Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1507821
24 SEPT. 23, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED TURNING POINT As was the case in the big wins over Navy and Ten- nessee State to open the season, it didn't take long for Notre Dame to establish its turning point in the 41-17 blowout win over Central Michigan. With the game tied 7-7 late in the first quarter, Notre Dame faced a fourth- and-1 from the Central Michigan 17-yard line. To nobody's surprise, junior tailback Audric Estimé got the carry on a rushing play over the left side, stum- bled for a moment, regained his balance and went 17 yards for his fifth rushing touchdown of the season to give Notre Dame a 14-7 lead. The Irish also faced a third-and-9 early in the same drive that graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman converted on a 12-yard connection with senior slot receiver Chris Tyree to keep the chains moving and the Irish offense on the field. Notre Dame's defense forced a three-and-out on Central Michigan's ensuing possession. STATS OF THE GAME Notre Dame continues to excel in the red zone, going 4 for 4 against Central Michigan on its four trips, with 3 touchdowns and 1 field goal. The Irish scored on 14 of their 15 red zone trips through the first four games (13 touchdowns and 1 field goal). With 236 yards on 37 rushing attempts and 342 pass- ing yards on 28 throws, Notre Dame again showed great offensive balance. Another statistic of note was that the Irish averaged 6.4 yards on its rushing attempts compared to 3.9 yards per tote for Central Michigan. The game was turnover free and Notre Dame punted only twice while it forced the Chippewas into seven punts. On the downside, Notre Dame was again plagued by penalties, recording 8 for 72 yards, which provided the Chippewas three first downs. This came one game after the Irish posted 10 penalties for 82 yards against North Carolina State Sept. 9. After struggling some in pass protection through the first three games, the Irish did not allow a sack against Central Michigan and surrendered only 3 quarterback hurries. SHARING THE WEALTH Notre Dame continued its signature pattern of going deep into its depth chart and keeping much of its roster involved in the game plan. Two games after eight different Irish players scored touchdowns against Tennessee State and one game after four different Notre Dame players scored touch- downs against North Carolina State, another five dif- ferent Irish players found the end zone against Central Michigan. A 75-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter by sophomore wide receiver Tobias Merriweather means that nine different Irish receivers have already caught touchdown passes this season, to go along with four different Notre Dame rushers who have also tallied touchdowns. Big plays were also a factor against Central Michigan. Hartman hit four pass completions of at least 39 yards. THREE OBSERVATIONS BY TODD D. BURLAGE TAILBACK AUDRIC ESTIMÉ A regular on this game-ball list, the Irish junior recorded a career-high 176 yards on 20 carries with 1 touchdown against Central Michigan. Estimé averaged 8.8 yards per carry, which brought his season average to 8.3 yards per tote. It was the third consecutive 100-yard game for the star tailback, after he tallied 134 yards against North Carolina State Sept. 9 and 116 yards against Tennessee State Sept. 2. For the season, Estimé already has 521 rushing yards, putting him on pace to finish with more than 1,500 yards over the course of a 13-game campaign. QUARTERBACK SAM HARTMAN The graduate student signal-caller was again the star of the show. Hartman finished his day 16-of-26 passing for 330 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. He also added a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Highlighting Hartman's efficient performance was that he averaged a remarkable 20.6 yards on his 16 completions in the game. Hartman connected on four passes of at least 39 yards. The two most notable came in the first 16 minutes of the game when he connected with sophomore wide receiver Tobias Merriweather on a 75-yard touchdown and senior slot receiver Chris Tyree on a 76-yard scoring toss. LINEBACKER JACK KISER The Irish graduate student finished with a team-high 10 tackles (6 solo) and 1 tackle for loss, making plays all over the field against Central Michigan. Playing extended reps because of an injury that kept graduate student linebacker JD Bertrand out of the lineup, Kiser filled in admirably and made good on his increased responsibilities. Kiser, the team's leader so far this season with 26 tackles, also recorded his first sack of the year and added a forced fumble in the game. GAME BALLS BY TODD D. BURLAGE Graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser recorded a team-high 10 tackles against the Chippewas. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER