[2024] Notre Dame Fighting Irish Stories – Week 11 Recap

[LordLittlebutt]

This article was originally published July 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, Jr. Photographer P. Parker.  

Old Notre Dame will win over all

 

Notre Dame hosted the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors this past weekend, with another lopsided victory achieved, Notre Dame 56, Hawaii 22. We’ll recap the action with a focus on scoring drives and have a conversation with Coach LordLittlebutt.

 

Week 11 – Game Statistics

Team	Points	Total Yards	Passing Yards	Rushing Yards	Passing TDs	Rushing TDs	INT
HAWI	22	402	155	247	0	3	0
ND	56	700	484	216	4	4	2

 

Hawaii received the opening kickoff and had positive yardage on seven of their first eight plays, driving from their own 33 to the Notre Dame 31. Facing a 4^th and 1 yard to go, UH brought in their field goal kicker who 48 yard field goal attempt just missed outside of the right upright.  After two incomplete passes, QB Izaah Plawecki connected on quick pass to TE Torrey Barbato who extended the ball as he was tackled to just advance the chains. A mix of runs and passes put the ball on the Hawaii 40 with the Irish facing 4^th and 3 to go. Notre Dame opted for the punt over the field goal try and it was the Warriors ball on their own 20 after the touchback. Hawaii converted on a 3^rd and four, but stalled on their next set of downs at their own 35.  The Irish went three and out setting up the Warriors on their own 33 to start their next drive. Hawaii moved the ball well, down to the Notre Dame 36, but two incomplete passes after a five yard run had the Warriors facing 4^th and five. Hawaii attempted another field goal, but the try remained outside right. Plawecki completed a pair of throws to WR Derrick Muno, but the drive stalled on the Hawaii 38. After the touchback, Hawaii continued to move the ball well, but was forced to punt on 4^th and 2 from the Irish 45. Notre Dame looked great on their next drive, until Plawecki unloaded an interception on first and goal at the Warrior 7 yard line. Hawaii pushed to ball across midfield, but again faced a 4^th down at the Notre Dame 48.  Even after 2 misses, the Warriors had enough faith in their kicker to try a 65 yarder in an attempt to get on the board first. The kick was a few feet short and bounced out of the endzone.

With only 1:32 left in the scoreless half, the Irish started with their best field position of the day. A 12 yard quick pass to RB Zhaire Philon was followed by a 26 yard long pass over the middle to Barbato. On first and 10 from the Hawaii 14, Plawecki hit WR Kyle Edens for 4 and then struck paydirt with a quick slant to Muno for the first score of the day with only 2 seconds remaining in the first half.

Notre Dame 7 – Hawaii 0

 

The Irish took the second half kickoff and marched to the Warrior 40, only to have the drive undone with another Plawecki interception. On the next play, Hawaii perfectly executed the read option and delivered a 60 yard touchdown run to tie the game.

Notre Dame 7 – Hawaii 7

 

Notre Dame started their next drive on their 24 yard line and moved right down the field. After a nice 9 yard gain on a play-action short pass to WR Josh Gaudin, the Irish mixed the run and the pass to Hawaii 29. A deep sideline pass to Muno scored the second touchdown of the day for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame 14 – Hawaii 7

 

Hawaii had a fantastic return of the kickoff and started their drive at their own 44. A QB run on 2^nd and 9 picked up 12 to move the chains. Two incomplete passes bookend a run for a 1 yard loss forced the Warriors to punt. Plawecki passes to Philon, Barbato, Muno, Gaudin and Muno again, with another 24 yards on the ground set up the Irish with first and goal at the 9. An RPO to the right resulted in a touchdown pass to Barbato to add another six for Notre Dame!

Notre Dame 21 – Hawaii 7

 

Hawaii mounted a strong response, with a run heavy series after a nice 35 yard completion. A 22 yard sprint to the endzone added the Warriors second touchdown of the day.  Hawaii opted for a 2 point try and executed the triple option to make it across the goal line.

Notre Dame 21 – Hawaii 15

 

With the lead down to a single score, the Irish buckled down and would fire off several scoring drives. Notre Dame began their driver on the 25 after a touchback on the kickoff. Four straight runs had the ball on their 44 when Plawecki his Barbato on a 23 yard play action long pass over the middle. An eleven yard strike to Muno created another first down. Two runs created first and goal from the 9, with a surprise handoff to backup TE Daniel Habib scoring another Irish touchdown.

Notre Dame 28 – Hawaii 15

 

Hawaii went three and out, putting Notre Dame at their 37 for the next possession at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Irish mixed the pass and the run to move down the field, scoring on a long 34 yarder to Gaudin.

Notre Dame 35 – Hawaii 15

 

Hawaii started from their 34 and after a first down incompletion, managed to move the ball forward on their next six plays highlighted by a 28 yard completion off play action. With the ball at the Notre Dame 9 yard line, the Warrior QB kept the ball on an option run and added Hawaii’s last touchdown of the day.

