[2024] Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stories – Week 6 Recap & Week 7 Prep

[LordLittlebutt]

This article was originally published June 5, 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.  

 

Wake up the echoes Cheering her Name,

 

Notre Dame travelled to South Florida to challenge the Miami Hurricanes in tropical storm like weather. We’ll provide a scoring drive recap, discussion with Coach LLB, check in on how the recruiting season is progressing and preview next week’s matchup with Michigan State.

 

Week 6 – Game Statistics

Team	Points	Total Yards	Passing Yards	Rushing Yards	Passing TDs	Rushing TDs	INT
ND	27	476	314	162	1	1	1
MIAF	7	273	221	137	0	1	2

 

Week Six’s matchup against the Hurricanes of Miami saw a slower start than Notre Dame has managed lately but one in which the Irish maintained control of the game throughout, never trailing and effectively managing the opponent and the weather.

 

Miami kicked off and Notre Dame’s star Wide Receiver managed to return the ball to the Notre Dame 23 to get things started. Izaah Plawecki dropped back on first down and got hammered for a sack and a 13 yard loss. The Irish turned around and saw Zhaire Philon run outside on an option play to gain 32 yards and a first down. Plawecki followed up that monster gain with a long pass to TE Torrey Barbato who barreled down the middle of field before finally being brought down at the Miami 5 yard line. Barbato got up and caught a short pass in the endzone on the next play to put the Irish on the scoreboard.

Notre Dame 7 – Miami 0

 

Miami ran for a short gain before taking to the air, converting their first third down to a first at their 45 yard line. That was followed by three incomplete passes and a punt, giving Notre Dame the ball on their own 14. The Irish decided to attack through the air as well, with a couple of runs mixed in. Notre Dame racked up four first downs moving down to the Miami 22 yard line. Back to back sacks from the Hurricanes reversed the momentum and set up a 3^rd and 37 at the Miami 49. Notre Dame looked to Barbato, but he could only manage 10 yards quick slant to the outside. Notre Dame punted and Miami started their drive on their own 21. Miami started moving the ball and in 8 plays moved the ball to the Notre Dame 31. On 2^nd and 3, Miami ran a play action pass across the middle, but the receiver lost his footing on the cut, allowing the Irish ILB Cajuste to step in front of the pass and make the interception! Two plays later, Notre Dame would move the chains but couldn’t convert another first down and were forced to punt. The teams moved the ball back and forth over the remainder of the second quarter, without scoring. Notre Dame did mount a nine play drive, but lost C Cam Black to injury and gave up back to back sacks to force a punt.

 

Notre Dame kicked off to start the second half. Miami couldn’t get anything going and had to punt on 4^th and 11 from their own 18.  A short punt was caught by Josh Gaudin on the run at midfield and returned to the house for the first kick return for touchdown of the Irish season!

Notre Dame 14 – Miami 0

 

Miami came out to their 25 after a touchback on the kickoff. After converting a 3^rd and 1, a sack and incompletion forced a punt on 4^th and 12 from their 36. An eight play scoring drive followed, highlighted by a 22 yard sideline pass to Josh Gaudin and a nice 36 yard run by Taylor Goodwin before Zhaire Philon ran off tackle into the endzone from the 3 yard line. The scoring excitement was tempered by another Irish injury, Guard Oladipo lost his footing and suffered a back injury, forcing the Irish to fill a second OL slot with a backup.

Notre Dame 21 – Miami 0

 

Miami returned the kickoff to their 37, but on 3^rd and 4, Notre Dame came through with a 15 yard sack to force a punt on 4^th and 19 from Miami’s own 28. Plawecki hit Taylor Goodwin for 31 yards on a 3^rd and 1 to set up the Irish on Miami’s 26 yard line. Three plays and six yards later, Notre Dame brought in the field goal team that converted on a 37 yard attempt!

Notre Dame 24 – Miami - 0

 

Miami put together a couple first downs in their ensuing drive and reached the Notre Dame 24 yard line before stalling out and bringing their field goal team out. Notre Dame inched forward with small gains before being shut down and forced to punt from the Notre Dame 39. Miami put together a few plays, but could only muster 16 yards before kicking the ball back to the Irish. Plawecki dropped back on first down from his 24 yard line looking for Josh Gaudin on a deep route off play action. The ball loosed but was a hair underthrown and picked off by the Hurricanes. Miami converted on 3^rd and 10 with a 23 yard pass and again on 2^nd and 4 with a 5 yard run out of bounds. Two more runs and Miami was in the endzone off a quarterback keeper on an option outside left.

