In a Hard-Fought Battle Against Cal, Notre Dame Gets First Win of #MarcusFreemanEra

In the final minute against California, the Notre Dame defense twice ran to its sideline victorious after forcing a turnover that would have effectively ended the game.

After each, a booth review changed the result of the play and negated the turnover, extending the game. 

The first instance occurred on the opening play of the drive when Irish cornerback Clarence Lewis picked off Golden Bear quarterback Jack Plummer, but referees retroactively flagged linebacker J.D. Bertrand for targeting prior to the interception. 

A few plays later, a Plummer fumble led to a TaRiq Bracy scoop and score. Only upon review, the officials determined Plummer’s right knee hit the turf prior to losing possession.

Then with Cal at the Irish 35-yard line with five seconds remaining, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman pled to a higher power.

“It was a conversation between me and God,” he said.

Finally, after Plummer’s hail mary from Notre Dame’s 45-yard line fell incomplete, the clock hit 0:00 and the scoreboard read 24-17 in favor of the Irish. 

Notre Dame (1-2) won for the first time since Freeman was named head coach last December. 

“Tonight is going to be about celebrating this victory, and I’m proud of them,” Freeman said. “It's an honor to do it here at this university with this support system. This is a special day for me personally, but hopefully for this program and this university.”

It’s no coincidence that Notre Dame’s first win of 2022 came after the offense successfully pounded the ball in the ball in the run game.

With Logan Diggs out ill, running backs Chris Tyree and Audric Estime carried the ball a combined 35 times for 140 yards and a touchdown. 

The duo also finished No. 1 and No. 2 in receiving, combining for 87 yards and another touchdown. 

“In our minds, it was like, ‘okay, we're going to have to ride the backs of Chris and Audric right now,’” Freeman said, “and they both ran the ball really well.”

The reliable run game enabled new starting quarterback Drew Pyne to shake off some pregame jitters.

He began the game by completing just three of his first eight passes for 19 yards and fumbled the inside Irish territory early in the second quarter. He responded by connecting on 14 of his final 15 passes of the game for 131 yards and two touchdowns. 

“Drew just continued to battle,” Freeman said. “He continued to make good decisions, and he finished the game for us.”

Notre Dame’s vaunted pass rush also delivered on a consistent basis for the first time all year. 

Four different Notre Dame defensive linemen sacked Plummer six times.

“You want some guys to take ownership in the performance on the field,” Freeman said. “ That’s a deep group.  Coach [Al] Washington does an excellent job with that group, and we’re going to need them all.  We're going to need them all to have a relentless pass rush.”

As a whole, the defense also chipped in six quarterback hurries. The result: Plummer completed 16 of his 37 passes (43 percent) for 184 yards and a touchdown. 

Despite the victory, many of Notre Dame’s on-the-field issues from its first two losses persisted.

“I keep trying to tell myself to enjoy it,” Freeman said. “There’s a lot of coaching that happened on that field today that we can learn from, but listen, if you don't take a minute to enjoy these things, you're going to regret it.”

The offensive line looked improved at times and out of sorts at other moments, which includes jumping offsides on three third down opportunities.

Even on successful third-down conversations, the line occasionally busted. 

For instance, on Notre Dame’s field goal drive, Estime ran the ball up the middle on third down with one yard to go. Right guard Josh Lugg whiffed on his block. Fortunately for Notre Dame, the defender missed a tackle in the backfield, allowing Estime to pick up 2 yards.

“I've got to go back and watch the film and see what the issues were,” Freeman said. “I know offensively we had a couple of three-and-outs. We fumbled the ball in the first half.  We weren't playing clean football.”

On defense, the Irish held an opposing offense to 21 points or fewer for the third time this season, but they’ve yet to force a turnover or dominate down the stretch. 

Sure, the defense kept Cal out of the end zone in the fourth quarter, but a poor Golden Bear offense still produced two 45-yard drives in the final period due to uncharacteristic penalties and lapses in contain. 

In the fourth quarter alone, Plummer picked up two first downs on a 24- and 16-yard scramble, each of which should have resulted in a sack. 

In the end, the Irish made the plays when they had to and left Notre Dame Stadium to celebrate with their friends and family.

As for the mistakes, those can be hammered out during tomorrow’s practice.

“It is hard to win football games,” Freeman said. “It's hard. You've seen it in the first three games. I’m so proud of that group of guys to find a way to finish.  Obviously, there's a lot of work to do. We have to get better.”

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