[2024] Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stories – Week 4 Recap & Week 5 Prep

[LordLittlebutt]

This article was originally published May 22, 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.  

 

And will cheer her ever

Notre Dame lit up the scoreboard again this week, moving to 4-0 with a 42 point win on the road over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. 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 Stanford.

 

Week 4 – Game Statistics

Team	Points	Total Yards	Passing Yards	Rushing Yards	Passing TDs	Rushing TDs	INT
ND	63	734	583	121	7	2	1
RUTG	21	381	110	271	2	1	0

 

In a game with 12 touchdowns scored and no Notre Dame punts until the fourth quarter, this trip to New Jersey provided plenty of Irish highlights. Izaah Plawecki set the tone for the game with a 26 yard completion to Torrey Barbato on the first play from scrimmage. Zhaire Philon was stuffed for a one yard loss on the next play, but 5 straight completions moved the ball to the Rutgers 4 yard line before Philon ran around the right edge for the first score of the game.

Notre Dame 7 – Rutgers 0

 

Rutgers had no success on their first drive, with a false start penalty killing any hopes of a first down. A brilliant punt return from Josh Gaudin looked to go the distance before a Rutgers linebacker pushed him out of bounds at the Scarlet Knight’s 5 yard line. Three plays later Plawecki connects with Barbato on a short pass to add to the Irish lead.

Notre Dame 14 – Rutgers 0

 

Rutgers answered right back this time, taking only 2 plays to put points on the board, with a quick catch and run leading to a 64 yard score for the Scarlet Knights.

Notre Dame 14 – Rutgers 7

 

The Irish would continue to rely on Plawecki’s arm, with Izaah leading an eight play drive featuring 21 and 31 yard completions to Josh Gaudin to reach the Rutgers 1 yard line. Surprising few in the stadium a short pass to TE Barbato cutting across the back of the end zone added to the Irish lead.

Notre Dame 21 – Rutgers 7

 

Rutgers went three-and-out on their next possession, with Notre Dame taking over on their own 27 yard line. A good mix of pass and run moved the ball to the Rutgers 41 yard line where Plawecki hits WR Kyle Eden in stride at the 34 yard line and Kyle makes a quick move to the inside and drags a defender into the end zone with him for another Irish touchdown.

Notre Dame 28 – Rutgers 7

 

Rutgers would punt the ball back to Notre Dame after only three plays, but a long punt with no return pushed the Irish back to their own 8 yard line. After a 14 yard sack on 2^nd and 1, Notre Dame would gobble up 61 yard on back-to-back long passes caught by Josh Gaudin. After a solid 4 yard run by Philon, Plawecki dropped back on 2^nd and 6 from the Rutgers 32. A nice play by the Rutgers safety cut off an attempted pass to Barbato and was picked off! Rutgers would take over and run the ball on six straight plays to reach the Irish 2 yard line. An incompletion put the Knights back to the run, and a well executed triple option to the right resulted in their second score of the day.

Notre Dame 28 – Rutgers 14

 

Notre Dame responds with a 14 play drive culminating in a 4 yard touchdown pass to Josh Gaudin on a convincing play action call.

Notre Dame 35 - Rutgers 14

 

Rutgers attempted to run out the clock in the first half, but were forced to punt the ball away with 15 seconds still on the clock.  That’s all it took for the Irish to add to their lead. As he has been able to do all season, Barbato took a short pass to the left and converted it to a 63 yard touchdown reception as the first half ends!

Notre Dame 42 – Rutgers 14

 

The Fighting Irish would add another score early in the second half before Rutgers mounts its final scoring drive. Starting from their own 22, the Scarlet Knights would throw an incomplete pass before reeling off 8 straight runs to position the ball at the Notre Dame 15.  Pushed back 10 yards with a holding call, Rutgers would not be deterred, executing a pair of RPO plays through the air to cover the last 25 yards and reach paydirt.

Notre Dame 49 – Rutgers 21

 

After a touchback on the kick, the Irish moved relentless down the field with three solid runs by Philon before a series of five passes ended with Philon taking a quick pass to the right into the endzone!

