Notre Dame football in review: The best individual Irish performances of 2023

This weekend, BlueandGold.com is putting the 2023 Notre Dame football season to rest for good with just two and a half weeks until the Fighting Irish begin fall camp in preparation for the 2024 season. These 2023 year in review articles first appears in the 2024 Blue & Gold Illustrated Notre Dame football preview magazine, which you can order by clicking here.

Blue & Gold has an entire article dedicated solely to the No. 1 individual performance of the 2023 Notre Dame football season. Here’s Jack Soble on the night Howard Cross III became Michael Jordan in the Irish’s 21-14 victory over Duke: click here to read.

Now here are five of the Irish’s other top individual outings of 2023.

Xavier Watts Torments Archrival — Caleb Williams had never thrown multiple interceptions in a single game in his two years as USC’s starter … until he faced Xavier Watts and Notre Dame Oct. 14.

The Trojans were 6-0 and ranked No. 10 in the nation, and Williams was having another phenomenal season and was still in the running to go back-to-back as the Heisman Trophy winner.

Watts had other ideas. He had 2 of the Irish’s 3 interceptions in addition to 7 tackles and a scoop-and-score exclamation point of a touchdown in a 48-20 Notre Dame victory. The Irish defense was menacing that night in South Bend, recording 6 sacks and forcing 5 turnovers. Watts led the charge.

Audric Estimé Caps Career With Authority — Estimé saved his best for last. In what turned out to be the final game of his Notre Dame career, Estimé ran 25 times for 238 yards (9.52 per carry) and 4 touchdowns in Palo Alto against Stanford. It was the fourth-most rushing yards any Notre Dame player has ever compiled in a single game.

The Cardinal kept things close for a while. In the end, though, Estimé was far too much for the home team to spring an upset. The Irish only needed to throw the ball 15 times to win 56-23.

Sam Hartman Nearly Flawless In Debut — What better way for Sam Hartman to begin his lone season as the Fighting Irish’s starting quarterback than to connect on 19 of 23 throws for 251 yards with 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in front of a national audience on NBC and a lively crowd of 49,000 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.

After a surging swell of offseason optimism, Hartman played as well as anyone could have asked for in his first Notre Dame start.

Jordan Faison Wins Sun Bowl MVP — The Jordan Faison hype was real from the moment he caught a touchdown against Louisville on the first series of his career. But in his first half dozen games of his career, he never caught more than 4 passes or recorded more than 66 receiving yards. In the Sun Bowl, he said enough of that.

Faison was named the game’s offensive MVP after posting 5 catches for 115 yards and 1 touchdown. If there was any thought of the former walk-on potentially being the college football equivalent of a one-hit wonder, he put it to rest in Notre Dame’s 40-8 drubbing of Oregon State in El Paso.

Mitchell Evans Dominates Duke — Everyone will remember Notre Dame’s last-minute, comeback victory at Duke Sept. 30 for Sam Hartman’s heroics on fourth-and-16 and Audric Estimé’s 30-yard touchdown run with 31 seconds left, but the Irish wouldn’t have been in position to steal the game from the Blue Devils without tight end Mitchell Evans erupting for 134 yards on 6 catches.

In a game where points were at a premium, Evans was as good as it gets. He evoked Michael Mayer and cemented himself with potential to be Notre Dame’s next great tight end.

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