[2024] Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stories – Week 2 Recap & Week 3 Prep

[LordLittlebutt]

This article was originally published May 8, 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.  

 

 

Strong of heart and true to her name

 

Notre Dame notched another victory on Saturday, overcoming the Georgia Southern Eagles to move to 2-0 on the young season. We’ll provide a scoring drive recap, discussion with Coach LLB, check in on how the recruiting season is starting and preview next week’s matchup with Auburn.

 

Week 2 – Game Statistics

Team	Points	Total Yards	Passing Yards	Rushing Yards	Passing TDs	Rushing TDs	INT
ND	31	622	494	128	3	1	1
GASO	13	495	412	83	1	0	0

 

The Fighting Irish’s second road game of the season took place down south, in Statesboro Georgia. Scoring-wise the game got off to a slow start with only 10 points scored in the first half.  Notre Dame was in control in the second half, with Georgia Southern’s only touchdown coming with only 1:14 on the clock at the end of the game.

 

Notre Dame received the opening kickoff and started their first drive on their own 25 yard line. After some immediate success, on a first and ten from the Notre Dame 47 yard line, Izaah Plawecki threw his first interception of the season. Fortunately, Georgia Southern could not advance the ball, punctuated with a 10 yard loss on a third down sack and were forced to punt from their own 43 yard line.  The Irish put together an 8 play drive, but that stalled on the Eagles’ 46.  Georgia Southern’s offense took to the field after a punt pushed them back to their 17 yard line.  The only made it to the 25 before the Irish defense forced the three-and-out.  Notre Dame was in great field position at their own 45, when Plawecki connected to speedster Josh Gaudin who made a spectacular sideline catch at the Eagles’ 2 yard line.  Zaire Philon took the screen pass to the house for paydirt on the next play.

Notre Dame 7 – Georgia Southern 0

 

The Eagles started their drive on their own 26 yard line and immediately took to the air, with nifty play action short pass and some elusive running getting Georgia Southern across midfield to the Notre Dame 36 yard line.  An incomplete pas on 3^rd and 3 from the Irish 29 set up Georgia Southern’s first field goal attempt of the day.  Narrowly missing right, Notre Dame took possession with 4:14 remaining in the first quarter.  An illegal formation penalty preceded a three and out for the Irish who were forced to punt from their own 26.  The Eagles and the Irish traded three and outs as both offenses continued to falter the first quarter ended.  With Georgia Southern starting from their own 35, back to back passes moved the ball downfield to the Irish 10 yard line before Notre Dame’s defense stiffened once again.  The Eagles tried their second field goal attempt of the day and punched it right down the middle.

Notre Dame 7 – Georgia Southern 3

 

Both teams struggled on offense for the remainder of the first half, with no additional scoring and both punters spending way too much time on the field.

 

The second half started just as slow, with Georgia Southern moving the ball 14 yards on 5 plays before punting to the Notre Dame 21 yard line.  Plawecki hits Derrick Muno on a sly RPO for 13 yards, and then hits Gaudin on a 46 yard bomb off play action to put the ball on the Eagles’ 20.  Another pair of 8 yard passes to Gaudin separated by a short 3 yard run by Philon sets up the Irish on a second and goal to go from the 1 yard line. Another short screen pass saw Philon dancing into the endzone – hey, if it worked once, why not try it again!

Notre Dame 14 – Georgia Southern 3

 

The Eagles looked to come roaring back, moving the ball to the Irish 7 yard line in just 5 plays. When things looked good for Georgia Southern, that Irish defense answered the bell and gave up only 1 yard over the next three plays to force an Eagle’s field goal attempt.  This attempted ended like the first one, missing to the right.  SPOILER ALERT – the Irish punter would have the rest of the day off and the offense would start clicking.  Plawecki finds Torrey Barbato on a 51 yard bomb over the middle to put the ball on the Georgia State 43.  Zhaire Phillon took over the rest of the drive with a six yard run, a 5 yard catch and then runs of 24 and 8 yards at the end to add to the Irish lead.

Notre Dame 21 – Georgia Southern 3

 

Starting on their own 28, the Eagles ground out a long, eleven play drive, converting on two third downs to reach the Notre Dame 13 yard line.  Once again, the Notre Dame defense showed up big and held the Georgia Southern to 0 yards net over the next three plays.  On the field trotted the Eagles’ field goal unit looking to make it 2 for 4 on attempts.  While the kick started right, it made it just inside the upright to put three points on the board for Georgia Southern with 3:01 left in the third quarter.

Notre Dame 21 – Georgia Southern 6

 

Josh Gaudin returned the kick across midfield to the Georgia Southern 46, and Philon went to work. After a short 3 yard run to the outside, Philon went around the end on the next play for a whopping 40 yard gain. But now it was the Eagles’ turn to stiffen up on defense, stuffing the next two run attempts for a total loss of 5 yards. Kyle Edens caught a short pass but was knocked out of bounds at the Eagles’ 2 yard line on third down, forcing Notre Dame to try a field goal.  Danny Cole chipped in the 19 yarder to make it a three score game.