Notre Dame 56 – Rutgers 21

 

Rutgers would fumble after converting a first down, giving the Irish the ball at midfield.  After 22 yard catch by Gaudin it was Zhaire Philon for the rest of the drive. A 12 yard pass and an 11 yard run and the Irish were celebrating another touchdown!

Notre Dame 63 – Rutgers 21

 

This would end the scoring today with 1 minute left in the third quarter. The Notre Dame backups would nab a couple first downs but the defense continued to hold Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights put together a strong drive in the last 4:30, but failed to convert a 4^th and 8 from the Irish 21 yard line. Notre Dame ran the ball twice to bleed off the last 47 seconds of the game.

 

 

Notre Dame Top Performers Week 4

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	34 of 40 for 85% compl	544	7
RB – Zhaire Philon	15 rushes	63	2
RB – Zhaire Philon	5 catches on 5 targets	41	1
WR – Josh Gaudin	10 catches on 10 targets	230	1
TE – Torrey Barbato	12 catches on 14 targets	182	4

 

Notre Dame Season Leaders – 5 games

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	138 of 193 for 71.5% compl	2196	23
RB – Zhaire Philon	95 rushes	491	6
RB – Zhaire Philon	26 catches on 35 targets	290	5
WR – Josh Gaudin	40 catches on 49 targets	844	4
TE – Torrey Barbato	31 catches on 41 targets	745	11

 

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:    Wow Coach, another high scoring game – 7 touchdowns from Izaah Plawecki!

 

LLB:        In only 3 quarters!  Izaah has been lighting it up so far this season, really proving what we’ve thought about him for quite some time. Two thousand plus yards and 23 touchdowns in five games is eye-popping.

 

TheO:    Lots of Heisman buzz out there for him already.

 

LLB:        He would absolutely be deserving if the season ended today, but we still have lots of football left. And it’s important to remember that while we have tremendous talent in our skill positions, it does in fact take solid execution across the entire team to be successful. We’re seeing solid line play, even with a few too many sacks, and on the defensive side we’ve given up an average of less than 90 yards on the ground over the past three games. We definitely want to build on that – although we’ll have a tough test there next week.

 

TheO:    Knebel with Stanford, he’s a very strong runner.

 

LLB:        That’s a bit of an understatement. Four games, almost 1000 yards – averaging over 240 yards per game, and he knows the way to the endzone with 14 touchdowns. He’s going to be a LOT to handle.

 

TheO:    What will you do to stop him and come away with a victory?
 

LLB:        This may well be the toughest test of the season for us. The Navy game was closer than some expected, and that’s a talented team that isn’t getting the recognition it deserves.  But, you know we have a few games each year that draws everyone’s attention as soon as the schedules are released. Stanford – Notre Dame is one of those games.  Stanford has one loss, to Oregon which some may not have expected, but that Ducks team is another one to watch out for. So at 3-1, Stanford doesn’t want to lose, and I’m sure they don’t want to lose to US.  But back to your question, we know we aren’t going to STOP Knebel.  Maybe we can limit his highlights, but more likely we are going to have to focus on the rest of their playmakers and hope we can continue to outscore on offense.

 

TheO:    Speaking of good teams, seems like the coaches are recognizing the job you are doing here, pretty good rise through the rankings, congratulations Coach.

 

LLB:        Thanks, but its way too early for any congratulations. We’re going to keep our heads down and keep doing what has been successful so far and try to win as many games as possible. I do think if we can come out of this week with the W, we’ll be in pretty good shape with 6-0 for the first half of the season. Are we a top 10 team? We’ll know after this weekend.

 

TheO:    Any good news on the recruiting front?

 

LLB:        Yes, we have our second commit, Jeff Yee out of Texas. We’re very excited about adding him to our secondary, he’s a great Cornerback with a nose for the ball. Unfortunately, we lost Igor to UNC, we were really going hard for him from day 1, but just couldn’t close the deal. We’ve got a handful of guys that we are continuing to target and expect to sign in the next few weeks. After that we’re going to go deeper to round out the class.

 

TheO:    Thanks for your time today Coach!

 

LLB:        My pleasure, thanks Lois!