No matter who we all blame, it does not change the fact that Notre Dame did not get it done vs. Ohio State in primetime during Week 4.
This was the signature game of the weekend with ESPN's College GameDay in South Bend to take it all in. During this battle of unbeaten teams, the tougher team won, which to Lou Holtz's surprise was not his beloved Notre Dame. While there have been better performances out of Ryan Day's Buckeyes squad since he took over, this one was cathartic, to some extent. It was a program-changer for sure.
So with that in mind, we have some Irish to blame for this tough home defeat. Who are we piling on?
3. Veteran QB Sam Hartman got outplayed by Kyle McCord at home
It may not seem all that fair, but nothing is fair in life. When former Wake Forest star quarterback Sam Hartman transferred to Notre Dame this offseason, the hope was he would be the missing piece to get the Golden Domers over the top offensively. Yes, the Fighting Irish did make two trips to the College Football Playoff with Ian Book under center, but Hartman had the looks of one Brady Quinn.
However, Hartman's stat line of 17-of-25 passing for 175 yards and a touchdown was not enough to get it done at home vs. the better-run program. While the Buckeyes defense is finally starting to respond under second-year coordinator Jim Knowles, we all would have thought the sixth-year senior in Hartman would have outplayed a first-year starter in Kyle McCord. Well, he did not do that.
McCord may have been lifted by Ohio State star running back TreVeyon Henderson a bit more than Hartman leaned on Audric Estime, but Hartman did not take advantage of his sizable starting experience over his counterpart. To win big games like this, your stars have to assert themselves. While Hartman was fine in this one, fine was not good enough to win a tight one down to the wire.
For as much praise as we gave Hartman in the first month of the season, he let us all down in this one.
2. Lou Holtz opened his mouth and lit a fire inside of Ryan Day, alright
We have not seen bulletin-board material like this in quite some time. Lou Holtz's appearance on Friday's edition of The Pat McAfee Show blew up in Notre Dame's face big time. He may not have had any direct cause in Notre Dame's latest embarrassing defeat, but he sure as hell lit a fire inside of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. Calling Ohioans soft is a death sentence in major college football.
Give Day and his staff a ton of credit. The Buckeyes never gave up and preceded to win one of the most impressive games of the young college football season. It felt like vindication to some degree over the Peach Bowl loss to Georgia last holiday season in the College Football Playoff. The stakes were higher and the stage was bigger, but this win was one Ohio State can most definitely build on.
It may have been hilarious to see Holtz go for broke on a major national sports program like PMS, but you can't embarrass people like that and expect for them to just sit back and take it. Again, we have to give Jim Knowles and his defense a ton of credit for being the type of Ohio tough we often associate with Buckeyes football. It may propel them to beat either Michigan or Penn State, possibly even both?
Let this be the latest lesson on why it is never a good idea to poke the bear before the cage match.
1. From Al Golden to Marcus Freeman, the entire defensive staff blew it
If you want to blame anyone from this game, it has to be the entire defensive staff of Notre Dame. How do you not recognize that you only have 10 players on the field in crunch time deep in your own territory? Al Golden is a savvy defensive coordinator and Marcus Freeman is an excellent up-and-coming head coach, but this blunder of epic proportions falls on them and the entire defensive staff.
I mean, who had eyes on this? What graduate assistant or defensive analyst is going to have to run laps at practice for this unmitigated disaster in football accounting? Good teams win, but great teams don't beat themselves. Notre Dame is good. That's not really debatable right now, but they may not be as great as we all thought they were this time a week ago. This game was at home, too. What the hell?!
Ultimately, you win and lose as a team. This was the year a program like Notre Dame could have gotten the best of a team like Ohio State in a bit of transition. It was at home with all of the college football world watching. Per usual, Notre Dame did what Notre Dame has typically done since Lou Holtz stopped being their head coach and underperformed in a major spot vs. a quality adversary.
If anyone is going to eat this loss for Notre Dame, let's slice up that humble pie, Freeman and Golden...
