My Thoughts.....Notre Dame

 

In a back-and-forth battle for the ages, the Ohio State Buckeyes showed their toughness and grit in their last-second win over Notre Dame, 17-14.  The Ohio State offense, held in check by a tough Irish defense most of the game, came alive when the chips were down, and time was running out.  Quarterback Kyle McCord may have come of age in this game.  Twice converting third-and-longs and a fourth down, McCord moved the Buckeyes 65 yards in 15 plays, leading to DeaMonte Trayanum’s clinching one-yard touchdown run.  The Ohio State offense overcame bad fourth-down play calling on a couple of drives.  They blew a chance at a touchdown at the one-yard line when Coach Day, for some unknown reason, elected to have McCord roll out and attempt a pass rather than run the ball with Henderrson or Trayanum.  Day also called a fly sweep on fourth-and-one on the drive before the winning drive when the Buckeyes were driving deep in Notre Dame territory and the fly sweep was stuffed.  The last-minute scoring drive bailed them out, but questions about the short yardage play calls will continue.  At times, the Ohio State offensive line struggled, which was expected.  However, they still allowed only one sack of Kyle McCord.  TreVeyon Henderson led all runners with 104 yards, averaging 7.4 yards per carry, 61 of which resulted in the first touchdown of the game in the third quarter.  As expected, the Notre Dame defense at times, doubled up on Marvin Harrison Jr., even though he had three catches and was screwed out of a fourth.  However, this opened the way for Emeka Egbuka and Cade Stover to be major contributors, each with seven catches. 

            The defensive line, at times, was pushed around by the Notre Dame offensive line, particularly in the third quarter.  They never sacked Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman, but they got some pressure on key plays, one of which stopped Hartman short on a fourth down play in the first quarter that kept the Irish off the board.  J.T. Tuimoloau got one of only two TFLs (Davidson Igbinosun the other).  They also were able to stop Notre Dame from running out the clock and got the ball back for Ohio State’s offense for the game-winning drive.  Lathan Ransom led the way with 13 tackles and Josh Proctor had seven. 

            Ohio State heads into the off week with confidence they have found the toughness and character to win a tough slugfest against a top-notch opponent.  They’ll also have a chance to work on the offensive and defensive line schemes and players like Marvin Harrison Jr. can rest and heal up for conference play, which begins October 7 against Maryland.