Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526412
26 SEPT. 14, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 1. Notre Dame left energy, intensity, urgency in College Station In Week 1 at Texas A&M, Notre Dame played with its hair on fire. It started with Irish head coach Marcus Free- man's intentional display of passion and energy as the team walked out of the tunnel, meant to take the pressure off his young offensive line- men. It continued into the first quarter, when the amped-up visitors flew to the football and made everything the Aggies did difficult. Even when Notre Dame made mistakes, it did so at full-speed. But it didn't make many mistakes, because it played with a sense of urgency that matched the magnitude of the game. Where was that in the home opener against Northern Illinois? Where was any of it? After an opening-drive touchdown put the Irish up 7-0, senior NIU running back Antario Brown slipped between freshman linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and junior cornerback Benjamin Mor- rison on a simple route. Just like that, he was gone for an 83-yard touchdown. Last week's Notre Dame team doesn't let that happen, nor does it suffer a coverage bust that left Brown uncovered for a 43-yard gain on the next possession. Even the fans that made the trip were more into it than the ones in South Bend, who produced the saddest, quietest "Mo Bamba" rendition known to college football in the second quarter. Who could blame them? There wasn't much to get excited about. "If you're not motivated to play in Notre Dame Stadium, then that's a choice," Freeman said. "It's a choice. Motivation is a choice." If that's the case, many members of the Fighting Irish chose the wrong option. 2. Here's a third-quarter sequence that defined the game On first-and-10 from the Northern Illinois 48- yard line, the Huskies lined up with two wide receivers to the left side. Only one Notre Dame cornerback, Morrison, went with them. With Morrison pleading for help, NIU snapped it and, lo and behold, threw a screen to one of them (redshirt sophomore Keyshaun Pipkin) that gained 14 yards. Three plays later, the Huskies came out in a simi- lar formation: Two receivers on one side of the field. Notre Dame failed to match the formation again, and Freeman had to burn a timeout. You think the Irish could have used that time- out later in the game? To save 40 seconds as the Huskies bled the clock before attempting a game- winning field goal, perhaps? That lack of attention to detail buried them all afternoon. 3. Ausberry came to play Sophomore linebacker Jaiden Ausberry was Notre Dame's best defensive player in Week 2. He was all over the field, and he was one of very few Irish defenders who knocked NIU ball carriers back when they tackled them. Early in the fourth quarter, Ausberry stopped the Huskies almost by himself. He made a tackle for no gain on first-and-10, combined for a 2-yard stop on third-and-4 and broke up a pass with airtight coverage on fourth-and-2. If everyone on Notre Dame played with the heart Ausberry showed, this would be a very different article. 4. It's not time for Steve Angeli, but … Notre Dame needs to have serious conversations about A) Who senior quarterback Riley Leonard is right now, B) Calling the offense accordingly and C) What they plan to do if the game is close at halftime and he does not look improved next week at Purdue. During Freeman's Sept. 2 press conference, he was asked a question with the premise of "Riley's strength isn't necessarily pushing the ball down- field." Freeman pushed back, saying he believes it is. At least at this time, it is not. Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock be- lieves Leonard will get better throughout the season, using Jayden Daniels' career arc as a ref- erence. The issue is Notre Dame is in a playoff- or-bust year, and one more loss means "bust." Leonard can't drop back to pass 34 times during a game where the run game is clearly the offense's strength again. More broadly speaking, sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love is clearly Notre Dame's best offen- sive player right now. Denbrock needs to design his next game plan around that. 5. The season is not over, but … The margin for error is now zero. The Irish will not make the College Football Playoff as a two-loss team, with one of those losses coming at home to Northern Illinois. Furthermore, if Notre Dame's offense continues to look like this and the defense comes out this flat one more time, a second loss is inevitable. Free- man and company have work to do, and they have to get it done soon. FIVE THOUGHTS BY JACK SOBLE The Fighting Irish's lack of urgency and attention to detail cost them dearly against Northern Illinois. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER