How powerful, punishing Notre Dame offensive line paved path to Week 0 win

DUBLIN, Ireland — With time ticking down toward a 42-3 Notre Dame victory, Rocco Spindler bopped his head to some R&B music blaring from the speakers at Aviva Stadium. His helmet off. His services no longer necessary.  

There weren’t 49,000 people in the stands anymore. A few thousand of them must’ve headed for the bars by the waning moments of the fourth quarter. They saw all they needed to see.

For however long they stuck around, they saw the Notre Dame offensive line, Spindler, a junior right guard making up 20 percent of it, absolutely maul Navy’s Midshipmen in the trenches. And if they stayed long enough to see Spindler beep-bopping around the home sideline, then they also saw Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick bump fists with him and three of his fellow starters; junior tackles Joe Alt and Blake Fisher and junior left guard Pat Coogan.

That quartet plus graduate student center Zeke Correll had much to do with the fact that their reserves logged some snaps in garbage time. From the Fighting Irish’s very first drive, Blue and Gold ball carriers had gaps as wide as the Irish Sea to spurt through.

On a night in which two-thirds of Notre Dame’s scoring came through the air, it was fitting the first touchdown was gained on the ground. Junior running back Audric Estimé easily powered into the end zone in a goal-line formation. The Irish brought backup tackle Tosh Baker onto the field to flank Alt’s left. Tight end Mitchell Evans was in-line to Fisher’s right. There were two H-backs in the backfield with Estimé, too.

True power football. Notre Dame easily pushed the line of scrimmage in the offense’s favor. Touchdown, Irish.

Ultimately, that was the only one they needed to emerge victorious. They tacked on five more for good measure. The offensive line had a tangible helping hand in all of them, from favorable pass-protection on quarterback Sam Hartman’s four touchdown tosses to opening up another hole for sophomore running back Jadarian Price to score from 19 yards out on his first career collegiate carry.

Fall camp was dominated by a prevailing storyline; what the heck is going on with Notre Dame at guard? Sophomore Billy Schrauth and graduate student Andrew Kristofic entered the season as projected starters, but they were quickly replaced by Coogan and Spindler. Those two haven’t been twos on the depth chart since July.

Now, nobody can stop talking about them — in a good way.

“I was just talking to Jack Swarbrick about that,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said in his postgame press conference. “I guess we found out those two guards can play.”

And here’s where we advise caution. But, sprinkled in there, we also have reasons for continued, resounding optimism.

It’s Navy, y’all. A team that went 4-8 last season and let go of longtime head coach Ken Niumatalolo.

But, It’s NAVY, y’all. A team that ranked No. 3 in rushing yards allowed per game in 2022 despite its miserable outings otherwise.

The Midshipmen only gave up 88.9 rushing yards per game last year. The most the Mids gave up in any game was 200 against Air Force’s triple-option offense. The Falcons needed 47 carries to get there.

Notre Dame just racked up 191 rushing yards on 32 attempts in this year’s season opener, meanwhile. That rounds up to 6.0 yards per carry for those who don’t want to take out their calculators at home. That would’ve been the highest average of any Navy opponent last fall.

Notre Dame can be one of the best offenses in the country in 2023 if the offensive line continues to hold up. Freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse showed he’s the real deal with two touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Jayden Thomas proved he can be a No. 1 wideout with a solid showing of his own. Of course, having Hartman helps.

The Irish tailbacks? That room is loaded. Maybe the tight-end position isn’t all the way there from a pass-catching standpoint, but Notre Dame has enough targets anyway. Nine different ones caught a pass without any of them being a tight end.

This Notre Dame offense will go as its offensive line goes. Because when the offensive line is going, so is Hartman. And so is the ground game. It’s full steam ahead, firing on all cylinders.

The more we see Spindler with his helmet off in the fourth quarter jamming to whatever the stadium disc jockey has going at the moment, the better the chance is Notre Dame could truly end up as one of the most talked about teams in the country come November.

That’s a long way off. But Week 0 was a good start.

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