Will the real Notre Dame football team for 2024 please stand up? A week after getting beat at home by a MAC opponent, the Irish made the quick in-state trip to West Lafayette, Indiana, and blew the doors off Purdue 66-7. The Irish dominated in all phases of the game from start to finish.
Riley Leonard bounced back, but…
It would have been difficult for Riley Leonard not to play better this week than he had against Northern Illinois, but it was still very encouraging for the Irish to see the quarterback they thought they were getting out of the portal. Leonard ran for three touchdowns while throwing and rushing for 100 yards each, all before halftime. A week after abandoning the quarterback run, Mike Denbrock embraced it, and Leonard delivered big time with his legs.
At the same time, Leonard did not do much to ease concerns over his arm. Leonard was 11 of 116 for 112 yards without a touchdown or interception. He still has not thrown a touchdown pass through three games, although he has four on the ground so far. Still, this was a step in the right direction, although the Irish offense will need serious improvement from Leonard as a passer if they want to reach their ultimate goals. We have yet to see Leonard show that he can be a downfield passer, and Louisville’s defense looms large in two weeks.
Steve Angeli started the second half with Notre Dame up 42-0 and showed more as a passer than we’ve seen from Leonard this year. Angeli delivered the first two touchdown passes of the year and delivered a beautifully placed deep ball to transfer Jayden Harrison for 42 yards. Angeli wasn’t perfect, but he showed enough to think that if Leonard can’t get to a point where he can push the ball downfield, Angeli can.
Jeremiyah Love is a bonafid start
Notre Dame has a legit star running back on its hands in Jeremiyah Love. Love has a highlight reel-worthy touchdown run in each of the first three games after adding a career-long 48-yard score on Saturday. Love has 279 yards on just 35 attempts this season for a ridiculous 8.0 ypc average. Love didn’t need to get more than ten carries on Saturday, given how out of hand the game was, and still topped 100 yards.
As this offense evolves, Love’s role should also continue to grow. Notre Dame ran a lot of Riley Leonard on Saturday, but as defenses adjust and key on Leonard more, Love’s carries should increase. They better anyway. Love has looked phenomenal whenever he’s had the ball. Love was credited with another three missed tackles forced, according to PFF, to give him 18 on the season on just 35 carries.
And Jadarian Price is pretty darn good to
Junior running back Jadarian Price isn’t far behind Love either. Price ripped off another long touchdown run on Saturday, this time a 70-yarder at the end of the first half. I cannot remember ever witnessing someone bust a long touchdown run like Price’s on a simple handoff at the end of the half meant to kill the clock. Price is a playmaker, though, and made the house call to put an exclamation point on the end of the first half.
Price now has 154 yards on just 20 attempts this year for a 7.7 ypc. Eighty-four of Price’s 86 yards against Purdue came after contact. With Leonard’s running ability and Price and Love’s skills, it’s probably time for Notre Dame fans to give up hope of any high-powered passing attack this season. The makings are here of a power-running team, and improved passing will be necessary to have a chance of winning out.
The real Notre Dame defense returned
Several times last week, I said that the defense wasn’t why Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois but that it was discouraging to see the defense bend so much, even if they didn’t break against the Huskies. On Saturday, the real Notre Dame defense was back and spent their afternoon harassing Hudson Card into mistake after mistake. They also bottled up the Purdue rushing attack. The Boilermakers had just 38 yards on 25 rushing attempts.
The Notre Dame pass rush came to life for the first time this season with 4.0 sacks, led by Jason Onye’s 1.5. They were also back to forcing turnovers, with Boubacar Traore and Kyngstonn Villiamu-Asa’s first career interceptions. Traore’s pick-6 at the end of the first half was a byproduct of the pressure Notre Dame got on Card all afternoon.
Al Golden’s defense had Purdue on its heels all afternoon.
Injuries could prove to be very costly
For all of the good in this one, it could prove costly. Notre Dame suffered what appear to be three serious injuries. Offensive linemen Billy Schrauth, Ashston Craig, and defensive end Jordan Botelho all got knocked out of the game. Marcus Freeman did not give any injury updates following the game, but Schrauth and Botelho both looked pretty rough. Schrauth needed help walking off the field, and Botelho was carted off.
