Xavier Watts Boosts Notre Dame's Energy, Leads to Blowout Road Win at NC State
It was a normal trip to NC State for No. 10 Notre Dame as the weather impacted the game as it did in 2016, including a lengthy delay.
Notre Dame stayed ready and didn’t flinch despite facing adversity for the first time this season.
While some teammates (and coaches) were eating hot dogs or food during the weather delay, Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts chose to embrace Marcus Freeman’s challenge to the team this week of staying in the moment.
“I didn’t do any of that,” laughed Watts. “I kind of sat back, put my headphones on and listened to some music. Just tried to stay locked in as much as possible. It’s pretty hard to stay locked in playing the first quarter and coming back after a two-hour delay.”
The Irish came back from the delay with a bang as Audric Estimé rumbled 80 yards to the house to set a tone, but NC State didn’t go away.
In fact, the last series of the fourth quarter, Notre Dame went three-and-out and NC State started its drive on its own 26 trailing just 24-17.
Watts came alive and gave his team energy as he broke up a Brennan Armstrong pass on 2nd-and-17. The next play, Watts picked off Armstrong and five plays later, Notre Dame took a commanding 31-17 lead.
“It’s an exciting moment for the team to give us some juice and myself to make more plays in the game,” Watts said of his PBU. “It gave me some more confidence to make more plays in the game. Obviously, it kind of set up the interception and have some juice and energy from that play.”
Following Watts’ interception, DJ Brown picked off an Armstrong pass the next drive and then NC State turned the ball over on downs with 7:38 left in the game.
It was a reflection of the culture and mindset Freeman has worked hard to build since he took the job as the Irish finished off NC State.
“Football is a long game,” explained Watts. “It can go either way. Coach Freeman preaches one play, one life. We can take that step of just going one play, one life and learn each and every play - just keep going forward.”
It was growth.
A year ago, Nore Dame failed to finish off Marshall and Stanford. The Irish beat Navy last fall, but the second half was praying compared to finishing.
On Saturday, Notre Dame finished and it was led by Watts.
“I think it's a sign of a mature football team where there was no panic from coaches and players, myself included,” Freeman said. “In those moments, it's easy to panic and started yelling and screaming and create chaos amongst the team. But to be able to get to the sideline and say, 'OK, what went wrong in that last series? What do we need to do and go out and go play.'
“I think when you have a team that's been through some of that adversity and then you've got guys coming in like Sam (Hartman) that's been through adversity, to stay in the moment, to not be so focused on what happened in the past. Right now is all that matters.”
Perhaps the most underrated part of the day was the most significant. Notre Dame’s defense shutdown Armstrong in the air, but also on the ground.
Armstrong finished the game just 22-of-47 for 260 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions while rushing 12 times for 26 yards and one more score.
Sure, the three touchdowns is a big day, but the 47 percent completion percentage and 2.2 yards per carry spoke volumes against the ACC veteran.
The secondary might have had a big day, but Watts was quick to give credit to the defensive line for holding contain and not getting out of their rush lanes.
“We call it plaster when he’s running around and we’re trying to stay on the receiver,” stated Watts. “The defensive line did a great job of keeping him in the pocket. When he breaks that plane of the defensive line, we knew when we have to come off our man to come up and help.”
Notre Dame’s win was far from perfect, but the Irish passed the first test of the year with a three-touchdown win.
“It was our first time, so it was something new,” said Watts. “I think we handled it pretty well. Everybody just tried to stay locked in as much as possible. Our first time experiencing it, it was a little difficult, but I think we got the feel of what it felt like to have some pressure on us. We calmed down a little bit and did well handling the pressure.”
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