Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 NOV. 20, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED TURNOVERS LEAD TO BLOWOUT LOSS Notre Dame entered its matchup against Miami with a tremendous opportunity in front of it. The Fight‑ ing Irish were ranked No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings and a win over the No. 7 Hurricanes would have solidified Notre Dame's standing, and it would have done so in front of a national audience. Instead, the Fighting Irish were beaten in every way possible. The 41‑8 final score was very much indic‑ ative of how thoroughly outplayed Notre Dame was by Miami. It was an outcome that head coach Brian Kelly did not see coming. "I think you break it down to exe‑ cution," Kelly said following the loss. "I love my players, I love the way they come to work, but we didn't execute very well." Miami has thrived on turning the ball over, ranking 11th in the land in turnovers forced coming into its matchup against Notre Dame. Kel‑ ly's squad had thrived on not turning the ball over, ranking fifth nationally in turnovers lost. Something had to give, and it was the Irish, who could not protect the football. Notre Dame had turned the ball over just seven times in its first nine games, but against Miami the Fight‑ ing Irish threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. "I don't know that I've ever felt things get away from you as much as you're not executing at the level you need to against a really good football team," Kelly said when asked when he felt the game taking a turn for the worse for his team. "It started when we threw our first interception. The makeup of Miami is built on turnovers. "The one thing that we couldn't do was turn the football over, and what did we do, we turned the football over. … When we started turning the football over we put ourselves in a tough spot." Miami totaled 24 points off Irish turnovers, keeping the game from ever truly being competitive. Coming into this matchup, Notre Dame had outscored its first nine opponents 108‑10 after turnovers. It was a driving force in Notre Dame's rise into the playoff picture, but Mi‑ ami flipped that and the result was Notre Dame's College Football Play‑ off hopes going up in smoke. PASS GAME WOES DOOM OFFENSE J u n i o r q u a r t e r b a c k B r a n d o n Wimbush completed two of his first three passes, including a 21‑yard strike to sophomore wide receiver Kevin Stepherson that converted a third‑and‑10 on Notre Dame's first possession. His early completions got Notre Dame into Miami territory, but three straight incompletions stalled the drive. Wimbush had junior wideout Equanimeous St. Brown open for what would have been a 35‑yard touchdown on that opening drive, but his throw sailed long. It would be that kind of night. He failed to complete a pass on Notre Dame's next five possessions and was ultimately benched for the final two series of the first half. Wim‑ bush finished the opening two quar‑ ters 2‑of‑10 passing for just 30 yards. Miami defenders caught as many of Wimbush's passes as did Notre Dame pass catchers. Coming off the best passing perfor‑ mance of his career, 280 yards against Wake Forest, Wimbush played the game with a pad on his left hand, an injury he sustained late in the second quarter against Wake Forest. How‑ ever, head coach Brian Kelly said that injury had nothing to do with his quarterback's rough night. "I don't know that the hand was really a limiting factor for him," Kelly noted. "He practiced during the week without much of an issue." Sophomore Ian Book stepping into the lineup at quarterback was tempo‑ rary. Wimbush came back out in the third quarter in hopes of getting the offense back on track. "We needed a spark and tried to insert Ian in the game after the turn‑ overs, but felt at halftime that our best chance of really rallying was trying to get Brandon to play through it." Wimbush completed 8 of 11 passes for 89 yards in the second half, MIAMI GAME NOTES BY BRYAN DRISKELL The Fighting Irish entered the game at Miami plus-12 in turnover margin and had outscored opponents 108-10 in points off miscues, but turned the ball over four times against the Hurricanes and were out- scored 24-0 in that department. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame's lone touchdown was a 14-yard pass from junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush to junior tight end Alizé Mack. It marked the first touchdown of Mack's career at Notre Dame. • The 33-point Miami victory was Notre Dame's largest margin of defeat since losing to USC by 35 on Nov. 29, 2014. • Notre Dame's eight points was the team's lowest total since scoring just three points in a road loss to North Carolina State on Oct. 8, 2016. • The Irish defense had just one quarterback hurry in the loss, its lowest total of the season.