It was yet another day where the biggest issue Notre Dame fans faced was annoyance at a garbage time touchdown by the other team, and the Irish walloped previously unbeaten Army 49-14 to move one win away from hosting a playoff game.
Pretty much everything was hitting on all cylinders for the Irish, except for goal-line offense and (once again) the kicking game, but Notre Dame scored from long distances enough to make those things a nonissue.
Both lines, Jeremiyah Love and pretty much the entire Notre Dame defense were outstanding. Notre Dame picked up its 4th ranked at-the-time win, although unfortunately it may end up that only 1 of those teams is ranked this week.
Win in the trenches (pun intended)
Notre Dame’s front four on defense and its front five on offense were simply overwhelming in this one. Irish backs repeatedly got first downs before they were even touched, Jeremiyah Love and Aneyas Williams both ripped off monstrous TD runs, and the ND defense battered Army QB Bryson Daily into what would be submission for a normal man. The Irish averaged 9.4 yards per carry and Army averaged 3.6. Those are really the only numbers that mattered tonight.
SEE YA ☘️
THERE GOES @JeremiyahLove
6️⃣8️⃣ yards to the HOUSE#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/qjPq8rQIMG
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 24, 2024
This seemed like a simple case of Army not being ready for the ND athleticism. And how could they have been? Their best win to date was North Texas. Advanced metrics had Army as a legitimate top-40 team despite their lack of schedule strength, but there’s a leap from top 40 to top 10.
Leonard effective without running
Either Army was keyed in on Riley Leonard running or ND elected to not run Leonard as much, but the ND signal-caller did not tuck and run as much today as he had. However, he was very good through the air, throwing for 148 yards on 11 yards per pass attempt. Receivers were pretty open throughout, so he didn’t exactly have to throw pinpoint passes, but it was still pleasant to see him be on target throughout the game. (He did miss one TD high to Jaden Greathouse, but that’s fine for today. For today.) Even better, there were no terrible drops, an unfortunately common sight much of the season.
As I’ve said a lot this year, Notre Dame doesn’t need Riley Leonard to be a game-breaker. The Irish just need him to do what he can and do it well. Today was a good example of him doing that.
Defense, defense, defense
I don’t know how many more hagiographies I can write about Al Golden. Marcus Freeman completely crushed that hire, and Notre Dame has crushed retaining him. The ND defense had to be disciplined and, to use Freeman’s own word, violent to be effective tonight, and they checked both those boxes. Army had one TD drive with the game in play.
The ND linebacking corps, despite losing Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa in the game, was rock-solid. Jaylen Sneed is still the option-killer, Jaiden Ausberry had some truly vicious tackles, and Jack Kiser and Drayk Bowen were their usual terrific selves. Leonard Moore – an absolute home run evaluation by the defensive staff – forced a fumble ND recovered. Irish players flew all over the place blowing people up.
BY MAKING PLAYS IN THE BX#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/SKXx1p1n44
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 24, 2024
USC on the road is always a pain in the butt for ND, but I think it’s fair to believe the Trojans will want no part of the style of play ND will bring to LA. Let’s hope that works itself out.
The one issue – kicking
The kicking game is officially a five-alarm dumpster fire. Mitch Jeter still doesn’t look healthy, ND got a kick blocked, and frankly I’m largely cool banning all field goal attempts on 4th and less than 8 or so. Can we all agree on that?
I’m not sure why Notre Dame can’t seem to find a reliable kicker anymore – Blake Grupe was pretty solid, but if you don’t count him it goes back to Justin Yoon – but eventually the Irish aren’t going to stomp an opponent into dust and we might like to have a good placekicker when that day comes.
The big picture
You look around at college football, especially after today, and…who is there to really be scared of? I think if you made me pick someone I don’t want to play, it’s Ohio State. They appear to be the most potent mix of talent and coaching. Georgia would be right there, but they’ve looked mortal more than they haven’t this season.
With Texas A&M crapping the bed against Auburn, ND is extremely lacking in quality wins, but with Alabama, Texas A&M and Ole Miss all faceplanting today, we’re running out of teams with a case to be ranked ahead of them (although the entire CFB world conspiring to help Penn State week after week will probably keep the Nittany Lions in the #4 ranking and #6 seeding positions). As is always the case, keep pursuing perfection and hoping to catch it.