Folks, what I just experienced in South Bend was, hands down, the best football memory in my life. Standing next to my dad in the stadium as the clock ran out, soaking in the culmination of a father-and-son trip a year of vengeful anticipation in the making, I knew it then and I know it now – I might never top that experience in the rest of my life following this sport, and that’s okay because I could never ask to. Doing the whole trip in less than 48 combined hours on very little sleep mattered
not a whit – as I reflected, extraordinarily tired and staring down the crash back down to Monday, I was drawn back to one of the most iconic scenes in television history:
Voice? Gone. Memories? Made. Was it worth it?
Let’s get into three things that made this possible.
The Prince of South Bend
I try to look past the efforts of Notre Dame’s biggest names in these pieces, mostly because fans already know all about them and I can’t really add to what has already been said. For that reason there weren’t many entries last year for Jeremiyah Love, and there haven’t been many this year for CJ Carr. But there is no way to account for Notre Dame’s victory against Miami without highlighting CJ. After a year of doubts and with fans wondering given his mixed record in big games, the Irish triggerman had the best game of his career in the biggest one of them all.
Name a way you would expect a quarterback to excel in a game and Carr did it. He was accurate on both downfield balls (the perfection on both the pass and catch of his first touchdown to Jordan Faison should land it in a museum) and in the short-to-intermediate game. He distributed the ball more evenly and efficiently across a deep stable of targets, while putting his lead receivers in Micah Gilbert and Jordan Faison in position to look like bonafide stars. He was markedly improved against pressure, most notably on a circus scramble that allowed him to find Aneyas Williams for a first down early in Notre Dame’s last drive of the first half, which ended in a touchdown but might have been strangled in its crib but for his athleticism and awareness.
It’s shaping up to be a year where the Heisman voters just decide to give the award to the most famous player on one of the best teams, and if Carr – who hadn’t had a remotely Heisman-worthy season until Saturday night – gets that treatment it will be because of this night. If nothing else he has written himself into Notre Dame royalty, which I have to imagine ol’ Lloyd is smiling at.
A Persistent Pass Rush
Notre Dame’s defense did a lot of things well Saturday night (there were also problems but the W in the column precludes me from discussing those) but perhaps the most understated was the way their pass rush impacted Darien Mensah. Mensah’s athleticism and quick decision-making limited the ability of the Irish pass rush to get home as they recorded two sacks, but they consistently forced him into suboptimal throws, often on the run and into low-probability areas of the field. The result was a 55.7% completion percentage from one of the most accurate quarterbacks college football had seen prior. Notre Dame’s pressure also forced Miami to lean even more heavily on their quick-passing game, which Luke Talich was able to exploit for Mensah’s second interception of the season.
While the front managed only those two sacks, they bracketed the second half in pivotal moments. On the first drive of the second half, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa stopped the ‘Canes cold and gave the Irish the opportunity they needed to go up 24-3. And in the game’s final minute, Bryce Young and Boubacar Traore dropped Mensah at a disastrous moment forced crucial seconds to burn off the clock as Miami regrouped. It was never going to be total domination against a team of Miami’s caliber, but the Irish front seven stepped up where needed to swing the outcome of this game.
Next Man Up
Coping Miami pundits will point to the absence of Malachi Toney as the real deciding factor in this game. Here’s the thing you already know, which they will refuse to acknowledge: while it is undeniably true that Toney’s absence gave the Irish an advantage, if we’re accounting for injuries in a rematch then we also need to let Notre Dame have nearly half their defensive starters back. Unlike Miami, who struggled to move the ball through the air at all until Mensah found his rhythm with Cooper Barkate and Elija Lofton in the second half, the Irish were ready and able to fill in those gaps for 60 minutes.
The incomparable Luke Talich, still filling in for Brauntae Johnson, has established himself as a star in his own right and was the hero of this game on defense with his massive interception and even-more-massive pass breakup (and yes, that’s exactly what it was, members of the national media and seething ‘Canes boosters) of a would-be tying touchdown. But others made equally important, though less visible contributions: with Francis Brewu and Jason Onye both knocked out the previous week, Tionne Grey and Armel Mukam led a razor-thin depth chart on the interior line. Together with new green-dot linebackers Jaiden Ausberry and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa leading the defense in the place of Drayk Bowen, this new-look front held Miami to only 101 yards rushing while consistently pushing Mensah out of the pocket. Not every reserve was perfect – Mark Zackery was abused to such an extent that over half of Miami’s total yards came with either Leonard Moore or Jayden Sanders off the field, a fact I notice Miami supporters are not eager to discuss – but Notre Dame showed a level of depth their counterparts in white could not match.
Thing #4: Mario Cristobal is an Ass and Marcus Freeman is His Better
Obviously doesn’t qualify as a game observation, but this dude either doesn’t understand the rules of the game (it doesn’t matter that Elijah Lofton had two feet down because there was no completed catch, a fact everybody currently whining about the call would eagerly acknowledge if it had happened in bounds at the 50 yard line) or is just a baby looking for an excuse. The piece de resistance of this fuming disaster-piece? The bizarre implication that the fix was in, that the call was some sort of hometown favoritism toward Notre Dame perpetrated by officials from his own conference, of which the Irish are rather notably not a member in football.
Compare this reaction to how Marcus Freeman handled a far more controversial situation in Provo earlier this year and tell me with a straight face you want that guy leading your program. And all this from a team and fan base who got no shortage of kicks last year calling Freeman and his team crybabies because they didn’t bother sending their second- and third-stringers to play for a toaster pastry. Cry on Mario, I hope you blow your next one to Duke and and your spot in the ACC title gets given to them instead because of some rule written on the back of a cocktail napkin in Jim Phillips’ basement.
