebackers and safeties came in there like missiles. Pretty sure I was speaking in tongues after watching Shuler fire in and knock the ball loose five yards down the field.
And gritty doesn’t begin to cover what the offense and special teams did to put points on the board, control the clock, and essentially end the game when they got the ball with 9 minutes left in the 4th.
After all the years of disappointment, watching good teams beat up on a lot of middling opponents only to get completely outclassed by more talented teams, this was a revelation. Finally it seemed like ND was the team coming out fired up, playing fast and confident, and putting fear into the opponent. ND finally outcoached a top team with a combination of great in game coaching and some truly awesome wrinkles.
As a team leader, a program builder, as a representative of the university, Marcus is finally the coach we’ve been waiting for since Lou.
It’s morning again in Notre Dame.
Publius,
I love this post.
But I must say, for me I’m all in, but for the monent, still partly as an aspiration. We’re not there yet — let’s take it a game at a time. HCMF will tell us that. One play, one life! We have to beat PSU.
9-9-1, shouts out for max effort!
Yeah, I am worried about PSU. They’ve played two relatively stress-free games, while we just finished climbing a mountain.
The question is;”Can we get up for PSU the way we got up for Georgia?” Strangely, I believe that Marcus Freeman learned from NIU and we will be up for the game. However, there’s still the physical attribute, in that we also played a team that required us to exercise maximum physical effort, while I’m not sure PSU ever got to that point.
I am cautiously optimistic, but I hope we don’t run down in the 4th quarter.
Go Irish!
Great points, Cubsfan. My concern exactly. I concur that the issue will be less mental than physical. Big test for the conditioning program of which MF seems quite happy about.
Winning 4 games in a row against 4 highly ranked teams is a tough job for any team, very tough. That said, some ones going to do it, Why not us ?
Yep. Character test!
An ND forte.
“Notre Dame owes Brian Kelly (I swear I don’t mean to bring this name up again) a debt of gratitude for leaving exactly when and how he did.”
Great point. Funny how things work out. Freeman used to have eyes that looked “scared” but now his eyes are different, the team is different and he is the reason why.
But we do owe Brian Kelly a thank you.