25 days until Notre Dame football: How the Irish fared in the fourth quarter

BlueandGold.com will release a countdown article highlighting a significant Notre Dame football statistic every day until the 2024 season opener at Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 in College Station, Texas. Today, there are 25 days until the Irish and Aggies kick off at Kyle Field.

Fours up.

We’ve reached the fourth quarter of our countdown to Notre Dame football, so it’s time to examine how the Irish did in the fourth quarter in 2023.

Here are the surface-level results: The Irish led heading into the fourth quarter 10 times. They won all 10 of those games. They trailed entering the fourth quarter three times, and lost all three.

That does not mean, however, that late-game drama didn’t help or hurt the Irish last year. Three final frames determined the course of Notre Dame’s season.

So close, yet so far against Ohio State

Former Notre Dame wide receiver Rico Flores Jr.‘s touchdown catch with 8:22 left in the fourth quarter gave the Irish a 14-10 lead. They held it for 8:21.

Ohio State running back Chip Trayanum‘s plunge into the end zone against a 10-man Irish defense completed the Buckeyes’ final drive, which converted both a 3rd-and-19 and a 4th-and-7. The crushing loss reinvigorated feelings that Notre Dame couldn’t win the big one.

Notre Dame blows lead, pulls off improbable comeback at Duke

The Blue Devils drove the Irish to the brink of collapse, coming back from a 13-0 deficit. Former Duke and current Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard completed an easy pitch-and-catch to wideout Jordan Moore with 9:17 to go, giving the Blue Devils a 14-13 lead.

A previously anemic Irish offense put together a miraculous drive of their own, complete with quarterback Sam Hartman‘s 4th-and-16 scramble and running back Audric Estimé‘s game-winning touchdown run. Defensive tackle Howard Cross III‘s strip-sack of Leonard on the ensuing Duke possession sealed it.

Irish fall apart at Louisville

In theory, Notre Dame still had a shot at the College Football Playoff when it entered Louisville, Ky. on Oct. 7. It also, as is easy to forget now, had a real shot at winning that game when the third quarter came to a close.

Louisville led 17-13 after a 54-yard Spencer Shrader field goal with 1:06 to go in the third brought the Irish closer. But on the ensuing Cardinals drive, they broke it open. Running back Jawhar Jordan ran for a 21-yard touchdown, which was the dagger — if only because the Notre Dame couldn’t get anything going on offense from that point on.

Louisville pushed the lead to 33-13 before a too-little, too-late touchdown for tight end Mitchell Evans made the final score a little more palatable. That didn’t change the ramifications that quarter had for the rest of Notre Dame’s season.

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