Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1529460
26 NOV. 23, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED "On the sideline, we have a saying, we were like, 'Ball don't lie.'" Ball don't lie indeed. Notre Dame made sure of it. "They called it. You've got to move on, right?" Freeman said. "Doesn't matter if you like the call or not. You have to move forward. That's most important." IRISH OFFENSE UNEVEN IN WIN One drive, it was a 50-50 ball that didn't work. The next, it was holding. The one after that, it was Notre Dame graduate student wide receiver Beaux Collins dropping a per- fectly layered ball from senior quarterback Riley Leonard. And also holding. "We can't hold," Freeman said. "We have to be better. We can't put our offense behind the sticks." The Irish endured three consecutive three-and-outs a f te r t h e i r o p e n i n g - d r ive touchdown. Their ensuing possession started promis- ingly, with a 5-yard gain for sophomore running back Jer- emiyah Love. It worked well enough that Notre Dame offensive co- ordinator Mike Denbrock went back to Love on the next play, only to watch him get blasted in the backfield, try to make something out of nothing and go down for a loss of 10. Three-and-out No. 4. "That's the thing that stuck out to me more than anything, is that we were in a lot of third and long situations," Free- man said. "The percentage of convert- ing those are not good, no matter who you are." NOTRE DAME VS. VIRGINIA QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 7:11 8:38 12:05 6:42 15:49 18:47 34:36 Third-Down Conversions 0-3 0-2 1-4 0-3 0-5 1-7 1-12 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 1-2 2-2 0-0 3-4 3-4 Average Field Position ND-47 ND-47 ND-17 ND-42 ND-47 ND-27 ND-40 Virginia 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 7:49 6:22 2:55 8:18 14:11 11:13 25:24 Third-Down Conversions 1-5 1-5 0-2 4-6 2-10 4-8 6-18 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 0-0 1-1 1-1 0-1 2-2 2-3 Average Field Position UVA-17 UVA-30 UVA-35 UVA-13 UVA-25 UVA-24 UVA-25 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND UVA Nega ve 5 5 0-5 38 46 6-9 14 4 10-19 10 10 20-29 1 1 30-39 0 1 40-49 0 0 50 or more 1 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 6 4 0 2 Virginia 2 2 0 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 1-10 ND24 Love rush for 76 yards and a touchdown • 3-13 ND20 Leonard pass to Harrison for 25 yards to ND45 Virginia • 1-10 UVA11 Colandrea pass to Fields for 27 yards to UVA38 • 1-10 UVA35 Muskett pass to Fields for 38 yards to the ND27 Despite putting up 35 points, senior quarterback Riley Leonard and the Irish offense committed too many penalties and was just 1 of 12 on third-down conversions. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER PARTICIPATION CHART OFFENSE QB: RILEY LEONARD, Steve Angeli RB: JEREMIYAH LOVE, Jadarian Price, Aneyas Wil- liams WR: BEAUX COLLINS, KRIS MITCHELL, JADEN GREATHOUSE, Jayden Harrison, Jayden Thomas, Jordan Faison, Deion Colzie, KK Smith, Cam Williams TE: MITCHELL EVANS, Eli Raridon, Cooper Flana - gan, Kevin Bauman LT: ANTHONIE KNAPP, Tosh Baker LG: BILLY SCHRAUTH, Sam Pendleton C: PAT COOGAN, Joe Otting RG: ROCCO SPINDLER, Chris Terek RT: AAMIL WAGNER, Sullivan Absher DEFENSE SDE: RJ OBEN, Bryce Young, Grant Ristoff DT: RYLIE MILLS, Gabriel Rubio, Armel Mukam, Brenan Vernon NT: DONOVAN HINISH, Sean Sevillano Jr., Devan Houstan Vyper: JOSHUA BURNHAM, Junior Tuihalamaka, Kobi Onyiuke Will: JACK KISER, Jaiden Ausberry, Bodie Kahoun Mike: DRAYK BOWEN, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Preston Zinter Rover: Jaylen Sneed BCB: LEONARD MOORE, Jordan Clark, Tae Johnson FS: XAVIER WATTS, Luke Talich SS: ADON SHULER, Rod Heard II, Kennedy Ur - lacher FCB: CHRISTIAN GRAY, Karson Hobbs Nickel: JORDAN CLARK, Max Hurleman SPECIAL TEAMS Kick return: Beaux Collins, Deion Colzie, Jayden Thomas, Drayk Bowen, Mitchell Evans, Cooper Flanagan, Davis Sherwood, Junior Tuihalamaka, Jake Tafelski, Preston Zinter, Leo Scheidler, Jack Larsen, Alex Whitman, Jack Polian, Charlie Selna, Justin Fisher, Bodie Kahoun Kickoff coverage: Kobi Onyiuke, Loghan Thomas, Bryce Young, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Max Hurleman, Preston Zinter, Kennedy Urlacher, Luke Talich, Jaiden Ausberry, Ben Minich, Bodie Kahoun, Jake Tafelski Punt return: Rod Heard II, Jack Kiser, Ben Minich, Karson Hobbs, Luke Talich, Preston Zinter, Ken - nedy Urlacher, Jaylen Sneed, Adon Shuler, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Loghan Thomas, Bryce Young, Bodie Kahoun Punt coverage: Gabriel Rubio, Max Hurleman, Luke Talich, Davis Sherwood, Jack Kiser, Jordan Faison, Rod Heard II, Jeremiyah Love, Jayden Har - rison, Drayk Bowen, Ty Chan Long snapper: Rino Monteforte Short snapper: Joseph Vinci Holder: Chris Salerno Kick returners: Jayden Harrison, Max Hurleman Punt returner: Hurleman Placekicker: Mitch Jeter, Zac Yoakam, Marcello Diomede Kickoff: Eric Goins Punter: James Rendell