61 days until Notre Dame football: A play that changed the 2023 season
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 61 days until the Irish and Aggies kick off at Kyle Field.
Ohio State 17, Notre Dame 14. Oh, what could have been. The Fighting Irish were just a few plays here and a few plays there away from beating the Buckeyes in an early-season clash that could have set the tone for the rest of the year.
Of course, one game doesn’t mean anything about any others. If Notre Dame beat Ohio State it doesn’t mean they would have mustered up the confidence to take care of Louisville or Clemson later on. Heck, maybe Duke would’ve held off the Irish the very next week and Notre Dame would have had one loss going into the game against Louisville anyway.
All that to say, each week in a college football season is sacred. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman says it all the time — you only get 12 guaranteed opportunities each year, so might as well do your darnedest to win them all.
Getting back to the Ohio State — so much was made about the Buckeyes converting on 3rd and 19 four plays before the eventual game-winning touchdown. So much was made about that score itself, too, and rightfully so; Notre Dame only had 10 men on the field for the play.
Before all of that, Notre Dame tried a running back screen on second and 15 that came oh so close to moving the chains and effectively ending the game. DJ Brown had a would-be game-sealing interception slip through his hands on Ohio State’s final drive, too.
But if you’re going to talk about all of those close calls, you’ve got to admit the game could have been very different if Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson didn’t score from 61 yards out early in the third quarter. He went through eventual Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner Xavier Watts and outran everyone else in green to do it.
The touchdown put Ohio State up 10-0. Notre Dame came back and took a 14-10 lead, but the fact that Henderson’s TD was the Buckeyes’ only one of the game until there was one second left on the clock stings for the Fighting Irish. Get him on the ground, and maybe the Irish win the game — and set themselves to go on a little run throughout the rest of the 2023 season.
Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
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