After a far more stressful first half than any of us would have liked, Notre Dame avoided the upset bug that infected the 3:30 ET slot and prevailed over Boise State 28-7. In a first-time meeting of two
schools representing very different, but fun and unique football traditions, the Irish played a game that was far from perfect but more than enough to survive and advance. Now above .500 for the first time this season, the Irish can keep marching on the long road back to CFP relevance. Let’s look at a few reasons why that happened.
Tae Takes Over
There were a lot of improved defensive performances here as the Irish shut out the Broncos in the second half and got one key stop after another with the offense seeming to refuse to put the visitors away. The secondary was particularly improved, holding Maddux Madsen to only 215 yards passing and 5.8 yards per attempt en route to a 43.7 QBR. And while many might deservedly highlight the return of Leonard Moore and his two interceptions, I want to single out a guy who’s been coming on for a while and really hit his stride in safety Tae Johnson.
Not only did Johnson notch his first interception against Boise State – a crucial play that thwarted a potential Boise scoring drive before halftime – he was all over the field for the Irish, blanketing receivers in coverage and serving up hard hits at every level of the defense. I don’t even mind his late hit that gave the Broncos 10 yards on their lone scoring drive (especially considering an identical one was delivered by a Boise defender against Jordan Faison and not flagged just a little later in this horrifically officiated game). Johnson drew rave reviews in camp for his athleticism and physicality, and as he continues to grow more comfortable in Notre Dame’s defense I expect we’ll only see more games like this.
Hooray for Pressure, Boo for Not Getting Home
Let’s talk about the good side here first: for the first time this season, Notre Dame’s defensive line dominated its opposition against both the run and pass. The Irish allowed only 100 yards rushing – a significant number of which came on desperate scrambles by Maddux Madsen – and forced those scrambles because they generated a far more consistent pass rush than we have seen all season. Their four sacks on the day were also a season high, and their pressure played a huge role in the four interceptions recorded by the secondary (would have been five but for a terrible roughing the passer call that drew the highly amusing ire of Marcus Freeman – I can’t say enough about how badly over-officiated this game was against both teams).
With that said, it’s also important to note how much more the Irish pass rush left on the table. As mentioned, they frequently had Madsen running for his life. But with disturbing frequency their attempts to bring him down in the backfield made it look like a vintage Ian Book had returned to the confines of Notre Dame Stadium and suited up for the opposition. I don’t want to take anything away from Madsen, who showed his mettle if nothing else, but against tougher competition in the future the Irish will have to take advantage of opportunity to bring the quarterback down.
Playing With Food
Speaking of leaving more on the table, let’s talk about how the Irish could have turned this into a far more resounding win if they had simply executed on the scoring opportunities that were right in front of them. There were a lot of culprits here – enough with the wildcat already – but the performance I want to focus on is CJ Carr’s, as the young quarterback took his first moderate step back in a season where he had otherwise looked progressively better and better.
Carr wasn’t bad by any means, and had a number of plays where he still looked the part of a star quarterback. But he also had some uncharacteristic misses, most notably a 4th down attempt where he missed a wide-open Will Pauling for an easy touchdown and a would-be killshot deep ball in the fourth quarter where Micah Gilbert had a step, but couldn’t bring in Carr’s underthrown pass. Plays like this, together with some really questionable penalties on the offense (again, ACC officials, I am begging you to stop ruining the game of football) kept the Broncos in this one when it felt like the Irish could have easily exceeded 40 points.
In his first year as a starter, Carr was bound to have a game or two like this where he just wasn’t firing on all cylinders. The Irish are fortunate it happened in a game where their advantages in every other facet of the game limited the damage, and can look forward to him only getting more consistent and productive as the season goes on.