Notre Dame 24 – Georgia Southern 6

 

A pass heavy attack from Georgia Southern showed they had plenty of life left.  Moving the ball methodically through an eleven play drive they found themselves converting a second and four to reach the Notre Dame 14 yard line with a first down. A mad scramble from the Eagles’ QB put the ball in the endzone, but a flag on the play negated the score – illegal forward pass, putting the ball back on the Irish 19 yard line.  A short completion ended with Georgia Southern facing fourth and goal from the Notre Dame 8.  Somewhat surprisingly, the Eagles decided to try another field goal, but saw the attempt miss to the left this time, turning the ball back to the Irish deep in their own territory.  Notre Dame took 3 minutes off the clock to march 90 yards to the Georgia Southern 2 yard line but the drive stalled there.  It must have been TOO close for Cole as he missed the short field goal attempt. The Eagles immediately when play action with a long bomb for 58 yards getting out of the shadow of their own end zone. The Georgia Southern offense could muster only 8 yards over the next 3 plays and was forced to punt.  Plawecki went to work through the air, moving the Irish to the Eagles’ 45 yard line, then hitting Barbato in stride down the right sideline for a long 45 yard touchdown pass.

Notre Dame 31 – Georgia Southern 6

 

The Eagles took the next 4 minutes to put together a smart 67 yard, 13 play drive to set up 3^rd and goal on the Notre Dame 5 yard line.  While cynics were looking over to the Eagle’s special teams unit to see about a sixth attempt, Georgia Southern delivered on a quick pass to the right to score their first touchdown of the day with 0:56 left on the game clock.

Notre Dame 31 – Georgia Southern 13

 

Connor Mancz would come into the game in relief of Izaah Plawecki and work on the Notre Dame two minute offense, successfully moving the ball across midfield and time expired. Notre Dame moves to 3-0 on the season with a slow start, but a convincing win on the road. 

 

Notre Dame Top Performers Week 2

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	29 of 40 for 72.5% compl	453	3
RB – Zhaire Philon	24 rushes	107	1
RB – Zhaire Philon	6 catches on 8 targets	22	2
WR – Josh Gaudin	11 catches on 12 targets	196	0
TE – Torrey Barbato	6 catches on 8 targets	184	1

 

Notre Dame Season Leaders – 3 games

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	78 of 115 for 67.8% compl	1190	9
RB – Zhaire Philon	63 rushes	301	2
RB – Zhaire Philon	15 catches on 20 targets	157	3
WR – Josh Gaudin	23 catches on 30 targets	457	1
TE – Torrey Barbato	19 catches on 27 targets	384	4

 

The Observer caught up with Notre Dame head coach LordLittlebutt to talk about the game, what’s coming next week and any developments on the recruiting side.

 

TheO:    Good evening Coach, thanks for taking a few minutes with us.  A great win on the road on Saturday, what did you think?

LLB:        Yes, everyone loves a win, especially on the road. Definitely makes for a better trip back. Those Eagles and coach <MILLER> put up a great fight, especially in the first half.  7-3 going in is not where we want to be with this offense. 

 

TheO:    Seems like your defense was looking good early.

 

LLB:        Definitely. Across the whole game, those guys toughed it out and really kept the lid on things unti the offense got going. Forcing your opponent into 7 punts and 5 field goal attempts is usually a recipe for a win.

 

TheO:    Were you surprised with that 2-5 conversion ratio on field goals from Georgia Southern?

 

LLB:        Honestly, no. We didn’t really know what to expect from their kicking game, not sure what’s going on there but we’ll take it.  But, you know, a lot of folks think things are easy because they see other people being successful at them.  That does not always follow.  We have pretty high expectations, as I’m sure Coach <MILLER> does as well, but there is a lot of things going on and sometimes things are just harder than people expect.

 

TheO:    What about Connor Mancz at the end of the game?

LLB:        We want to get backups on the field as much as we can, they need that development time and we need evaluation opportunities.  We like Connor’s game a whole lot, so hopefully we’ll see some more of him in the weeks coming up.

 

TheO:    Overall are you pleased with the way things have started?  Good to see the team ranked!

 

LLB:        Definitely. That Navy game was too close for comfort, so its good to see the boys hitting their stride and getting things going in the right direction. We’re not surprised by the ranking. I know I’ve said it a bunch here, but the starting talent on the roster will have this team competing with the best in the country. The ranking makes sense, heck I’m surprised we weren’t a little higher in the preseason.  We’ll have to keep improving and working our way up.  The team is expecting to play after the regular season ends, and I know our fans expect the same.

 

TheO:    We’ve got Auburn coming in just a few days from now, what does that matchup look like?

 

LLB:        Those Tigers are 2-1 coming into this game and a bit of a question mark. They beat a good Marshall team, had kind of a hiccup against Boise St on the road, but then righted things last week.  We’re expecting a tough matchup, trying to gameplan and figure out there tendencies but Coach Al can be tricky.  We’re still going to be missing Jomal Diggs, one of our better linebackers.  The staff is working on ways to succeed without him back there but that’s a real loss for us.  The offense seems like it might be coming alive, so hopefully we can get in front early and stay there for another Irish victory.

 

TheO:    How is recruiting coming along? Anything you can share with us?

 

LLB:        Not too much to share, it’s still really early in the process. We’re going to keep doing what we do and look forward to some success there.

 

TheO:    Thanks for you time today Coach!

 

LLB:        Always great to see you Lois. GO IRISH!