SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In the latter years of the Charlie Weis regime of Notre Dame football, Weis continually pressed the ND administration to implement training table meals for the Irish players that would lean into nutrition and sports science instead of what fast food places had extended hours.
What he got back was a promise that was eventually kept.
But not until after Brian Kelly had taken over as head coach in 2010 and Weis left to ponder what might have gone differently if not for the regular November fades.
In five seasons (2005-09), Weis was 35-27 overall, a .564 winning percentage. His November record? 10-11 (.476), the lowest mark for an Irish head coach from the Lou Holtz Era (1986-96) moving forward.
Current coach Marcus Freeman enter his third November as ND’s head coach with a home matchup against Florida State (1-8) on Saturday night, sporting the second-best November win mark (.714) among Holtz, Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, Weis, Kelly and Freeman — in admittedly a small sample size (5-2).
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If the 10th-ranked Irish (7-1), though, can sweep the Seminoles, Virginia (4-4), CFP No. 25 Army (8-0) and USC (4-5), Freeman would move ahead of Kelly’s .729 November success rate to an .818 mark.
The others in between those two and Weis, are Lou Holtz (.692, 27-12), Bob Davie (.611, 11-7), and Willingham (.545, 6-5).
Kelly’s 35-13 November mark really has two distinct phases to it. From 2010-16. with the training table Weis had requested, the Irish under Kelly were a modest 17-11 collectively in November (.607). But after a self-makeover, a massive staff purge and a revolution with strength and conditioning and sports science following Kelly’s 4-8 season in 2016, the Irish were 18-2 in November (.900) from 2017 until Kelly’s departure after the 2021 regular season.
And he finished with 16 straight November wins.
Freeman took Kelly’s principles and pushed into the sports science realm and analytics even more aggressively. So, what does that look like coming out of the second bye week of 2024 and into the 12th-ever meeting with the Seminoles (7:30 EST, NBC/Peacock)?
“We meet weekly as a sports performance team,” Freeman said during his weekly Thursday Zoom call with local media. “So< that includes, obviously, [director or football performance] coach [Loren] Landow; Rob Hunt, our head athletic trainer; Matt Leiszler, our team doctor; [associated athletics director of sports performance] John Wagle.
“We look at all the analytics behind it, and we say, ‘OK, let's come up with what we perceive as the load, the necessary load they need, for each week. And so, as you look at the bye week, there was a load that we wanted to make sure that we accomplished with our practices from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, to really propel us forward for these last four games.”
The home game against Florida State is followed by the final home game of the season, Nov. 16 vs. Virginia. The Irish then meet Army on Nov. 23 at Yankee Stadium in New York before finishing the regular season in Los Angeles on Nov. 30 against arch-rival USC.
“As we look at each of these last four games, what is this week — the Florida State week — Virginia, Army, then USC like? How do we see the four-game span really maximizing what we're asking our guys to do? So, it isn't like we change drastically what we did [from] the first bye week.
“But there's, again, certain loads and numbers that we want to hit in practice while also getting the work that we need to get done schematically. And obviously it's going to be different week 12 than it was week 1. That's the flow of a season, and what you're asking your guys to do.”
D-line depth watch
With interior line standouts Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills out of college eligibility after this season and uncertainty yet about key backups Gabe Rubio and Jason Onye taking up ND on a green light to return for a fifth year in 2025, a progress report on four young players at that position who haven’t seen a single snap this season seemed in order.
They are sophomores Devan Houstan and Brenan Vernon, and freshmen Cole Mullins and Sean Sevillano Jr. Vernon and Mullins were both recruited as defensive ends but made the move inside this season.
“Well, Cole's just getting back into practice, obviously, with his knee injury earlier in the season,” Freeman said, “so he's very slowly just kind of getting into the practice load, whereas those other three guys have been critical in terms of the preparation for our team.
“Sometimes they'll be up with the defense, but the majority of time those guys are our scout team D-line. And I made this comment to the coaching staff yesterday, that this might be the best scout team D-line that I've been around in a long time. And in terms of the level they're able to practice at and give our offensive line a realistic look at what they're going to see on Saturday, it's been really impressive.”
That’s particularly relevant this week. While Florida State has struggled consistently and chronically in so many areas, defensive line play isn’t one of them. That’s especially true with pass rush.
Its No. 31 standing in team sacks is better than any Irish opponent this season, past or upcoming, with the exception of Northern Illinois (16th).
“Those guys work their tails off and they're getting better,” Freeman continued on Houstan, Vernon and Sevillano. “That's how you get better, right? It's not what you want at the end of the day. Everybody wants to play in the game, but you know what, you have to, within your role, find ways to get better.
“And their role right now is to be on scout team and to be ready if we need them in a game. But they are really accomplishing their roles at a high level. I'm really pleased with all three of those guys you mentioned.”
Buchner quietly taking care of business
Former starting quarterback and current reserve walk-on wide receiver Tyler Buchner continues to make contributions in his return to the Irish roster after spending the 2023 season at Alabama.
The most noticeable was his run for a first down as a surprise holder on a fake field goal against Georgia Tech. The following week he was the scout team QB as ND tried to prepare for the triple-option elements that Navy presented in a Oct. 26 matchup.
All along he’s been a valuable resource for ND starting QB Riley Leonard, as Leonard has attested.
And now?
“I think each week your role can change,” Freeman said. “This week it’s his normal role in terms of being a wide receiver and also signaling [in plays from the sideline] for us. So, every week, his role can and does change a little bit.
“As far as the tangible things, man, he loves this place. I remember our initial conversation [about] coming back was, ‘I want to do whatever I can to help this university, this program have success.’ And if that means spending time with Riley, if that means playing wide receiver, he's willing to do whatever it takes.
“And so, I'm sure Riley and him have had some great conversations, because again, very few people understand what it's like to play quarterback at this place. But he's a team-first guy and a valuable member of our program.”
Buchner played for the national champion Notre Dame men's lacrosse team in the spring semester after returning from Alabama, and got his ND degree at the end of that semester. He has one year of football eligibility left if he chooses to return to the sport in 2025.
Squibs
• And ND thought it had offensive line challenges. … One of the more significant contributing factors to Florida State being ranked in the bottom five nationally in almost every significant offensive category is what’s happening — and what’s not — up front.
The Seminoles have started eight different offensive line combinations through nine games this season, the most in the country in 2024 and the most by Florida State since 2019. Ten offensive linemen have made at least one start.
• NBC has swapped out the regular ND broadcast team of Dan Hicks, Jason Garrett and Zora Stephenson for this week. In their place are Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge and Kathryn Tappen.
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