Notre Dame Handles TSU, Freeman Captures First Victory in Home Opener
Notre Dame took care of business in its home opener, defeating Tennessee State 56-3 on Saturday.
As a result, the Fighting Irish picked up their first win over an opponent from a historically Black college or university and the Football Championship Subdivision.
“What an opportunity it was for our football program to play in this game and to be the first team to play not only an FCS opponent but an HBCU,” Freeman said. “It's really important and it's humbling, especially being an African-American head coach. This is what you want for college football.
“As I told coach Eddie George after the game, I'm honored to be a part of this game with him.”
Coach Marcus Freeman captured his first victory in a home opener. In 2022, the Irish fell to Marshall inside Notre Dame Stadium during week 2.
The biggest difference for Notre Dame (2-0) thus far has been its play under center. Quarterback Sam Hartman continues to shine in a Notre Dame uniform.
In the first half, the transfer from Wake Forest completed 14 of 17 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns. He also recorded four carries for 14 yards and another score, which required Hartman to front flip into the end zone.
Freeman decided Notre Dame’s 35-3 halftime advantage was a large enough lead for Hartman to sit the rest of the game. In six quarters of work, he's thrown for 445 yards, accounted for seven total TDs and has yet to get sacked.
Backup Steve Angeli replaced Hartman at quarterback on the first-team offense, taking his first snap at 11:46 in the third quarter.
“I wanted Angeli to get some meaningful reps,” Freeman said. “I didn't want to put him in on mop-up duty when the game is already out of hand. I said, ‘I want a little bit of pressure on Angeli (and on) our offensive staff to say, ‘Okay, we have to score. We have to be efficient on offense here. We can't go three-and-out.’”
He looked uncomfortable initially, completing two of his initial three passes for just six yards. His first drive stalled at the Notre Dame 46-yard line, forcing the Irish to punt for the first time this season.
From then on, Angeli looked crisp and ended up 8-11 for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
“I was proud of Steve. He made some good decisions,” Freeman said. “It wasn't perfect, which it's never perfect, but I thought he did a good job of keeping drives going, making big plays on, I think, some 3rd downs, and obviously putting the ball in the end zone.”
Notre Dame still finished with 557 yards on offense. Eight different players scored a touchdown, which includes a pick six from defensive back Clarence Lewis.
Uneasy Start
The game offered intrigue early on. Notre Dame needed two third-down conversions to sustain its opening drive, which freshman running back Jeremiyah Love finished off with his first career touchdown.
TSU responded with a 15-play, 65-yard drive for a made field goal. On the kickoff, Irish return man Devyn Ford fumbled due to helmet-to-helmet contact, giving the ball back to the Tigers at the Notre Dame 12-yard line.
But Irish defense refused to surrender a yard on three straight plays, and defensive tackle Jason Onye blocked the 29-yard field goal to keep TSU off the board.
The Tigers had an early advantage, with it being their first game of the season. They used new offensive wrinkles that threw the Irish defense off, gaining 3.9 yards per play on its opening drive.
“Coach (Al) Golden and I were laughing, just like, ‘Man, every team we play is coming out with things we haven't seen.’” Freeman said. “Again, you do as good of a job as you can researching your opponent and really preparing, but our opponents, they're creative.”
The Irish defense adjusted and shut them down going forward. TSU averaged 2.3 yards per play for the rest of the game, never scoring again.
“If we want to be a great team,” Freeman said, “we're going to have to continue to be able to do that, see something new on both sides of the ball, because they did stuff differently defensively, too.”
Stat of the Day
The Irish limited the Tigers to one field goal and zero touchdowns on three red zone trips.
In two games, Notre Dame has allowed opponents to score on just 40% of red zone opportunities and have yet to give up a touchdown.
“Our standard as a defense is we want to make sure we leave teams with no touchdowns and no scores,” Onye said. “It's our goal.”
The Irish entered last fall with a similar objective but found little success. In 2022, Notre Dame opponents converted on 94.1 % of red zone trips, with the Irish failing to record its first red zone stop until November.
Even worse, opponents scored a touchdown on 79.4 percent of red zone opportunities, which ranked dead last.
Clearly, the Notre Dame defense is off to a much better start two games into the season.
Play of the Game
TSU quarterback Deveon Bryant tried to throw a ball away in the second quarter by chucking it deep down the field.
Only he underestimated the ball skills of Notre Dame safety Ramon Henderson, who ran down the pass and made a leaping, over-the-should interception.
What’s Next?
Next Saturday, Notre Dame heads to Raliegh, N.C., for its first road test of the season, facing North Carolina State (1-0) at noon on ABC.
The Wolfpack defeated UConn 24-14 in Hartford on Thursday. New quarterback Brennan Armstrong completed 17 of 26 passes for 155 yards and carried the ball 19 times for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
The Irish will look to extend their 28-game ACC regular-season win streak.
“There's no overlooking here,” Hartman said, who lost to NC State 30-21 on the road last year. “I understand the challenge. We understand the challenge at hand, especially on the road. I played there last year. It's a very hostile environment. Their fans are going to bring it. They're not going to like us.”