Notre Dame’s Victory Over N.C. State Filled with Big Plays, Big Mistakes

Notre Dame’s 21-point road victory over N.C. State on Saturday is somewhat misleading. The Irish still needed plenty of game-changing plays to overcome several inauspicious blunders that could’ve been detrimental to a less talented team. 

Only, it’s hard to compare Notre Dame’s opponents to others since the Fighting Irish were the only top-10 team to play on the road in week 2, which proved to be a significant disadvantage admist multiple weather delays. 

“This delay was definitely less comfortable for Notre Dame,” ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath said. “(N.C. State coach) Dave Doeren mentioned the first thing he did during the delay was put his team in dry clothes. As the away team, Notre Dame didn’t have that luxury. They stayed in wet clothes, stretched, rested and didn’t have enough food for the extended break.”

Below is a breakdown of Notre Dame’s biggest plays and biggest mistakes from win No. 3. 

Big Plays

On Saturday, Notre Dame ran more plays of 40+ and disrupted more passes than during any game last season. 

Chunk Gains

On Saturday, Notre Dame ran four offensive plays of at least 40 yards. 

Audric Estimé’s 80-yard touchdown run

Chris Tyree’s 65-yard reception to set up a late first-half touchdown

Holden Staes's 40-yard touchdown reception

Tobias Merriweather’s over-the-middle catch and run for 45 yards

Those plays produced 230 of the Irish’s 456 yards. 

That’s far from a slight toward the offense against N.C. State. Long plays from scrimmage tend to be indicators of offensive success. Of the top 10 scoring offenses in 2022, seven also ranked ninth or better in 40+ yard plays with at least 20 of them. 

The Fighting Irish are up to seven 40+ yard plays in three games. They had just six in all of 2022 (118th out of 131 FBS programs). 

The most 40+ yard plays under previous coach Brian Kelly was 23 in 2017. 

Ball Disruption

Before the N.C. State game, defensive coordinator Al Golden said he wanted to see even more ball disruption. 

On Saturday, his players fulfilled his wish. 

The Fighting Irish defense finished with three interceptions and eight pass breakups for 11 passes defended.

The last time the Irish had eight breakups or more was in Notre Dame's 22-17 win over Vanderbilt in 2018. Five future NFL defenders roamed the second and third levels for the Irish: linebacker Drue Tranquill, cornerbacks Julian Love and Troy Pride and safeties Jalen Elliott and Alohi Gilman. 

Safety Xavier Watts defended two of the passes against N.C. State. He made a great play on his interception below, catching the ball near the turf, but the game's best defensive play might’ve been the pass break up where he leaped over a receiver's shoulder to knock the ball away without drawing a pass interference penalty. 

“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.”

Either way, this marks a monumental shift compared to last season, when Notre Dame never had more than three pass breakups in a game and finished with 34 passes defended all season. 

The Irish are already halfway to their 2022 season total with 17 passes defended after in just three games. It’s a stat made even more impressive by the fact that Notre Dame opened the season against Navy’s run-heavy triple-option offense.

Big Mistakes

Freeman likes to look at mistakes or missed assignments as teaching opportunities. There is plenty of film from N.C. State for the players to learn from.

Double-Digit Flags

The Irish never had more than eight penalties in Freeman’s first year, but they exceeded that on Saturday with 10 of 11 accepted penalty flags for a total of 82 yards. 

It’s the most penalties Notre Dame’s had in a game since the Irish had 11 for 93 yards in their 41-13 win over Wisconsin in 2021. 

A few of the penalties were costly. Jaden Greathouse’s pass interference negated a third-down conversion, forcing the Irish to finish a once-promising drive with a punt. 

Notre Dame struggled even more on the other side of the ball. 

Irish defenders were penalized seven times for 58 yards, which included three flags on the Wolfpack’s first touchdown drive (Morrison - unsportsmanlike conduct, Rylie Mills - personal foul and Thomas Harper - defensive holding).

3rd Down Conversions

Notre Dame converted on 5 of 14 (36%) third downs. 

The offense ranked 13th in 2022, moving the chains on 47.2% of third downs. 

Part of the problem was that Notre Dame sometimes struggled to run the ball on early downs. Estime played well overall, but his first three carries of the game went for a total of one yard. 

Those contributed to the Irish needing to gain nine and 10 yards on third down for each of their first two offensive possessions. They went three-and-out on both. 

The offensive also failed to convert in a few short-yardage situations, including on the play below where the 233-pound Estime gets stuffed at the line of scrimmage. It was likely a bad play call against a stacked box. 

In total, six of Estime’s 14 carries went for two yards or fewer. 

The Irish are still converting 59.4% of third downs ( on the season, but they need to be more efficient against the more formidable teams on the schedule, starting with Ohio State on Sept. 23.

Hartman’s Ball Security

Marcus Freeman was being picky following Notre Dame’s victory 42-3 victory over Navy when asked to criticize the game of quarterback Sam Hartman.  

“Ball security is something I've always talked to him about,” Freeman said, “and he likes to scramble back around there with one hand on the ball, and we're trying to break that habit.”

In Notre Dame's first two games, Hartman’s failure to use two hands didn’t seem like a big deal. He was never sacked and hit in the pocket just twice. 

Against N.C. State, fans saw why Hartman needs to break that habit. The Wolfpack sacked him four times, with Hartman coughing the ball up twice. 

Fortunately, guard Pat Coogan came to his rescue on the game's first drive by diving on and smothering the loose ball. 

The second time, he wasn’t so lucky. 

He’ll need to focus on keeping two hands on the ball in the future. 

Of course, Notre Dame made up for its glaring mistakes with the aforementioned big plays. 

Perhaps, it’s a good omen for the 2023 season for Notre Dame to make so many mistakes but still defeat a quality opponent on the road by 21 points. 

“We're a good team,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “What’s the ceiling is for the team? I think it's high. Our job is to develop these guys over the week, so when we get these opportunities on Saturday, we're performing at the highest level we can. It's to be determined how high that ceiling is.”