Al Golden Puts Blame on Himself, Believes in What Notre Dame is Building
Notre Dame’s defense bailed the Fighting Irish out multiple times during the 2024 campaign, but on Monday night, it couldn’t come up with enough plays to knock off Ohio State.
The Buckeyes offense entered the game as one of the most prolific in the country as there are answers on answers given the Ohio State’s 20 million dollar roster.
Yet, Notre Dame found a way to get stops to give itself a chance in the fourth quarter.
“We had to play better than we did,” stated defensive coordinator Al Golden. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way the guys fought.”
Notre Dame came out of halftime with adjustments Golden felt confident in, but a missed proved costly as Quinshon Judkins ripped off a 70-yard run and the Buckeyes scored three plays later to take a commanding 28-7 lead.
The Irish could have folded and many teams would have, but they kept pushing. Drayk Bowen came up with a huge strip, which Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa recovered to give Notre Dame momentum.
“The unforced error on the second play of the second half was just criminal,” explained Golden. “If you take that off the board, then they really have to work everything in the second half. Guys did a great job of executing the plan. They always fight.
“That was a great finish by Drayk. Drayk was actually a blitzer on the play. He put a foot in the ground and chased him down the field. You could see him targeting the ball. The kid’s a warrior. We just needed one more like that or a red zone stop. We just came up short.”
Golden also took the blame for Jeremiah Smith’s 56-yard reception on 3rd-and-11 with 2:45 left on the clock.
It was a situation where Notre Dame had to sell out to get the ball back as a 12-yard gain was essentially the same as 56.
“There’s 15 other calls I could have made,” Golden said. “We were kind of at the end of the rope as a first down there is kind of it anyway. The kid made a great throw and catch. Hindsight, you always want to stop the play everybody saw, but the kids have to execute it and they did. We were just near the end. We went the pressure route and 4 made a great play.”
Cornerback Christian Gray has had positive and negative moments this season and his sophomore campaign will end on a moment he won’t forget anytime soon. But Golden knows Gray will use it to become a better player and rebound from it.
“Christian is a battler,” Golden explained. “It’s hard to play out there. The game dictated that it was do or die. I wish I didn’t put him in that position. We needed to make a stop right there. That’s always sad when that happens because everybody looks at that player. I should be looked at for putting him in that position.
“Christian’s going to bounce back. You don’t have to worry about him. He’s a competitor. He’s resilient, and he’s a blessing.”
Bowen, another sophomore, had multiple players tell him it was his team now as the Irish exited the field and Golden echoed those statements.
“I saw it all game,” Golden stated. “I saw a guy who was just heavy-handed all game, knocking people back and taking the fight to them. He’s just a warrior and an elite competitor all game. Not one time did he flinch. He’s definitely going to be one of our leaders.”
Notre Dame will now focus its attention on the offseason, and one area the Irish won’t have to focus on is the culture. Marcus Freeman inherited a strong culture and has only enhanced it during his first three seasons.
“It’s in their DNA,” stated Golden. “They don’t know any other way. They start feeding off each other. Offense makes a play and then we make a play and the offense goes down and scores. The next thing you know, you have a chance. That’s the one thing I can tell you being on that sideline and being with those kids. You always feel like you have a chance. I feel badly I didn’t put them in position just a couple more times to give them an opportunity to win it.”
Want the latest scoop on the Fighting Irish? Sign up for our newsletter and become an ISD Premium Subscriber: Sign Up for ISD