Breaking down greatness
No circumstances could make me happier as I return to this space after a long paternity hiatus than these – the Notre Dame Fighting Irish just got a bigger win than any in my lifetime, and I get to talk about how it happened.
In an amazing bit of trivia, my daughter – who turned two months just before Christmas – was in fact older at the time of Notre Dame’s 23-10 win over the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl than I, her 31-year-old father, was the last time the Irish won a postseason game of this significance on Jan. 1, 1994. That’s a hell of a drought to break, and it all starts with Marcus Freeman. The head man for the Irish has gone in the span of 12 games from the target of massive scrutiny – including from yours truly – to the Chosen One in the eyes of Irish fans, having thoroughly outcoached one of the better minds in college football. Let’s take a look at three ways his strategy manifested in New Orleans.
Transfer Madness
Notre Dame found itself in the driver’s seat of this game after a rapid-fire succession of plays that saw them seize a 17-point lead in 54 seconds on either side of halftime. The sequence went like so:
- Mitch Jeter 48 yard field goal.
- RJ Oben strip-sack, recovered by Junior Tuihalamaka
- Riley Leonard touchdown pass to Beaux Collins
- Jayden Harrison kick return touchdown
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Notice the names that are bolded up there? Every one of them was playing elsewhere in the fall of 2023. That four-play roundhouse punch was delivered almost entirely by transfers (shoutout also to Tuihalamaka, who had the game of his life on the biggest stage) doing exactly what they were brought to Notre Dame to do.
Whatever one thinks of the portal, it is with us now and is a part of the game that coaches must be able to navigate. This game showed that Notre Dame has a coaching staff that can do so.
The Center Can Hold
One of the biggest points of pessimism for Irish fans before this game was a Rylie Mills-less Irish defensive front squaring up with a massive Georgia offensive line. Even as the game progressed, Greg McElroy speculated that Georgia would be able to wear down the Irish in the run game. But instead it was the Irish who gained the upper hand as the game wore on, with the Bulldogs ultimately held to only 66 yards and only 2.3 yards per carry, and the Irish notching 14 run stuffs. In the passing game, relentless pressure brought by third-and-fourth string defensive ends and creative blitzes generated four sacks and nine total TFLs.
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Credit for these feats resides in a handful of places. Donovan Hinish and Gabriel Rubio stepped into Mills’ enormous shoes with vigor and ferocity. Fighting off blocks, gaining penetration, and providing relentless pursuit against the run and pass, these two prevented Georgia from leaning against the Notre Dame front and getting to the second level. With Hinish and Rubio performing so effectively, the Irish linebackers and safeties were able to play fast and free, constantly near the line of scrimmage.
This is also where Al Golden gets yet another obligatory pat on the back for developing inventive approaches that leveraged Notre Dame’s most athletic defenders, often in unconventional packages. Jaylen Sneed and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa both lined up along the line of scrimmage to rush the passer in this game, allowing the Irish to still generate pressure while resting their injury-plagued defensive front (fittingly, the last play of this game saw Hinish get a sack up the middle after lining up next to Sneed, KVA and freshman Loghan Thomas). Losing a star like Mills will hurt any team, but this game showed that great coaching can overcome even that momentous a loss.
Leonard the Lion
He’s been doubted, severely and justifiably. Including by me. And even now one could still point to some shortcomings (90 passing yards in the Sugar Bowl). But in this game Riley Leonard put the rock-solid courage behind his corny smile on full display, and even the most skeptical of observers could not help but be won over. With the Bulldogs intent on taking away Jeremiyah Love, who exited the game injured in the third quarter, it fell to the Irish quarterback to take his 216-pound frame and (self-described) old-man moves again and again into the teeth of a linebacking corps widely believed to be the nastiest and most athletic in the nation.
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Leonard didn’t blink, rushing for 80 yards on 14 carries and making physical, highlight-reel plays: a 32-yard run to set up Notre Dame’s (crucial) first scoring drive, and most memorably an airborne first-down gained on third and long that let the Irish salt away most of what remained of the game clock. As the game wore on Leonard’s success opened up opportunities for Jadarian Price, whose 37 hard yards don’t fully measure the impact he had. But make no mistake – once the Irish had the lead in this game it came down on Leonard’s shoulders (and legs) and he proved himself worthy – and many of us wrong.