Blue and Gold Illustrated

Sept. 24, 2022

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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20 SEPT. 24, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA N obody ever said it would be easy. No t re Da m e h ea d coa c h Marcus Freeman earned his first career victory in a 24-17 triumph over the California Golden Bears at Notre Dame Stadium Sept. 17. It took a long, winding afternoon full of twists and turns before Freeman could finally waltz off the field in South Bend with a subtle eye roll and sigh of relief with the sun setting behind the west side of the venue. Notre Dame wasn't safe until the ball batted around like a beach ball at a rock concert before finally falling to the turf near the goal line amid a mass of hu- manity with 0:00 showing on the game clock. An interception and a fumble re- covery returned for a touchdown were wiped off the board in the moments leading up to that. All Freeman could do at the postgame podium was take another big sigh. He said he had a conversation with God in that last sequence, essentially asking the Lord what he had to do for a game to finally end in his favor. "You know what, it is hard to win football games," he said, "It's hard. You've seen it in the first three games. It's hard. So I'm so proud of that group of guys to find a way to finish." Ju n i o r q u a r te r b a c k D rew P y n e started slow but finished 17-of-23 passing for 150 yards with 2 touch- down passes in his first career start. The Notre Dame ground game woke up with sophomore running back Audric Estime and junior running back Chris Tyree combining for 35 carries for 140 yards and a touchdown. The Irish pass rush came alive with 6 sacks and 5 quarterback hurries. Notre Dame did not force a takeaway, but it was relentless enough in getting to the quarterback to make life on Cal tough offensively. The Irish only gained 297 total yards to Cal's 296, but in a battle of defenses, Notre Dame's was superior. That made the difference. FIRST QUARTER NOTRE DAME 0, CALIFORNIA 0 Top Moment: Needing anything to go its way after a rocky start, Cal kicker Dario Longhetto doinked a 45-yard field goal attempt off the left upright with 16 seconds left in the first quar- ter. The miss felt like a huge victory for Notre Dame at the time. Feature Performer: Graduate stu- dent Jon Sot punted 4 times for an av- erage of 49.0 yards. Two of his punts traveled farther than 50 yards. He gave Notre Dame the edge in the field posi- tion game while both teams struggled offensively. Stats: Cal outgained Notre Dame 72-28 in total yards. The Irish averaged 0.3 yards per carry and 2.2 yards per play. Cal was 1 of 5 on third down while Notre Dame was 0 of 4. There were seven collective three- and-outs in the first quarter. Items: Pyne missed a wide-open Lorenzo Styles in the flat on the first GUTTING IT OUT Marcus Freeman earns his first career Notre Dame victory with a balanced effort on both sides of the ball

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