Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1507821
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 23, 2023 13 UNDER THE DOME "Death, taxes, Notre Dame having a big tight end who can catch and bulldoze guys out of the way. Redshirt freshman Holden Staes (6-feet-4, 242 pounds) caught Sam Hartman touchdown passes of 40 and 35 yards in the Irish's 45-24 weather- delayed win at NC State. "Staes looks like a matchup nightmare. On his first touchdown, Staes snuck out into the flat, caught a short pass, turned down the sideline and managed to stay upright when a Wolfpack defender attempted to shove him out of bounds. Expect the staff to keep finding ways to get him more involved." — Stewart Mandel of The Athletic "The challenges of staying in the moment and winning the moment can change based off your opponent. The challenge last week was stop wor- rying about winning or losing Saturday. Win the moment today. Maybe the challenge is this week the minute you start to drift to Ohio State you can't win the moment of today. And the same thing will be next week. Don't worry about the next Satur- day. Win today. That's ultimately what matters." — Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman "Notre Dame is not going to join the ACC. Oh, sure, it's technically a full voting member and spent a portion of this summer nudging the league to add Cal and Stanford, ostensibly for the good of college football, but make no mistake, the Irish are only here to bring the ACC down from the inside. "… Notre Dame has now won 29 straight regular- season games versus the ACC. Syracuse, which joined the ACC full time in 2013, has just 26 total wins against the conference since then. Indeed, since the Irish joined the ACC in all sports but foot- ball in 2014 — they typically play five games per year against the conference — they've racked up 42 ACC wins. Only Clemson, Pitt and Miami have more. The other 11 full-time ACC members have been left in Notre Dame's dust. "If the ACC were the cast of 'Succession,' Notre Dame is Tom Wambsgans. He was welcomed into the family, pushed for a big merger to go through, then stole all the power for himself. (Side note: Miami is definitely Cousin Greg, right?) "This is all incredibly problematic for the ACC, but it's worth remembering that, starting next year, SMU, Stanford and Cal can also lose games to Notre Dame. You know, for the good of the league." — ESPN staff writer David Hale "As for Notre Dame, Sam Hartman has completely changed the ceiling for the Irish in 2023. The senior quarterback has been flawless through three games, averaging 11.4 yards per attempt (fourth-best nation- ally) with 10 touchdowns and zero picks. The Irish's offensive success rate in 2023 ranks 10th nationally. They're No. 2 nationally in total EPA — a category where they ranked 56th in the country a year ago. "With two of the best tackles in the nation and a game-breaker with Audric Estimé, the Irish should be able to run the ball all season. Freshman tight end Holden Staes (TD catches of 40 and 35 yards vs. NC State) looks like a freakish matchup for most linebackers and safeties. "They have a top-10 defense, and Marcus Free- man is much more comfortable in his second sea- son as head coach. If Notre Dame simply wins the games it's supposed to (which include ranked teams like Duke) and goes two of three against Ohio State (at home in two weeks), USC (at home) and at Clemson, at 11-1 the Irish make the dance." — On3's Jesse Simonton on the Irish's stock being up and them being legitimate College Football Playoff contenders after their 3-0 start THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "Get-off, leverage, fast hands. Natural strength. I'm not saying he's not weight room- strong, because he is. But I mean natural strength, the ability to contort and bend and get out of bad positions. He's just really flexible and pliable in terms of defeating blockers and getting flat down the line. His effort right now is incredible.." — Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden on graduate student defensive tackle Howard Cross III PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER TOP TWEETS