Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 30, 2023 21 "Disappointing," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said. "Had a lot of opportunities to win that game. … We got to finish that game. Tough loss." It surely wasn't the prettiest spectacle the sport has to offer. Both teams inex- plicably flicked scoring chances from their fingers early on. But it was cer- tainly still a showcase of two teams with plenty of talent desperately doing any- thing to win the game of the year to date. And if you like dramatics, you got 'em. Eventually. Ohio State's 15-play, 65-yard game- winning drive that took 1:25 of the 1:26 that were left on the clock when the Buckeyes (4-0) got the ball back fea- tured three third-down conversions — including Chip Trayanum's touchdown and a third-and-19 pickup — a fourth- and-7 game-saver and a dropped would-be game-sealing interception through the hands of sixth-year gradu- ate student defensive back DJ Brown. The touchdown came when Notre Dame only had 10 players on the field, too. Trayanum powered forward right where the missing man would have been on the right side of the Notre Dame de- fensive line. "We were trying to get a fourth de- fensive lineman on the field, and I told him just stay off because we can't afford a penalty," Freeman said. "I didn't have any timeouts. We couldn't afford a pen- alty. Yeah, it's on us. Got to be better." Before Notre Dame's costly blunder and Ohio State quarterback Kyle Mc- Cord's late-game heroics in completing three passes for 47 yards on the game- winning march, the matchup was nearly the first ever between two Associated Press top-10 teams to go to halftime tied 0-0. Ohio State connected on a 31-yard field goal with 26 seconds left in the second quarter to prevent that from be- ing the case. After Notre Dame turned the ball over on downs for the second time in the game on its first possession of the second half, all Ohio State needed was one snap to open up a two-score lead. Junior running back TreVeyon Hender- son found a ton of running room off an unsealed left edge to turn the corner and take the ball 61 yards into the north end zone of Notre Dame Stadium for a 10-0 Buckeyes' advantage. Then Notre Dame said not so fast. Hold my beer, perhaps. A fitting phrase for the mass quantity of them con- sumed on campus before the game. The Irish went on two touchdown drives in a row spanning 24 plays and 171 yards. Sophomore running back Gi'Bran Payne scored the first one on a 1-yard plunge in an eerily similar location to the eventual game-winner, and fresh- man wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. caught the second from Hartman, who finished 17-of-25 passing for 175 yards, from 2 yards out. The Notre Dame defense forced a turnover on downs on fourth-and-1 with just more than four minutes left. The Irish rattled off two quick first downs, threatening to end the game if they could muster up a couple more. They couldn't. They gave the ball back to McCord and company, and the rest is history. History. It hasn't been too good to Notre Dame against Ohio State lately. The Irish lost their sixth straight to the Buckeyes and still haven't beaten them since 1936. "O-H-I-O" it was, and "O- H-I-O" it is. FIRST QUARTER NOTRE DAME 0, OHIO STATE 0 Top Moment: Without hesitation, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman left his offense on the field on fourth-and-1 from the Ohio State 18-yard line. Sam Hartman scrambled to his right and was forced out of bounds by OSU senior linebacker Cody Simon. After video re- view, officials ruled Hartman short of the line to gain. Feature Performer: Notre Dame junior tight end Mitchell Evans caught 4 passes for 38 yards, including a one- handed catch while being blanketed by a defender. Stats: Notre Dame picked up 7 first downs to Ohio State's 2. The Irish out- gained the Buckeyes 105-41. Items: Senior safety Lathan Ran- som and graduate student linebacker Steele Chambers led OSU in tackles with 4 each … Hartman completed 9 of 10 throws for 88 yards … Notre Dame's first drive lasted 14 plays and went 71 yards … Ohio State limited Irish junior running back Audric Estimé to 3 yards on 4 carries. SECOND QUARTER OHIO STATE 3, NOTRE DAME 0 Top Moment: The Buckeyes went for it on fourth-and-goal from the Notre Dame 1-yard line. Ohio State ju- nior quarterback Kyle McCord ran play action, which fooled nobody. He fired a desperation pass to senior tight end Cade Stover, but Irish sophomore line- backer Jaylen Sneed deflected it away. Featured Performer: The Ohio State secondary. Hartman threw 3 passes in the quarter and completed none of them. The Bucke yes went 65 yards on 15 plays, capped by senior running back Chip Trayanum's 1-yard touchdown run against an Irish defense with just 10 players on the field and one sec- ond remaining in the game. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER