Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1528160
24 OCT. 26, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 1. Much To Build Off Of, But Consistency Re- mains The Key For Leonard It wasn't what Notre Dame senior quarterback Riley Leonard saw on his interception intended for graduate student wide receiver Beaux Collins deep down the middle of the field, he explained after the game. It was what he didn't see. "I didn't see pretty much anything," Leonard said. "It was a bad read. … You can't throw that ball into Cover 3." Following that mistake, though, Leonard played his best quarter-and-change in a Fighting Irish uniform. He completed each of his next 12 passes for 162 yards, averaging 13.5 yards per attempt. He was accurate. He was decisive. He ran well. He was smart, but he picked his spots to take shots down the field. More than anything, he took what the defense gave him. "Just don't be a dummy," Leonard said. "If they give you a hitch, take a hitch." However, after the Irish took a commanding 21-7 lead in the third quarter, Leonard fell back into some old habits. Notably, he dropped his eyes and defaulted to scrambling earlier than he should have a few times. That's part of why Notre Dame's offense stalled in the second half. Leonard did some really good things in Atlanta. Consistency is the key. Perfection is unrealistic, but playing like he did in that successful stretch for four quarters each week should be the goal. 2. More Pass Catchers Are More Involved At long last, sophomore wide receiver Jaden Greathouse found a slot corner willing to cover him man-to-man. He didn't miss his opportunity. Leonard tossed a beautiful back-shoulder throw — his best of the day and arguably his best with the Irish — and Greathouse made the play on a slot fade. Greathouse caught 3 passes for 43 yards, and he wasn't the only Notre Dame pass catcher who produced. Collins led the way with 5 catches for 51 yards. Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love got in- volved in the passing game, with 3 for 57. Senior tight end Mitchell Evans had 4 for 26. Five others caught a pass for at least 7 yards, too. That's what this passing game is going to be. Notre Dame might not have a wide receiver go for more than 100 yards in a game this season. That's OK. Spreading the ball around is a winning formula. 3. Bowen Becoming Monster In Middle Of Defense Sophomore linebacker Drayk Bowen led the Irish with 9 tackles against Georgia Tech, and he broke up a pass. That doesn't begin to describe the im- pact he had on this game. Bowen has been an animal in recent weeks. He's always been the hardest hitter on the team, playing like an old-school thumper but bringing athleticism to compete with the speedy skill play- ers of the modern game. He is always around the football, and his physicality adds up. Ask Yellow Jackets redshirt junior quarterback Zach Pyron about Bowen, and he might start to feel sore again. Fellow sophomore linebacker Jaiden Ausberry and freshman linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa continue to play really well, too. But Bowen stood out above the rest versus Georgia Tech. 4. Buchner Fake A Long Time Coming It is possible that Notre Dame's fake field goal with Tyler Buchner lining up at holder and running right was Blue & Gold Illustrated's idea. "Here's a galaxy-brain idea," I wrote on the Lou Somogyi Board on Aug. 22. "Buchner shares a number with the actual holder (Chris Salerno), right? So maybe you can put him in there for a fake FG and hope the other team doesn't notice." Jokes aside, credit to Irish special teams coor- dinator Marty Biagi for two ingenious fakes that helped make Saturday's romp in Atlanta a fun one. More importantly — much more importantly — Buchner played a football game dressed in blue and gold for the first time since Dec. 30, 2022. He transferred to Alabama, came back to Notre Dame as a walk-on lacrosse player and walked onto the football team with the intention of doing whatever it took to help that team win. Usually, that means signaling in plays. One would assume Buchner also has some scout-team re- sponsibilities mixed in. But in Atlanta, he got a well-deserved moment in the sun. 5. Fine, We Can Talk About The Playoff Did you know Notre Dame, after beating Georgia Tech, has a 63 percent chance of making the Col- lege Football Playoff (per ESPN analytics)? If you watched the game on ESPN, that sentence prob- ably rekindles the eye-twitching madness you felt after seeing that graphic at least twice per quarter. But it's true: Notre Dame is in excellent shape. A one-loss Irish team is in, no questions asked. Free- man's group will be heavily favored in each of its remaining games, with the possible exception of a Week 14 matchup at USC. But the Trojans fell to 3-4 (1-4 Big Ten) with a loss to Maryland in Week 8. Bottom line: Just keep taking care of business. Win, and Notre Dame is in. FIVE THOUGHTS BY JACK SOBLE Sophomore linebacker Drayk Bowen registered a game-high 9 tackles against the Yellow Jackets. PHOTO BY MATT RUDOLPH