Marcus Freeman will not worry if No. 9 Notre Dame (4-0) can or cannot get No. 6 Ohio State’s quarterback Kyle McCord on the ground on Saturday night, as long as the Irish are able to hassle the junior quarterback in his fourth career start.
Continuing the season’s trend, Notre Dame sacked Central Michigan quarterback Jase Bauer only twice in the 41-17 win this past weekend despite hurrying him another five times. In four games now, that gives the Irish just six sacks on 29 pressures, a takedown rate of 20.7 percent, a good tick down from last year’s national average of a bit more than 30 percent.
Yet, Notre Dame currently has the country’s No. 1 defense in terms of passer rating. The exact ranking may be a bit embellished by the Irish playing an FCS team in Week 1, but a majority of the country has already faced an FCS team, so that is not the sole cause for the lofty ranking. Part of it comes from frustrating a quarterback more than seven times per game.
“I’m not worried about sacks,” Freeman said Monday, a second week in a row he has had to emphasize that. “The pressure that we’re getting is great and sacks will come.
“I don’t want our players overly concerned about sacks because that’s an individual stat that doesn’t really matter. I want to be No. 1 in pass-efficiency defense. … They’ve been working really well and sacks are a result of a lot of different things, but I was really happy with the way our defense performed in the past game, to limit that offense the way we did was really, really good.”
Limiting the Buckeyes’ offense will be a stiffer challenge, even if Ohio State (7:30 ET on NBC) has gotten off to a halting start with McCord at the helm. He is still throwing to arguably the best receivers group in the country with one of the better running back rooms complementing him in the backfield.
A year ago, led by eventual No. 2 overall draft pick in quarterback C.J. Stroud, that offense forced Notre Dame to be defensive even when it was on offense. A 10-7 halftime lead seemed to vindicate the Irish ball control, only for the Buckeyes to beat the Irish at their own game in the second half, holding the ball for 19:34 while running it 24 times for 122 yards, including 10 carries for 54 yards on the game-sealing drive.
Ohio State is still potent, inarguably so as long as Marvin Harrison Jr. lines up wide and TreVeyon Henderson is in the backfield, but with Sam Hartman directing a far more potent and consistent Notre Dame offense, that conservative approach will be left in 2022, the Irish now having a decent chance of keeping pace with the Buckeyes if not even out-scoring them. That is both logic and something Freeman acknowledged.
“Part of the mindset going into that game was trying to control the ball as long as we could, limit their offensive possessions,” Freeman said. “It still has to be complementary football as we go into this Saturday, but I don’t want to play not to lose. I don’t want to play that way.
“I want our guys to be aggressive and our guys to be attacking. We will play complementary football, but our objective isn’t just to hold the ball and huddle every single play.”
These light-up wristbands will be on every seat inside Notre Dame Stadium for the Ohio State game Saturday. pic.twitter.com/AxVwRoLDg8
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) September 18, 2023
ON HARTMAN IN THAT SCENARIO
Grant the premise that the four most influential individuals in your typical college football game are the two starting quarterbacks and the two head coaches.
For Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, this is not even a top-five game of his career. He has coached in three College Football Playoff semifinals and a national championship game, along with back-to-back years where facing Michigan to end the regular season was a top-10 matchup.
For Buckeyes quarterback McCord, this is his fourth career start. It is, by far, the biggest game of his career.
Freeman directed Notre Dame to an upset of then-No. 4 Clemson last November, but as far as big-game bona fides go, the Irish were 5-3 and unranked going into that game as 3.5-point underdogs. There was pressure but not quite what will be palpable this weekend.
Exactly one week from this minute, the setting for Ohio State - Notre Dame. pic.twitter.com/NAXi01yPGK
— Douglas Farmer (@D_Farmer) September 16, 2023
Where Hartman lands in this conversation is a bit trickier. He did take then-No. 5 Clemson to double overtime last season while leading Wake Forest, and the Demon Deacons did jump out to an 8-0 start in 2021 before a one-possession loss at North Carolina preceded a one-score win against No. 21 North Carolina State. Was there more pressure in those moments than this one? Debatable.
“It’s a classic, two football greats that growing up, you think about it and think of those games, Ohio State and all the other big ones, where you’re like, it would be a cool game to play in,” Hartman said. “It’s exciting. It is a big game.
“To shy away from that is foolish.”
"Day started off pretty well. It's good, got some good news." - Marcus Freeman can't say he just got this commitment, but he may as well have just said he got this commitment. https://t.co/Q1vG69GMmu
— Douglas Farmer (@D_Farmer) September 18, 2023
INJURY UPDATES
Fifth-year linebacker JD Bertrand will return from a concussion that sidelined him against Central Michigan, as will sixth-year safety DJ Brown from his hamstring concern.
Freeman was less certain about junior tight end Mitchell Evans — “a little behind JD” in concussion protocols — but reading between the lines, it is more likely than not that Evans plays Saturday.
Junior defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio’s minor knee surgery a few weeks ago has his status the most vague this week.
“If all goes well this week, he’ll be able to go on Saturday,” Freeman said.
"After watching it, it was just kind of a pileup. It's football. It'll happen."
— Douglas Farmer (@D_Farmer) September 18, 2023
Sam Hartman doesn't think that hit on his ankle Saturday was dirty.
INSIDE THE IRISH
— Notre Dame finds direction to top Central Michigan, led by Sam Hartman, Audric Estimé
— Highlights: Notre Dame 41, Central Michigan 17 — Hartman’s deep passes complement Irish trenches’ dominance
— Things We Learned: Sam Hartman needed Notre Dame, Audric Estimé as much as they needed the star quarterback
HISTORIC 🙌
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) September 18, 2023
Yared Nuguse spent his @NDXCTF career wowing the world and setting records. Yesterday, he set another.
Running a time of 3:43.97, he recorded the fastest mile time in American history!
pic.twitter.com/hxF6p1AcAt
OUTSIDE READING
— Meet Obi, the shirtless junior student who fired up Notre Dame Stadium
— Duncan Hall hosts fifth annual ND 110 to honor first responders
— Notre Dame football lands Deuce Knight, top 2025 dual-threat quarterback
— How Notre Dame’s Chris O’Leary made cats and dogs the rage
— Notre Dame kicker Spencer Shrader: Soccer player, entrepreneur and new Irish record holder
— College Football Week 3: PFF Team of the Week and player awards
— NFL QB Draft Class 2024: Every Name to Know Beyond Caleb Williams, Drake Maye
— Lost cause: Here are Arizona State football’s 8 turnovers vs. Fresno State
— Andrew Luck quietly returns to football in Palo Alto
— ABC will air Monday Night Football all season as a result of Hollywood strike
7:30 kickoff set in Durham.
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 18, 2023
Sept. 30 on ABC. #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/fbz69s59Vt