Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 SEPT. 21, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Jacob Bartlett — Soccer The freshman midfielder from Overland Park, Kan., scored the first goal of his college career, tallying the game-winner in a 2-1 victory at Louisville to open up ACC play Sept. 6. Bartlett broke a 1-1 tie in the 29th minute of the first half before the Irish defense locked down the Cardinal in the second half for the important victory over a perennial ACC power. Izzy Engle — Soccer The freshman midfielder/ forward from Edina, Minn., helped Notre Dame to its sixth straight win with 2 goals in a 5-0 triumph over Marquette Sept. 8. It was her fourth multi-goal per- formance through the first seven matches for the Irish this season. Earlier this season, she became the first Irish player to record a hat trick since 2008. Through Sept. 8, Engle had already posted 10 goals — which ranked second in the country. Sam Grewe — Track and Field The 2021 Notre Dame graduate and Middlebury, Ind., native competed for the United Sates in the high jump at the 2024 U.S. Para- lympics in Paris Sept. 3.He qualified as one of the eight finalists in the T63 competi- tion, but he failed to earn a medal. Grewe won a silver in the event at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, then struck gold at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020. Sydney Palazzolo — Volleyball The senior outside hit- ter from Shelby Township, Mich., was the catalyst in a hard-fought 3-2 Irish win over host school Mississippi State at the StarkVegas Clas- sic Sept. 8 in Starkville, Miss. She paced the Irish with 20 kills, 16 digs and 3 service aces. During a 3-1 start for the Irish through Sept. 11, Palazzolo led the team with 55 kills and 63.5 points. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom ✦ GIMME FIVE Notre Dame suffered the biggest upset loss (by point spread) of the 2024 season's first two weeks when it fell to Northern Illinois Sept. 7. It wasn't particularly close, either. The Irish were favored to beat the Huskies by 28.5 points, but they instead lost 16-14 on senior NIU kicker Kanon Woodill's 35-yard field goal in the game's final minute. That 28.5-point spread was a full 11 points larger than the next- most shocking upset of the year so far. The next-biggest upset was 17.5-point underdog St. Fran- cis (Pa.) beating Kent State 23-17, spelling a troubling season ahead for the Golden Flashes. For reference, St. Francis (Pa.) is an FCS school that plays in the Northeast Conference. Kent State — who, like NIU, plays in the Mid- American Conference — faced No. 7 Tennessee in Week 3, and it will follow that up with No. 8 Penn State in Week 4. Florida State nearly made the top-five list twice, suffer- ing two double-digit upset losses in Week 0 and Week 1. The Seminoles were exposed in the latter matchup, falling 28-13 at home to 16.5-point underdog Boston College. Vanderbilt comes in at No. 4, pull- ing out a 34-27 overtime win over trendy Atlantic Coast Conference contender and 13.5-point favorite Virginia Tech. The Commodores are coached by former Notre Dame de- fensive coordinator Clark Lea. Rounding out the list is BYU, w h i c h b e a t S M U 1 8 - 1 5 a s 12.5-point underdogs. — Jack Soble CHARTING THE IRISH NO PRESSURE Notre Dame's defensive line has not been good enough through two games of the 2024 season. One point of contention is that the Irish are being pushed off the line of scrimmage in the run game. But as far as rushing the passer goes, the front four has left much to be desired, too. Pro Football Focus' Pass-Rush Productivity metric — defined by PFF as "the amount of pressure accumulated per pass- rushing snap … also gives weight toward sacks accumulated by a defender" — paints pressure from the front four as a glaring flaw in Notre Dame's defense. The top Irish defensive lineman in PRP through two weeks is sophomore vyper Boubacar Traore at 7.5. To put it into perspective, that ranks 126th out of 429 qualified edge rushers. Respectable? Certainly for Traore, and graduate student vyper Jordan Botelho isn't far behind at 7.1. Below those two, the numbers take a dive. Graduate student defensive tackles Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III sit at 5.0 and 2.3, respectively. That's far below their performances last season when they posted PRPs of 7.4 and 6.5, respectively. Those were elite numbers for defensive tackles. Sandwiched between them is junior defensive end Joshua Burnham at 3.3. And finally, junior defensive tackle Donovan Hinish, senior defensive tackle Jason Onye and graduate student defensive end RJ Oben have not recorded a quarterback pressure. Therefore, they have PRPs of 0.0. Oben's lack of production has been particu- larly alarming. Notre Dame acquired him to start at defensive end but limited him to just 11 snaps in its Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois. Head coach Marcus Freeman explained that Oben is healthy — just not playing well. "We didn't think during the game that he was able to perform at the level we needed him to," Freeman said. "He's fine physically. We just have to get him to play better, and he will." — Jack Soble FIVE BIGGEST UPSETS OF THE 2024 COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON Rk. Matchup Point Spread Score 1. NIU over Notre Dame 28.5 16-14 2. St. Francis (Pa.) over Kent State 17.5 23-17 3. Boston College over Florida State 16.5 28-13 4. Vanderbilt over Virginia Tech 13.5 34-27 (OT) 5. BYU over SMU 12.5 18-15 Through Week 2 NIU pulled off the biggest upset of the season to date and became the first four-touchdown underdog to win a game since Kansas beat Texas in 2021. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER PASS RUSH PRODUCTIVITY FOR NOTRE DAME DEFENSIVE LINEMEN Rk. Player, Pos. PRP Pass-rush snaps 1. Boubacar Traore, VYP 7.5 24 2. Jordan Botelho, VYP 7.1 37 3. Rylie Mills, DT 5.0 42 4. Joshua Burnham, DE 3.3 31 5. Howard Cross III, DT 2.3 47 6. Donovan Hinish, DT 0.0 18 6. Jason Onye, DT 0.0 14 6. RJ Oben, DE 0.0 19 Through Week 2