Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 SEPT. 23, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: OHIO STATE BY JACK SOBLE I t's finally here. The first four weeks of Notre Dame's 2023 season have been building up to this Saturday. Even in his Monday press con- ference Sept. 11, post-NC State and pre-Central Michigan, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman gave a small acknowl- edgment of what was on everyone in the room's mind. "I know somebody's going to ask about Ohio State coming up," Freeman said. The buzz in South Bend is palpable, but it's worth taking a moment to think about what it would be like if Notre Dame was not undefeated heading into its critical matchup with Ohio State. Even if the Irish played closer games than expected against NC State in Week 2 or even Navy in Week 0, would Irish fans have the same feeling? With that in mind, it's also worth looking back at what got the Irish to this point with little to no bumps in the road. And much of it has to do with what Freeman said next. "As I've always said, we get 12 guar- anteed opportunities, so we're down to nine," Freeman said. "And for us to overlook any opponent would be just crazy." In sticking with that mindset, Notre Dame guaranteed its opportunity to ce- ment itself as a College Football Playoff contender at 7:30 p.m. ET on Satur- day, Sept. 23 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. Going into the 2023 season, Free- man and his players remembered losing at home to Marshall on the heels of a closer-than-expected road loss to the Buckeyes, and they remembered los- ing at home to Stanford after seemingly righting the ship with wins over North Carolina and BYU. " I t's n o t a lways t h e m os t we l l coached, it's who plays the best on Saturdays that is going to go win these games," graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman said. "You see it all across college football." With Hartman's help, Notre Dame has played the best in its first four matchups, and then some. Asked about how important that mindset is, graduate student defensive tackle Howard Cross III correctly said, "Obviously it's working." Throughout the season's first three weeks, Notre Dame blasted a Navy team it beat by three in 2022, 42-3. It took care of business against Tennessee State, 56-3. The Irish entered Raleigh, N.C., knowing full well they couldn't bring their "B" game and walk out with an easy win, and that it would be a battle even if they came to play. It was, through three quarters, until Notre Dame pulled away in the fourth. Week 4 against Cen- tral Michigan was no different. It's almost a freeing feeling, Cross said, to play each game focused only on the task at hand. "We're not on the field worrying about what's going to happen next week or the week before that or if I had a bad game last week. No, you just worry about this game and this game only," Cross said. Last season, graduate student safety DJ Brown said, the Irish got caught looking forward to their marquee matchup. Brown remembers feeling like there was a "fog" over some of Notre Dame's games — if it wasn't the oppo- nent everyone was looking forward to facing, why get excited about it? That was a trap Notre Dame fell into last season, and it had consequences. "Not overlooking any opponent every week allows us to really lock in every week on whoever we're going to play or whatever we have to do and not really think about Ohio State or Clemson or whatever it is," Brown said. Even this week, the "Don't think about Ohio State" message will still be a factor as the Irish go through practice. HUGE OPPORTUNITY 'One game at a time' mindset made the hype for the Ohio State game real Junior wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., a first-team AP All-American in 2022, was rated as the third-best player in college football in the preseason by ESPN. PHOTO COURTESY OHIO STATE ATHLETICS Facts & Figures OHIO STATE AT NOTRE DAME Date: Sept. 23, 2023 Site: Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET Television: NBC/Peacock Radio: This game can be heard on Notre Dame IMG affiliates. Series facts: Notre Dame is 2-5 all time against Ohio State. The Irish last beat the Buckeyes in 1936, a 7-2 victory. Ohio State enters with a five-game winning streak against Notre Dame, most recently beating the Irish 21-10 on Sept. 3, 2022. Head coaches: Ohio State — Ryan Day (48-6, sixth season including three games as acting head coach in 2018); Notre Dame — Marcus Freeman (13-5, second season). Noting Ohio State: The Buckeyes won the national championship in 2014 and have made the College Football Playoff four times since, including three of the past four years … Ohio State's last regular- season loss to a team not named Michigan was a 35-28 defeat at the hands of Oregon on Sept. 11, 2021 … OSU's last nonconference loss before that was a 31-16 setback against Oklahoma on Sept. 9, 2017 … The Buckeyes allowed only 5.0 points per game in their first two contests, which was tied for second in the nation … Ohio State was tied for 70th in the country with 29.0 points per game through two weeks in 2023 … The Buckeyes have not appeared in the Big Ten Championship Game since 2020, but won it four straight years before that … Ohio State had six players drafted in 2023, including three first-round picks (quarterback CJ Stroud, offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba).