Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1529781
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 30, 2024 21 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: A Notre Dame didn't pass a whole lot because it didn't need to. More on that in the rushing of- fense section. In the end, though, the numbers through the air were still very efficient. The Irish connected on 14 of 18 passes for 189 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Senior starter Riley Leonard led the way in com- pleting 10 of 13 throws for 148 yards with 2 touch- downs before he was pulled for junior backup Steve Angeli in the third quarter. Angeli came out firing and was 4-of-5 passing for 41 yards. Had he connected with sophomore tight end Cooper Flanagan on what ended up being an errant pass through the back of the end zone, we might've bumped this to an A+. But the Irish will have to settle for the standard "A." NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: A+ Here's your A+. Twenty-nine rushes for 273 yards, an average of 9.4 yards per rush, with 5 — yes, count them all, 5 (!) — rushing touchdowns? All against the nation's No. 3 rushing defense go- ing into the game? It truly does not get any better than that. Sophomore Jeremiyah Love had 130 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 7 carries. Junior Jadarian Price got into the end zone twice as well and finished with 53 yards on 10 carries. Freshman Aneyas Wil- liams had 3 carries for 62 yards, 58 of which came on a fourth-quarter touchdown. Notre Dame ran wild on Army and didn't even need to lean on quarterback Riley Leonard's legs to do so. He was quiet for his standards with 8 carries for 30 yards. Running backs, have a night. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: A Tough to give this phase a grade considering Army only threw the ball 9 times. Quarterback Bryson Daily completed 4 of 8 passes for 26 yards. The reason we're going with an A in this section is because situationally, the Irish were ready for whatever Daily wanted to do with his arm. Army actually called a few more pass plays, but Notre Dame covered Daily's targets so well he had to take off and run. In games against option offenses, the passing game can actually be the X-factor. If a team like Army has success aerially in addition to the yards churned out on the ground, then the opposing defense is in trouble. Notre Dame made it so that it was never in any such danger. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: A+ The Black Knights went into the game with the nation's No. 1 rushing offense at close to 334.9 rushing yards per game. Notre Dame slowed that down to 207, which tied a season low. None of Army's first nine opponents held the Black Knights to under 4.0 rushing yards per at- tempt. Notre Dame did. There were four Notre Dame players who recorded at least 5 total tack- les; a safety in sophomore Adon Shuler, a line- backer in sophomore Jaiden Ausberry, and two defensive linemen in juniors Donovan Hinish and Junior Tuihalamaka. All three levels of the defense represented there, and that's indicative of what this was — an absolute clinic on how to stop an option offense. SPECIAL TEAMS: C This was the first game all season in which James Rendell did not attempt at least one punt. The Irish tried two field goals, though, and neither of them went through the uprights. That overshadows yet another blocked punt for freshman Bryce Young. The field goal kicking situation is a serious issue for a Notre Dame team with College Football Play- off aspirations. Mitch Jeter, still not fully right in coming back from his hip injury, cannot miss wide right from 48 yards and he certainly cannot have a kick blocked from just 30 yards. COACHING: A+ Let's give it up for Marcus Freeman, the one and only head coach in Notre Dame's history with 11 victories over ranked teams in his first three years at the helm. He's earned all of them, and many of them have come in this fashion — a complete blowout. Freeman also ran his record at neutral-site ven- ues to 7-0 since the start of the 2022 season. These can be tricky spots to get a team locked in on the opponent, especially when the site of a football game is a baseball stadium in New York City, but Freeman has cleared figured out how to block out distractions and get his team to play four quarters of football whenever, wherever. REPORT CARD BY TYLER HORKA The Fighting Irish racked up 273 yards and 5 touchdowns on just 29 rushing attempts (9.4 yards per carry), with junior running back Jadarian Price contribut- ing 10 carries for 53 yards and 2 scores. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP