(Photo: Bret Feiner)
First and Fitzharris: A Weekly Look at Notre Dame Football
Despite closing as 30.5-point favorites, the Irish were “fighting” for their season—and College Football Playoff hopes—at Chestnut Hill last Saturday. After the first half, Irish fans across the nation had flashbacks of Boston College upsets in 2002 and 1993 (I hardly remember those games—I was only five years old in 2002). Surely, this was not going to be another Eagles upset that spoiled Notre Dame’s season, right? Right???
Despite Offensive Struggles and Kicking Woes, the Irish Prevail
Right. But just barely. At halftime, the Irish led by a measly 12-7. Notre Dame’s offense was stagnant, including multiple turnover-on-downs and a Jardarian Price fumble inside the Eagles’ 5-yard line.
And don’t even get me started on the kicking. This is worse than last season. While Mitch Jeter struggled but corrected the ship in time for the College Football Playoff last year, Saturday’s performance seemed hopeless. Notre Dame used three kickers:
- Starter Noah Burnette: 0/1 on extra points
- Backup Erick Schmidt: 1/1 on extra points, but missed a chip-shot field goal at the end of the first half
- Marcello Diomede: 0/1 on extra points
For those counting, that’s 1/3 on extra points and 0/1 on field goals. Watching the game with my law school buddies in Ann Arbor, I literally had them watch extra points for me—I couldn’t stomach it myself.
Post game Marcus Freeman memorably commented that, “if you have three place kickers you don’t have a kicker”. I do believe that is the first time in recorded history that has ever been said by a football coach!
This has to be a little uncomfortable for Notre Dame’s special teams coordinator, Marty Biagi, who Marcus Freeman brought onto the staff in spring 2023. Biagi previously served as Notre Dame’s special teams analyst in 2016. Biagi has been innovative in many areas of special teams. In fact he was the national special teams coach of the year last season. that said, he may want to get back to the basics of the kicking game for a bit here and give the double reverse triple pass wildcat fake punt formation, or what ever else his fertile mind is dreaming up, a rest for a while.
When Freeman was asked about the kicking woes at Monday’s press conference, he emphasized the mental side: “We need to put more work into the mental side of things. If we don’t think we can make an extra point, we shouldn’t attempt it.”
Freeman also noted the team practices kicks only twice a week—a number that will likely increase moving forward. Part of the reason for that likely has been an effort to manage Noah Burnette’s injury issues, but solutions are needed NOW, and not just because I want to go back to watching extra point plays.
Ultimately, Jeremiyah Love’s 94-yard touchdown run sealed the deal, as the Irish defeated the Eagles 25-10 to keep their season alive. Let’s not kid ourselves—Boston College is bad. Real bad. But the Irish defense shined, holding the Eagles, after accounting for sacks, to 12 rushing yards, averaging 0.4 yards per carry. And Interceptions continue to pile up, at a historic rate: Notre Dame picked off the Eagles three times, bringing the total to 12 interceptions in the last four games.
The College Football Playoff and Navy
As mentioned in last week’s “First and Fitzharris,” the first College Football Playoff rankings come out tomorrow, just before the Texas/Duke college basketball game. From a rankings perspective, last weekend was perfect for the Irish. Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, and Miami—teams ahead of Notre Dame—lost, while Tennessee, just behind the Irish, suffered a likely playoff hopes-ending defeat to Oklahoma.
BYU and Texas Tech face off this week, so somebody is going down. A Texas Tech win could set up a rematch in the Big 12 Championship, essentially acting as a play-in game. Texas Tech is favored by 10.5 points.
First things first: the Irish need to keep winning, starting with Navy on Saturday night in South Bend. The Midshipmen are 7-1, coming off a 31-17 loss to North Texas. Freeman recognizes the challenge of Navy’s offense, even as they shift toward a, option hybrid pistol look: “It’s a unique offense where your eyes need to be in the right spot.”
Navy leads the nation in rushing at 317 yards per game.
Eye discipline and sound tackling will be crucial. Despite last week’s loss, Navy QB Blake Horvath rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown but threw two interceptions. Not only does Horvath lead the Midship men in passing, but he leads them in rushing as well. Notre Dame needs to force Navy into passing situations and make Horvath uncomfortable. Slowing the Navy march on first and second down would go a long way towards that.
A win would keep the Irish rolling toward a 10-2 season—but last Saturday made it clear nothing is guaranteed.