Bottom Line
For most of the first home game of the Marcus Freeman Era of Notre Dame, the most impressive play might have been a 61-yard punt by ND grad senior Jon Sot.
It was also the most defining.
On a day when the Irish offense sputtered, labored and outright regressed, the ND defense bent and broke late and No. 8 Notre Dame completely unraveled late in the fourth quarter of a 26-21 upset loss to Marshall.
A week after giving up a 95-yard, fourth-quarter scoring drive to Ohio State for the clinching TD in a 21-10 setback, Marshall (2-0) pounded the ball on a 94-yard scoring drive to take the lead for good, 19-15, with 5:16 left in the game. Three plays later, Irish QB Tyler Buchner threw a pick-6 that Marshall cornerback Steven Gilmore returned 37 yards to put the game out of reach.
Drew Pyne replaced Buchner at QB on the ensuing drive (because of injury, according to Freeman) and he threw an interception of his own, this one picked off by Thundering Herd defensive lineman Owen Porter. A cosmetic TD pass to Michel Mayer with 14 seconds left trimmed the final Irish deficit to five.
There’s plenty of blame to go around, but offensive coordinator Tommy Rees deserves his share and needs to be a big part of the solution moving forward.
For Notre Dame, its nation’s-best 42-game winning streak against unranked teams is over.
Big Picture
The most important objective for Notre Dame (0-2) in week 2 was to show improvement. Instead the Irish effectively removed themselves from the College Football Playoff picture. A tumble completely out of both polls is likely on Sunday.
Questions Answered
None. Zero. Nada.
Questions Lingering
Will the QB competition be reopened this week? When will Notre Dame get to the point where it can run the ball effectively? Why, with so much defensive personnel rotation, has the Irish defense got pushed around in the fourth quarter when it mattered the most?
The Road Ahead
Notre Dame hosts California on Saturday (2:30 p.m. EDT; NBC-TV) .
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