[2024] Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stories – Week 1 Recap & Week 2 Prep

[LordLittlebutt]

This article was originally published May 1, 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.  

Rah, rah, for Notre Dame   We will fight in ev-ry game

Notre Dame is coming of an impressive win last weekend over the Ohio State Buckeyes, with a heathy 30-17 margin of victory. We’ll provide a recap of that game, tally some ND stats and talk to the Coach about this game and this upcoming weekend’s matchup against the Georgia Southern Eagles in Statesboro, Georgia.

 

Week 1 – Game Statistics

Team	Points	Total Yards	Passing Yards	Rushing Yards	Passing TDs	Rushing TDs	INT
ND	30	525	374	151	3	1	0
OHST	17	358	221	137	1	1	0

 

The 2024 home opener was anything but a let-down, with the Irish finishing with a solid victory, but not before an exciting back and forth with the Buckeyes.

 

Ohio State started with the ball and opened with a 10 play drive to the Notre Dame 43 yard line before having to punt the ball away after a 3 yard tackle for loss, and a 14 yard sack.  The Irish’s first possession featured passes to Josh Gaudin and Torrey Barbato before finishing with a 13 yard completion to Derrick Muno and a 7 yard screen pass to Zhaire Philon for paydirt. Danny Cole missed the extra point, but the Irish are up by 6 early in the game.

Notre Dame 6 – Ohio State 0

 

Ohio State took the ensuing kick off return to their 28 yard line and proceeded to successfully mix the run and pass, marching down the field to score from the Notre Dame 4 yard line on a short play action pass as the first quarter ended.

Ohio State 7 – Notre Dame 6

 

It only took four minutes for the Irish to drive down the field with an even mix of runs and passes, culminating in an 8 yard pass to Derrick Muno to move Notre Dame back into the lead.

Notre Dame 13 – Ohio State 7

 

The Irish excitement was short-lived however. Ohio State’s Boog Melancon took the first play from scrimmage 66 yards to the house to put the Buckeye’s back in the lead.

Ohio State 14 – Notre Dame 13

 

Notre Dame responded with a strong 8 yard run by Zhaire Philon, with the first down converted on a 15 yarder to Josh Gaudin.  Two incompletions separated by an 8 yard completion to Torrey Barbato set Notre Dame up for a punt to the Ohio State 20 yard line. Ohio State gained a single first down on the next drive before having to punt it away with 4:44 remaining in the first half. Starting at their own 6 yard line, the Irish pushed the ball out to the 32 before a quick pass to Torrey Barbato saw a 51 yard catch and run reach the Buckeye’s 17.  Ohio State sacked Izaah Plawecki on the next play, but Plawecki responded with a 22 yard pass to Josh Gaudin in the back corner of the end zone for the touchdown!

Notre Dame 20 – Ohio State 14

 

Ohio State fumbled on the second play of the next drive, but Notre Dame could not convert before time ran out and the first half was in the books.

 

Notre Dame went three-and-out on the first possession of the second half. Ohio State did little better in response with a short six play possession before punting the ball back to the Irish.  Notre Dame put together an impressive series of plays to move from their 20 yard line to the Buckeye’s 13, but had to settle for a 30-yard field goal from Danny Cole.

Notre Dame 23 – Ohio State 14

 

The Buckeyes thought they were rolling, putting a whopping 13 play drive together before being stonewalled at the Irish 13 yard line.  Ohio State were looking to make this a one possession game with 43 seconds left in the third quarter until Paul Jackson shanked a 21 yard field goal attempt wide left.

Unfortunately, Notre Dame only managed to move the ball from their 4 to the Notre Dame 13 before a three-and-out set up the Buckeye’s on their own 44 yard line.  Ohio State used a screen pass to convert a short third-and-one, but only managed 2 more yards before having to punt the rock away. The Irish drove 75 yards to the Ohio State 5 yard line on the strength of Zhaire Philon’s 20 rushing and 28 receiving yards culminating with 23 yard long strike to Josh Gaudin. Plawecki expertly picked a run on an RPO to the right side A-gap with Zhaire punching it into the endzone for Notre Dame’s last touchdown of the game!