Notre Dame 24 – Miami 7

 

Notre Dame started their last drive from their own 22 and converted a 3^rd and 4 with a quick pass to Josh Gaudin who stepped out of bounds just past the first down marker. Izaah Plawecki dumped off a screen to RB Taylor Goodwin on the next play that Goodwin busted out 56 yards down the left sideline to set up first and 10 from the Miami 12. After an incomplete pass, Gaudin caught a quick out moving the ball to the Miami 4. Philon caught a screen that was overrun by the Hurricane defense for no gain, forcing a field goal attempt. Danny Cole converted the 21 yard kick for his second field goal of the contest.

Notre Dame 27 – Miami 7

 

Miami could not get the ball out of their end of the field and were forced to punt back to Notre Dame with 1:05 on the clock.  Two runs later the game was over with another Irish victory.

 

Notre Dame Top Performers Week 6

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	27 of 42 for 64.3% compl	314	1
RB – Zhaire Philon	12 rushes	87	1
RB – Zhaire Philon	7 catches on 11 targets	32	0
WR – Josh Gaudin	7 catches on 13 targets	72	0
TE – Torrey Barbato	4 catches on 5 targets	72	1

 

Notre Dame Season Leaders – 7 games

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	198 of 282 for 70.2% compl	2888	28
RB – Zhaire Philon	118 rushes	635	8
RB – Zhaire Philon	38 catches on 56 targets	385	5
WR – Josh Gaudin	52 catches on 69 targets	994	4
TE – Torrey Barbato	41 catches on 55 targets	870	15

 

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:    Coach – 7 and 0!!!

 

LLB:        Indeed, the guys have been doing great. I’m really proud of our backups that were called into service in the second and third quarter. Andy Miller filling in at Center and Mike Fleri at Guard were big for us.

 

TheO:    What’s the outlook for Cam Black at Center and John Oladipo at Guard?
 

LLB:        Looks like they will be game time decisions coming up this weekend. We’ll prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

 

TheO:    There have been several injuries so far this season.

 

LLB:        Yes, unfortunately.  Usually, you see more towards the end of the year as the grind takes its toll. We’ve had 4 players miss games, John O with 2 different injuries, he’s missed almost half our games. Jomal being out 2+ games was rough, and now we have 2 players impacted on the offensive line.

 

TheO:    Maybe we’re getting it early and it will be done with.

 

LLB:        That would be the best scenario, but we aren’t going to let it get us down, this team is ready to play!  Everyone wants to, and is, capable of contributing.

 

TheO:    Next man up then?

 

LLB:        Well, I wanted to avoid that particular comment which seems to be made all the time.

 

TheO:    What did you think of the game in Miami?

LLB:        The weather was tough, definitely slowed us down, but Miami had to play in it too. It was a solid outing, we were in control the whole game able to gain on the ground and in the air. We didn’t find the endzone as much as we’d like to create some separation on the scoreboard, but everyone did their job.

 

TheO:    Nice TD return by Josh.

 

LLB:        That really helped fire the team up, what a great return. He’s a speedster and like we’ve talked about before, great vision and football sense. Josh generates success for us lined up out wide, on a sweep or returning kicks.  Brandon Astudillo does a great job handling the kickoffs as well. Our special teams play has been very solid. Throw in a score and they are really contributing.

 

TheO:    What else about the game or the guys?
 

LLB:        As successful as we’ve been if you look over the past couple of games we’ve actually slowed down. The tough Stanford defense, the weather, whatever it is, we’d much prefer to go back to those two games before and keep THAT output going.  Hard to imagine we’ve seen a little slowing and Izaah is still closing in on 3000 yards passing with 5 games left to go.

 

TheO:    5000 yard season for Plawecki?

 

LLB:        I think its seriously in reach, and 40+ TD throws. Just incredible. And how about Barbato? FIFTEEN TD receptions, wow.

 

TheO:    And the team now solidly in the top 10 rankings.

 

LLB:        With a 6-0, now 7-0 record, its hard not to be noticed. I think this team is definitely top 10 in the country. Top 5? Top 3? We’ll have to see how the next few weeks go, but I think we deserve to be in the conversation.

 

TheO:    How are things looking for next week?

LLB:        Michigan State has had a tough season. Still a lot of talent on that roster. And with the injuries, no one can really be certain of anything, but we have high expectations as they come to town.

 

TheO:    Any recruiting news to share?
 

LLB:        Thanks for asking. Some great news and some not so good news. We received commits from Hector Avila, a strong DE from Arkansas, and Jason Hagedorn a top shelf lineman has also decided to join the Notre Dame family.  Very excited to grow our class with these two fine young men.  We were expecting a commitment from Richard Ruggiero, a quality strong safety from Connecticut, but he decided at the last minute to head out west to Brigham Young. We wish him and his family all the best.

 

TheO:    Thanks for the time this week Coach!

 

LLB:        Happy to be here, thanks Lois.  GO IRISH!