3 Things We Learned About the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Week 9
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish thumped the Pittsburgh Panthers 58-7 in South Bend on Saturday night.
What did we learn about Notre Dame on Saturday?
Defense and Special Teams Blowout the Panthers
Notre Dame’s offense was far from perfect on Saturday afternoon. The defense and special teams more than made up for any offensive mistakes. Chris Tyree opened the scoring with an electric 82-yard touchdown on a punt return. The defense got into the fun with a pick-six return for a touchdown, and Ramon Henderson scored on a muffed punt that was returned for a touchdown. In total, the Fighting Irish forced five turnovers on the Pitt Panthers and held Pitt to only 11 first down and 255 yards.
Uneven Day for Offense Ends With Key Injury
Notre Dame’s offense ended up with 535 yards, and the 58 points on the scoreboard looked terrific, but this was not a perfect day for the Irish offense. Sam Hartman threw two interceptions and no touchdowns, and the passing game continues to struggle to stretch the field vertically. The best part of the day on that side of the ball was the play of the running backs. Audric Estime is closing in on 1,000 yards for the season and had 114 yards and three scores against Pitt. Jadarian Price added 35 yards with 5.8 yards per carry, and the backs were involved in the passing game more than they had been in previous weeks. The significant development for the offense from this game was the injury to leading pass catcher Mitchell Evans. Evans has 422 yards on the season with nearly four catches per game but tore his ACL during the action, and Notre Dame does not appear to have anyone ready to step into his shoes.
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Xavier Watts Is Spectacular
The outstanding defensive back for the Fighting Irish had two more interceptions on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Panthers. Watts now leads all of college football with six interceptions. The junior safety has made impactful plays all season and is a near-shoe-in for an All-American selection at the end of the season. Watts also has 39 tackles on the season and has helped propel to a plus-nine number in turnover margin. The Fighting Irish have some flaws, but Watts leads a very deep secondary, and Notre Dame is now 7-2. They play Clemson this weekend, a team that has struggled mightily with turnovers all season before getting Wake Forest and Stanford. A 10-2 record looks like the most likely outcome for Notre Dame.
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