Notre Dame 30 – Ohio State 14

 

Ohio State moved from their 33 to the Notre Dame 30 before once again settling for a field goal attempt. This time Paul Jackson split the uprights on a long 47 yard field goal with 5:26 left to play in the game.

Notre Dame 30 – Ohio State 17

 

The Irish proceeded to march down the field, settling in at the Buckeye’s 19.  Danny Cole lined up for the field goal attempt with only 1:46 left on the clock.  With an burst of speed from the outside and full extension, an Ohio State defenseman managed to block the attempt!  The Buckeye’s recovered the ball on their own 20 and took to the air in a desperate attempt to add to their score.  The clock wound down on Ohio State’s try at their own 41 yard line as the Irish secondary shut down their passing game in the last minute and a half of the game. IRISH WIN!!

Notre Dame 30 – Ohio State 17

 

Notre Dame Top Performers Week 1

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	26 of 37 for 70.3% compl	398	3
RB – Zhaire Philon	24 rushes	145	1
RB – Zhaire Philon	4 catches on 6 targets	48	1
WR – Josh Gaudin	8 catches on 10 targets	144	1
TE – Torrey Barbato	8 catches on 9 targets	146	1

 

Notre Dame Season Leaders – 2 games

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	49 of 75 for 65.3% compl	737	6
RB – Zhaire Philon	39 rushes	194	1
RB – Zhaire Philon	9 catches on 12 targets	135	1
WR – Josh Gaudin	12 catches on 18 targets	261	1
TE – Torrey Barbato	13 catches on 19 targets	200	3

 

 

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

 

TheO:    2-0 is a great way the start the season!

 

LLB:        ABSOLUTELY! The Buckeye’s are always a tough matchup. It was nice to go into halftime with the lead this week, but we’re never comfortable and it was good to see the defense hold Ohio State to only three second half points.

 

TheO:    You’ve got to feel good about the offense so far.

 

LLB:        Well, we know we have a very talented group of starters on that side of the ball and its good to see them improving in their second game.  The missed assignment on that last field goal attempt is something we need to address, but we’ll take the win.  As I said, seeing the defense hold that team to just a field goal after halftime was really, really nice.

 

TheO:    Tell us about CB Brandon Astudillo leaving the field late in the game.

 

LLB:        He took a shot to the head, surprised there wasn’t a flag on that play.  But, early indications are good and we’ll monitor his status closely. I think he’s going to be alright.

 

TheO:    Next up is a trip to Georgia, not to face the Bulldogs but a matchup with the Eagles of Georgia Southern. What can you tell us about them, Coach?

 

LLB:        Look, UGA, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, all them boys down there know how to play football.  Not sure if it’s in the water, they teach it in elementary school or maybe there’s some kind of testing for kids that move there, but @Sarge, @ATonOfLaw,  Coach Al and @Miller field solid teams. We’re expecting a good matchup with a team that has some talent on their roster.  Away games always add some level of difficulty and we know @Miller will welcome us with some fierce competition.

 

TheO:    Got anything special planned?

LLB:        Well, we didn’t talk about it earlier, but if you look back at the Navy game, we lined up Barbato at WR on a lot of plays to see about getting a better matchup in some spots. In practice we’ve been shifting Gomber and Oladipo between the left and right sides seeing from which side we might more successfully run the ball. Our OC and staff have definitely been poking around for some twists to get an advantage. We’ll keep looking at that throughout the season.  Our DC has been trying out different blitz packages, we’ll see where that goes.

 

TheO:    Thanks Coach! Sounds exciting.  How is the recruiting picture?

 

LLB:        We’re still focused on the core group of guys. We’ve seen some strong pushes from other teams, and we’ll have to take that into account to maximize the limited time we have available with these kids and their families. It’s going to be a great contest to see where these players land and we have our staff neck-deep in evaluations, we’ve looked at over 1000 high school seniors, and we’ll keep going.

 

The O:   Thanks again for the time this week Coach.

 

LLB:        My pleasure, thanks for all you do Vicky.  GO IRISH!!