[2024] Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stories - Week 0 Recap & Week 1 Prep

[LordLittlebutt]

This article was originally published April 24, 2024, in The Observer, a student run publication serving the University of Notre Dame, St. Mary’s College and Holy Cross College. Re-posted on delay as agreed to with co-editors J.J. Jameson, P. White, reporters V. Vale, L. Lane and photographer J. Olsen.  

Raise Her Gold and Blue and

Cheer with Voices True

 

 

The Observer is proud to continue our weekly series with head football coach LordLittleButt.

The Fighting Irish opened the season with an oh-too-close victory over Navy and host the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend. Recruiting efforts kickoff across the country as well.

 

Week 0 – Offensive Statistics

Team	Points	Total Yards	Passing Yards	Rushing Yards	Passing TDs	Rushing TDs	INT
ND	21	398	339	59	3	0	0
Navy	20	421	247	174	2	0	0

 

This one was quite the squeaker, everyone in Memorial Stadium got their money’s worth on this game!

 

Notre Dame received the opening kick and tried to put together an early drive to create some momentum, but only got as far as their own 42 yard line, punting it over to the Midshipmen on their 26. Six plays later, QB Brent Lampkin breaks off a fantastic 50 yard run to get to the Notre Dame 3 yard line.

A quick flick of the wrist from Lampkin’s partner in crime, QB Kyung Hui, gets Navy on the board first.

Navy 7 – 0

 

Even with the help of a penalty, Notre Dame could not generate a first down and had to punt again.

It was a quick three and out for Navy, but Notre Dame couldn’t move the chains and punted it right back to the Squids.  Navy then put together a 10 play drive, eating up 51 yards before extending their lead with a 29 yard field goal.

Navy 10 – 0

 

Notre Dame put together an 11 play drive in response, but had to punt it away with 9:01 left in the first half.  Navy produced 46 and 10 yard back-to-back completions to set up another field goal to add to their lead, using less than two and a half minutes to notch another score.

Navy 13 – 0

 

Coming onto the field at their 25 after a touchback on the kickoff, the Irish finally put together a drive! Philon gets 10 yards on a couple of runs, but Plawecki covers 65 yards in passing to cap the drive with an impressive 31 yard catch by star tight end Tony Barbato.

Navy 13 – 7

 

Four minutes was plenty of time for Navy to mix the run and pass into a 72 yard drive capped off with a 41 yard catch and run to Griffin to score with just over a minute left in the half.  Notre Dame goes three and out and the first half ends on a short pass from Hui as the clock hits 0:00.

Navy 20 – 7

 

We don’t know what happened in the locker room during halftime, but the Irish came out like a different team!

 

Navy receives the second half kick but can only cover 12 yards before punting it over to Notre Dame.  Starting from their own 20, the Irish use six passes and two runs to move methodically down the field to the Navy 5 yard line.  Plawecki hits WR Derrick Muno on a quick slant to score their second touchdown!

Navy 20 – 14

 

Navy provides their own 9 play drive, but only cover 34 yards before being forced to punt. Starting the drive on their 20, Plawecki needs less than 90 seconds to connect with WR Josh Gaudin twice for 20 and 60 yard long passes to set up Barbato for his second TD catch to take the lead.

Notre Dame 21 – 14

 

Navy put together a stellar drive to start the fourth quarter but missed a 33 yard field goal from the Irish 16 yard line.  Another missed field goal from each side is as close to scoring as things got while the teams fought back and forth, finishing the game with a very narrow Fighting Irish win!

 

Notre Dame Top Performers

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	23 of 38 for 60.5% compl	339	3
RB – Zhaire Philon	15 rushes	49	0
RB – Zhaire Philon	5 catches on 6 targets	87	0
WR – Josh Gaudin	4 catches on 8 targets	117	0
TE – Tony Barbato	5 catches on 10 targets	54	2

 

The Observer caught up with Notre Dame head coach LordLittlebutt to talk about the game and what’s coming next.

 

TheO:    What an exciting Navy game, coach!

 

LLB:        Turned out that way, but really a disappointing start to the game. Down two scores at halftime is not where this team wants to be.  But, let’s give these kids credit, they fought back and earned a win over a darn good Navy team. If we can recreate the focus and energy of that second half over the rest of the games ahead of us, we should be in good shape.

 

The O:   What was that halftime conversation like in the locker room?

 

LLB:        I won’t go into specifics, but I imagine the team has a better sense of what it means to wear the blue and gold.

 

TheO:    Ohio State coming in to play this week, what are your thoughts?

 

LLB:        The Ohio State University brings very talented starters across the board. This is “Week 1” across the country, and the first game Ohio State will be playing, so we’re limited on their history to break down tendencies and tweak our gameplans.  We expect a hard fought game, happy to be hosting them for our home opener this year.  We want to greet them with as much Irish enthusiasm as possible and make that home field advantage work for us.

 

TheO:    Shifting focus a bit here, if you put on your recruiter-in-chief hat, how do things look?

 

LLB:        Yeah, this is a critical recruiting season for us. We’ve been devoting a lot of time to a few kids who we think will be good fits and are definitely great players.  Igor Simeone is a classic pocket passer with a great head on his shoulders. He’s looking for a winning team and we sure fit the bill. We’ll be paying as much attention as possible for as long as possible with Igor.  I’m really intrigued by Jonathan Jackson out of Florida, he’s a top notch athlete who can run and throw.  Jeff Yee is a strong CB out of Texas that seems like another good fit, we’ve been paying a lot of attention to him.  Jason Hagedorn is a quality lineman that we’re also investing in. There are a handful of other guys that are in our focus and we’ll see how things develop in the next few weeks.

 

TheO:    Thanks for your time this week Coach.

 

LLB:        Your welcome, Vicky. Thanks for hosting us. GO IRISH!

Edited May 17 by LordLittlebutt