Joel Klatt came away very impressed by Notre Dame after win over Duke

Notre Dame’s season was hanging in the balance in the fourth quarter in Durham, North Carolina this weekend. Now, after they gutted out a win with a long, late drive, the Fighting Irish now have a fan in FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt.

Klatt held Notre Dame in high regard on his show on Monday after their 21-14 win over Duke on Saturday. He had a lot of respect for the Irish for hanging on and having an answer for the Blue Devils after what took place a week ago against Ohio State.

“Notre Dame? That was a great win,” Klatt said. “That was a great game, that was a great game!”

“By the way, I didn’t know how Notre Dame had that in them, at that moment, basically having to just play, you’re at the back end of eight straight quarters of just everything you’ve got? I don’t think people understand how difficult that is – to play really tough opponents on back-to-back weeks,” explained Klatt. “What it feels like emotionally, what it feels like physically. It’s virtually impossible. I’ll just say that. It’s virtually impossible to be at your best, to execute at your best in the eighth quarter of a back to back of just absolute knock-down drag-outs. That’s what they did! I am so impressed with Notre Dame.”

After taking a 13-0 lead, Duke scored a second touchdown in the fourth quarter to lead for the first time by a score of 14-13. With under three minutes to go, that left Notre Dame on their own five-yard line with a chance to save their season.

They were able to do so too as they ran 10 plays, including a massive fourth down rush from QB Sam Hartman and the winning rush from RB Audric Estime, to take it by seven inside Wallace Wade Stadium.

To Klatt, that performance said and showed everything about Notre Dame that he wanted to hear and see. In his eyes, it was the kind of courageous finish that reminded him how much of a contender that the Irish still are.

“I couldn’t believe how well they played,” said Klatt. “That was all guts. That was, like, all guts.”

Marcus Freeman had confidence in Hartman to lead game-winning drive

Marcus Freeman has placed his trust in QB Sam Hartman. That faith was tested on Saturday night when the Irish found themselves trailing Duke late in the fourth quarter.

The Irish got the ball back with 2:35 left on their own five-yard line. That’s when Hartman marched down the field and took the lead. That was a lead that Notre Dame never gave back.

“When Sam Hartman’s your quarterback, you have a lot of faith,” Freeman said. “He’s been in those moments. He’s not a first-time quarterback. The moment wasn’t too big for him. I don’t want to just give credit to one person but the plays he made on that series were huge.”

Even now, in his sixth season, Sam Hartman is still learning. Marcus Freeman saw that growth from last week’s loss to Ohio State to the win over Duke. In particular, when Hartman took off to run on a long fourth down conversion attempt.

“The ability to say pull that ball down and run for it, I truly believe in my heart he learned from last week on fourth and one. When we thought we got it and we didn’t, and there can’t be a maybe in that situation. So, I don’t care if it’s fourth and one or fourth and 18, if you’re going to take off, you have to make sure we get the first down and that’s what he did.”

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