Notre Dame 35 – Hawaii 22

 

On the Irish series following, Barbato would not be denied! Three catches for 77 yards combined with a 7 yard short pass to Gaudin had the Irish knocking on Hawaii’s door from the 7 yard line. Habib took the ball on an outside sweep and scored another Irish touchdown.

Notre Dame 42 – Hawaii 22

 

The Rainbow Warriors went three-and-out to give the ball back to Notre Dame with 7:03 remaining on the clock. Gaudin’s 20 yard return set up the Irish at the Hawaii 40 yard line. Six passes later, Notre Dame was on the 2 yard line and Philon to the RPO handoff inside to score another Irish touchdown.

Notre Dame 49 – Hawaii 22

 

With the Irish defense staying strong, Hawaii was forced to punt to the Notre Dame 41 yard line. The last scoring drive of the day was capped off by another Daniel Habib touchdown, with a 5 yard outside run.

Notre Dame 56 – Hawaii 22

 

 

Notre Dame Top Performers Week 11

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	37 of 50 for 74% compl	474	4
RB – Zhaire Philon	16 rushes	91	1
TE – Daniel Habib	4 rushes	23	3
RB – Zhaire Philon	5 catches on 6 targets	41	0
WR – Josh Gaudin	4 catches on 5 targets	71	1
TE – Torrey Barbato	11 catches on 13 targets	170	1

 

Notre Dame Season Leaders – 11 games

Player & Position	Attempts	Yards Gained	TDs
QB – Izaah Plawecki	336 of 460 for 73% compl	4719	47
RB – Zhaire Philon	162 rushes	872	12
RB – Zhaire Philon	69 catches on 100 targets	583	7
WR – Josh Gaudin	81 catches on 101 targets	1601	12
TE – Torrey Barbato	92 catches on 115 targets	1518	19

 

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 development/recruiting side.

 

TheO:    Another strong performance with the win against Hawaii.

 

LLB:        Well, a very slow start with no scoring in the first half, but what an explosion after halftime!

 

TheO:    Tell us about Daniel Habib.

 

LLB:        Daniel is a solid performer already.  As a 5 star TE recruit we really looked forward to seeing more from him this year. And he has definitely improved throughout the season. We’ve been giving him looks at fullback, tight end and even in some wide receiver slots lower in the depth chart.  He’s got above average ball skills and his blocking is right there too.  We think he can step in after Torrey gets drafted and keep an excellent tight end option available to this offense. We are really looking forward to him catching the ball and supporting the run game over the next two seasons.

 

TheO:    Is there anyone else who is coming along as well?

LLB:        We talked last week about Mancz and Brimhall under center, and we’ve got Jamal McBride and Taylor Goodwin locked in a battle for the top running back position next year. Luke Palmer has been a standout on special teams and he may well give himself more chances next season. We’re seeing a lot of growth with Kyle Edens, we expect he’ll be our top receiving threat next year.

 

TheO:    What about on the line?

LLB:        We’re really excited about Oladipo at guard, he’s been doing great and we think he’ll be an excellent anchor next year. Beyond that we’re stretched a bit and are looking at a combination of recruiting stand outs and maybe some transfer portal options.

 

TheO:    How about on defense?

LLB:        We really like our depth at defensive end – White and Martin will get the starts and perform well. We think Cowan will be our top defensive tackle.  Linebacker is not as clear cut, there’s some talent there but we’re looking for some guys to step up a bit more.

 

TheO:    And the secondary?

 

LLB:        Some excellent options at safety, Williams, Templet, Banks are solid players we’ll be able to count on. Kelly May has been killing it at corner and we think he’ll progress well for his senior year coming up. We’ve recruited Jeff Yee, he may well be our #2 corner for the start of next season.

 

TheO:    Thanks for those insights Coach! We’re putting the finishing touches on our recruiting overview for next week, and we look forward to getting a preview of how next season is shaping up. With the double bye here, we’re hoping you can provide some additional info ahead of the USC finale.

 

LLB:        I think we can make that work, Lois.

 

TheO:    Any other comments on the Hawaii game?

LLB:        I do want to call out the defense. We’ve been holding teams to an average of only 19 points scored on us this season. This is a great stat, with 31 the most surrendered, followed by 28 and 24, we are generally giving up less than 3 scores a game. Given our offense, with Plawecki, Philon, Gaudin and Barbato – we feel really good about our chances ahead. I know we focus on the offense a lot in our talks, and our defense doesn’t have flashy sack or interception numbers.  But you know what? They hunker down and give us a great shot at winning.  I want to call us back to the Stanford game – this defense held them to 14 points. Outside of our game, that offense is scoring over 38 a game. I don’t have to remind everyone, but I will, that the likely 2024 NCAA rushing champion, Vontae Knebel, is on that squad. He carried the ball 20 times against us. 2 of these carries totaled 108 yards – he’s extremely talented. But the other 18 amounted to only 58 yards – a little over 3 yards a carry. 
Our guys can lock it down, and if they can continue to play like that the rest of the way, we’ll have a lot more than 1 more game played this year.

 

TheO:    Thanks Coach!

 

LLB:        You bet, Lois. GO IRISH!