Rocco Spindler filled in for Schrauth, while Pat Coogan stepped in at center for Craigh. Freshman Bryce Young came in for Botelho. Both Spindler and Coogan have starting experience if they are needed as long-term replacements, but both were also beat out for starting roles this year, so there will obviously be a drop-off. Young looks like he has a promising future but is a true freshman. We should know more on Monday when Notre Dame releases an injury report.
Botelho’s injury specifically would be a huge blow just because of how well he was playing after the journey he took to get here. Botelho has had to do a lot of maturing on and off the field at Notre Dame and was finally putting it all together this year. Prayers up that it’s not a season-ender for him.
Notre Dame continues to have growing pains at punter
Notre Dame brought in Australian transfer James Rendell to punt this year, and so far, it’s not necessarily transferring into results. Growing pains were to be expected, so there’s still time for Rendell to improve, but it’s been rough after three games. Rendell is averaging just 39.1 yards per punt on 14 attempts after averaging just 37.5 yards per punt against Purdue without a single punt being downed inside the 20. It would be one thing to average less than 40 a punt if everyone was getting pinned deep, but that’s not what happened.
Punting didn’t matter for Notre Dame in such a lopsided win, but there will be games where Notre Dame needs to play the field position game better, and right now, it doesn’t look like that is a game the Irish can win.
Hello Kennedy Urlacher
Notre Dame got to empty its bench on Saturday, and the outcome was decided long before the final whistle. One beneficiary of the available playing time was freshman Kennedy Urlancher. The son of NFL legend Brian Urlacher was all over the field, causing havoc in the snaps that he got, giving a glimpse into what his future might hold. Now, he also had a miscue where he inadvertently took Jaden Mickey out of a play, resulting in Purdue’s only deep pass of the game. Overall, he made the most of his opportunity.
Over the summer, Jordan Clark said that Urlacher has all the tools to be an eventual 1st-round safety. It looks like Clark wasn’t just blowing smoke. Urlacher looks like he can play. It’ll be fun to watch him develop over the next few years.
Blowout makes last week even more inexplicable
While no one will ever complain about a blowout win, it does make last week’s total clunker even more inexplicable. How this team could lay such an egg at home to a MAC opponent and then go on the road against a Big Ten foe and dominate so thoroughly is a head-scratcher. It can’t all just be that Notre Dame didn’t respect Northern Illinois last week. Marcus Freeman seemed to get annoyed at all of the questions about how the outcomes were so different from week to week, but they were all valid questions. If Notre Dame can beat Purdue 66-7, in no world should last week’s outing have even been close, let alone a loss.
Freeman didn’t give many answers as to the difference week to week, but hopefully, those are answers he has and didn’t want to reveal or admit because if he doesn’t, the rollercoaster ride could continue this year.
Riley ain’t the guy just like Hartman wasn’t either. This is painfully obvious.
It depends on the system. For what was run against Purdue, Leonard is more than just fine. He is a poor man’s Josh Allen in running as a QB, and a (very) poor man’s Tim Tebow in passing. I agreed completely PRE-Purdue game, now I would leave him as the starter, AS LONG AS Denbrock stays with the Purdue game plan.
Let’s contain the enthusiasm. The game yesterday was like a varsity high school team playing 8 th graders, it was a poor opponent. My opinion on Leonard hasn’t changed. The offense would be better if it were balanced. Leonard doesn’t have the skill set, Angeli does. ND is going to play opponents to where they will have to pass the ball. Leonard isn’t it to do that.
I agree,Angeli gives NotreDame a better chance to win. He is a better passer than Leonard and NotreDame has speed with their receivers
True what a mess the ND QB situation has become each & every year
If they lay an egg against Miami I think it’s time to look for another head coach. I hope this doesn’t happen as I like Freeman very much. I would like to see NotreDame win out and make the college playoff and I think they have a shot because of their defense, schedule and overall talent and coaching. Not sure they will though with Riley Leonard. Freeman needs to have Angeli ready to go if Leonard is playing poorly, gets injured.