We all wondered what this Notre Dame team would eventually look like as they took on the Miami Hurricanes in the first game of the season, and it wasn’t what a lot of us thought it might be. In the end, maybe this was the game we should have expected all along with ALL things considered.
Here’s how it all went down…
Mike Denbrock wanted to slowly bring along CJ Carr to start the game, and had him coimng out throwing some very short passes while putting the running game on the backburner. It, as you
might expect, was mostly unsuccessful.
Still — it didn’t hurt the Irish as much as one might think while playing on the road in very wet condidtions.
The Irish only gained 33 yards on their first drive and were forced to punt. Notre Dame’s defense, did their job and forced Miami to punt the ball back to the Irish, and they took over on their own 22. Disaster struck on the first play of the second drive when Malachi Fields fumbled the ball away after a short catch.
Despite being in a bad spot, the Notre Dame defense kept Miami out of the endzone and forced a field goal attempt. The Canes botched the snap on the field goal, and the Irish took over. A three and out by the Irish offense forced a punt, and Miami took their next possession 70 yards on 8 plays for a Carson Beck to Malachi Toney touchdown to make it 7-0.
The Irish answer to the Miami score was less than good — the Irish were forced to punt on another 3 and out.
Notre Dame’s defense had one of their better series right after though. Miami was also forced to punt after a 3 and out, and the Irish took over. Jadarian Price had his name called after not getting much going with Jeremiyah Love, and Price ripped off a couple of big runs to help get the Irish inside the redzone.
It was on 3rd down that we saw a scrambling CJ Carr running all over the place until he finally saw an open Micah Gilbert in the endzone and he connected for a 7 yard touchdown to tie the game at 7.
As poised as CJ Carr looked on that touchdown pass, the entire Hurricane team was equally poised. Miami answered the Irish touchdown with a 10 play, 75 yard touchdown drive that left just 12 seconds on the clock. The Irish finally got some real pressure on Carson Beck with Boubacar Traore, but Beck tossed the ball downfield and CJ Daniels came down with a magnificent one-handed catch in the endzone. It looked like Adon Shuler was convinced the ball would travel past Daniels — and didn’t make a play on it at all.
Miami went into the half up 14-7 and had a ton of momentum. That momentum served them well on their first drive of the second half, and they drove the ball 75 yards in 7:37 to take a 21-7 lead… and the Irish were forced to punt on another 3 and out on the next possession.
While the Irish defense had been getting a little beat up, they were able to get Miami off the field in three polays and took over at their own 36. Notre Dame finally decided to throw the ball downfield a bit, and a fanmtastic 26 yard catch by Malachi Fields and a DPI on Miami (covering Will Pauling) put the Irish in scoring position inside the 2 yard line. After a Jeremiyah Love run got stuffed, CJ Carr hits Jordan faison on a short out route for touchdown to bring the game to 21-14 with 14:55 left in the game.
Notre Dame’s defense stepped up in a big way on Miami’s next drive. On 3rd down, Boubacar Traore sacked Carson Beck to force the canes to punt the ball back to the Irish (another 3 and out).
But then disaster struck the Irish offense.
On the second play of the drive, CJ Carr was intercepted on a short pass to the flats that bounced around and fell into a Miami defender’s hands. Notre Dame’s defense did a good job of holding Miami to just 8 yards, but the Canes drilled the 38 yard field goal to make the game 24-14 with about 10 minutes left in the game.
Notre Dame answered that FG with a FG drive of their own that covered 54 yards and ended with a 39 yard field goal from Noah Burnette to make the game 24-17. Notre Dame’s defense did another good job on Miami’s next drive and forced another punt on a three and out.
On the ensuing Irish drive, CJ Carr found Eli Raridon behind some busted coverage and set the Irish up inside the redzone — and it was CJ Carr running it in from 7 yards out to tie the game at 24 all with 3:19 left.
Miami finally got a drive going and drove the balkl just enough to make a 47 yard FG attempt — which was good. The Canes took a 27-24 lead with only 1:04 left in the game.
Notre Dame couldn’t get much going on their final drive, and the offensive line was abused as Carr was called for intentional grounding because of pressure — and then was sacked to end the game.
There was a mad scramble to get one more play off, but the Irish were half a second too late.
Game Over.
More to come on OFD,
