Defensive battle until it wasn’t
It seemed like a lot of people expected a slugfest from Notre Dame and Ohio State inside Notre Dame Stadium, and in a lot of ways that’s what both teams gave us. It was a tight and tough game, and in the end the Irish ran out of luck and time to lose 17-14.
Notre Dame looked like they were ready to run early, but couldn’t finish with points. After forcing the Buckeyes to punt on their first drive, the Irish took the ball 71 yards on 14 plays before finally turning the ball over on downs after a failed Sam Hartman run to the sideline. The Irish forced a three and out after that, and took the next drive far enough for Spencer Shrader to miss a field goal.
The Buckeyes finally put together a respectable drive right before the end of the first half and after 66 yards they took a 3-0 lead into the lockers.
The first drive of the 2nd half saw the Irish turn the ball over again after a failed 4th down conversion, and Ohio State made them pay with a 61 yard counter run by Henderson to go up 10-0.
Notre Dame finally woke up. They answered the Buckeye TD with a 75 yard drive that ended with a Gi’Bran Payne TD run. Notre Dame forced another punt from OSU, and went 96 yards on 11 plays that ended with a Sam Hartman to Rico Flores touchdown score to go up 14-10 halfway through the 4th quarter.
Ohio State threatened late in the game but a 4th and short stop by Notre Dame’s defense lifted the crowd into the heavens.
The Irish couldn’t move the ball on the next drive and were forced to punt. Ohio State drove down to the goaline and with 3 seconds remaining the Buckeyes punched it in and punched our guts.
More to come on One Foot Down.