Five thoughts: Notre Dame can’t let this loss snowball
Notre Dame graduate defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste walked off the field after most of his teammates did. Interim strength and conditioning coach Fred Hale had his arm around Jean-Baptiste, who had remnants of tears in his eyes.
He wasn’t the only Notre Dame player who looked emotional after Ohio State senior running back Chip Trayanum scored a 1-yard, walk-off touchdown to beat the Irish. Many looked despondent. It’s hard to blame them. But the worst thing they can do is let it snowball into next week.
Make no mistake, the Irish are still very much alive in the College Football Playoff race. They need to win the rest of their games, but they’re alive. One play from the 1-yard line won’t define Notre Dame’s season unless the Irish let it.
That starts this coming Saturday against a very good Duke team, who will enter the game 4-0.
“That’ll show up in the loss column for us, and we know that,” graduate quarterback Sam Hartman said. “But it’s about next week. It’s about bouncing back, and that’s all we can do.”
Here are four more thoughts on Notre Dame 17-14 loss to Ohio State.
2. Buckeyes refuse to let Hartman beat them deep
Hartman played pretty well. It’s an empty compliment for a quarterback when his team scores 14 points in a loss, but there isn’t really a play I can point to and say, “He should have done this differently.” The Buckeyes just didn’t let him beat them.
Ohio State limited Notre Dame pass catchers to 10.3 yards per reception and Hartman to 7.0 yards per attempt. OSU defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and company were committed to not letting Hartman throw over the top.
In doing this, Ohio State gave up a lot on the ground (5.3 yards per carry to the Irish running backs). Hartman was generally successful throwing underneath, and he enjoyed near-perfect pass protection, but the Buckeyes forced Notre Dame to do that for 10-15 plays at a time. In all but two drives, the Irish hit a snag.
This was Knowles’ plan, and it worked to near-perfection.
3. Ohio State made mistakes, too
Freeman stressed in his postgame press conference that Notre Dame did not play as well as it could have. He was right about that. It’s worth noting, though, that the Buckeyes didn’t either.
Ohio State made a few careless mistakes that either could have or definitely did cost it points. Junior slot receiver Emeka Egbuka dropped a sure-fire touchdown pass in the second quarter, and the Buckeyes had to settle for a field goal 3 plays later.
Senior right tackle Josh Fryar wiped out an 11-yard Egbuka catch with a selfish unnecessary roughness penalty, turning first-and-10 into third-and-24. The jet sweep to Egbuka that got stuffed on fourth down late in the game was a questionable play call, too.
Ohio State was not at its best in South Bend. The Buckeyes can certainly argue that they would have beaten Notre Dame by more if they were.
4. Pass rush remains the concern on Notre Dame defense
Take away junior running back TreVeyon Henderson’s 61-yard touchdown run, and the Buckeyes would have averaged 2.8 yards per carry. That’s a solid game for the Notre Dame run defense, and a big reason the Irish limited the Buckeyes’ offense to 17 points.
The cornerbacks were excellent, too. Sophomore Benjamin Morrison and graduate student Cam Hart limited wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. to 3 catches for 32 yards. 6.5 yards per attempt against is nothing to scoff at, especially with this Ohio State team.
And yet, Notre Dame couldn’t generate consistent pressure on junior Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord with a four-man rush. The Irish just didn’t make McCord’s life uncomfortable enough, unless they rushed five.
“We just didn’t get enough pressure,” Freeman said. “I just felt we weren’t getting pressure. I wanted to hit [McCord] more until probably the last series.”
5. For a silver lining: this Notre Dame team is resilient
Notre Dame’s response after going down 10-0 was as strong as one could possibly expect. The Irish put together their two best offensive drives of the evening, scoring on back-to-back possessions and taking the lead.
That bodes well for a potential bounce-back game against Duke in Week 5. Just don’t expect Hartman or the Irish to look on the bright side, at least for now.
“I’m sure later in the week we can find something,” Hartman said. “But right now, it’s pretty low, pretty dark. But that’s college football. It’s life.”
Hartman sounded hurt when he said that. Upset. Determined to not let it happen again.
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