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Notre Dame loses grip on upset bid of OSU but not its long-term promise

Notre Dane heads coach Marcus Freeman walks to the locker room after his No. 5 Irish succumbed to second-ranked Ohio State on the road Saturday night.
Notre Dane heads coach Marcus Freeman walks to the locker room after his No. 5 Irish succumbed to second-ranked Ohio State on the road Saturday night. (David Dermer, Associated Press)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The most significant swath in the aftermath of a chance to shock the world that curdled in the fourth quarter Saturday night is that Marcus Freeman still has a team worth tracking what it might turn into.

Not that there weren’t plenty of regrets to lament over in the Notre Dame head football coach’s regular-season debut … in the national spotlight … against his alma mater and the highest-ranked team the Irish have ever opened a season against, in No. 2 Ohio State.

And the one that will haunt him the most in a come-from-ahead 21-10 loss for his fifth-ranked Irish is that the lessons learned from a second-half fade in his actual coaching debut — a 37-35 loss to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1 — didn’t show up against the Buckeyes.

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“We’ve got to learn how to finish, and that’s ultimately what happened in the game,” Freeman said repeatedly in one form or another throughout his 11-minute postmortem with the media.

That the Irish (0-1) didn’t finish off a team that’s 65-4 at home over the past decade-plus and won its 23rd consecutive season opener wasn’t as deflating as the way it happened.

Getting pushed around in the second half on both lines of scrimmage, the antithesis of what Freeman had been envisioning and building as the core of his team’s identity since being elevated from defensive coordinator, days after 12-year head coach Brian Kelly messily parachuted out for LSU on Nov, 30.

An Ohio Stadium crowd of 106,594 looked on as the reigning statistical national champ in both scoring offense and total offense reinvented itself in the second half after losing All-America wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba to injury and scoring just seven points in the first half while trailing by three at the break.

The Buckeyes outgained the Irish, 246-72 yards, in the second half, including 121-12 in the fourth quarter. The second-half command for OSU in the rushing game was 122-23 yards, 4-for-6 to 1-for-6 on third down, 41 to 20 on plays run.

“In combination with the scheme and just the physicality, we were being successful early on and running and hustling to the ball,” Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser said. “And somewhere along those lines, they started catching us off guard and they were going tempo.

“There were just a lot of factors. And at the end of the day, we didn’t execute. Physically we just did not execute our roles. And stuff bleeds.”

It all hemorrhaged into a 95-yard, 14-play drive capped by a Miyan Williams two-yard burst into the end zone for a 21-10 OSU lead with 4:51 left in the game. That drive consumed 7:06. In the previous drive, in which the Buckeyes took the lead for good, Heisman Trophy favorite C.J. Stroud spotted slot receiver Xavier Johnson in single coverage against freshman cornerback Jaden Mickey.

Mickey had just come into the game for grad senior TaRiq Bracy, injured on the previous play. On third-and-11 from the Irish 24, Notre Dame employed three safeties. Two of them blitzed but not effectively enough to rattle Stroud.

Johnson got a step on Mickey, and the Buckeyes had a 24-yard scoring play.

The Irish offense couldn’t answer. An offensive pass interference penalty on Matt Salerno on first down of the ensuing ND offensive possession set the stage for a punt four plays later. A third-down sack punctuated the next Irish turn with the ball.

Notre Dame finished with 254 total yards and the same rushing problems that plagued the Irish intermittently last season, with 76 yards on 30 carries and a long run of 14.

“The story of the night was the defense,” said OSU coach Ryan Day, whose unit ranked 59th nationally in total defense (out of 130) each of the past two seasons and prompted a change with new coordinator Jim Knowles imported from Oklahoma State last December.

“The turnaround, after what’s been said about them in the offseason, questioning their toughness and playing the way they did against the No. 5 team in the country, I’m proud of our guys.

“When you can win games in different ways, it says a lot about your team as well. And I think this game is going to pay dividends down the road.”

That may be true of the Irish, who showed enough bandwidth amidst some statistical muck Saturday night that they could eventually climb their way back into the top 5 later this season after a presumptive fall Tuesday when the new polls come out.

“They battled the entire game. I want to make sure that I say that,” Freeman said. “We didn’t execute late in the game when we had to. We didn’t execute the way we needed to. We had a challenge to win the fourth quarter. We didn’t win the fourth quarter.”

But Notre Dame didn’t fall off the big stage, either, like so many Kelly Era teams did in top 10 showdowns.

Sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner was a big reason why. He was poised throughout, even though his 8-for-8 start ended up as 10-for-18 for 177 yards. He netted 18 yards rushing on 11 carries, with three sacks cutting into his rushing average.

Most importantly, in a noisy, intimidating environment, Buchner had zero turnovers.

“He’s going to be a really good football player and a great leader for us as we move forward,” Freeman offered.

Irish sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner was sacked three times at Ohio State on Saturday night but showed poise and persistence in  his starting debut.
Irish sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner was sacked three times at Ohio State on Saturday night but showed poise and persistence in his starting debut. (David Dermer, Associated Press)

While the defense wilted late, the Irish flexed depth and enough difference-makers that they should overwhelm most of the offenses remaining on their schedule and at least whelm those like BYU and USC.

Offensively, Freeman is convinced the return of All-America offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson should give a huge boost to the Irish running game when he returns for a sprained right foot. Patterson was a game-time decision Saturday night and was replaced at left guard by Andrew Kristofic and Michael Carmody.

Special teams were a mixed bag. Punter and Harvard grad transfer Jon Sot was dynamic in his Irish debut. Arkansas State transfer Blake Grupe nailed his only field goal attempt, on the game’s first drive.

But the return game has a long way to go with Ohio State forcing bad field position with strong coverage on kickoffs, and punt returner Brandon Joseph adding to ND’s reputation as Fair Catch U.

“The execution wasn’t where we wanted to be,” Freeman said. “So we have to clean that up.”

The bittersweet advantage of Notre Dame opening up with such a formidable opponent is that most, if not all, of your weaknesses get exposed in week 1 — for other opponents to copy and try to exploit. And for Freeman to know exactly what to fix.

The best news is that nothing looks unfixable. How fast, how soon is another matter.

Marshall (1-0), a 55-3 winner over Norfolk State on Saturday, comes to Notre Dame Stadium next Saturday (2:30 p.m. EDT; NBC-TV).

“I think we found out we have a good football team,” Freeman said. “We have a lot to learn from this game. We have to get back to work.”

BOX SCORE: Ohio State 21, Notre Dame 10

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