Notre Dame’s 28-7 win over Boise State was as ugly as they come.
There were a combined 24 penalties called, multiple questionable calls by the officiating crew, and both quarterbacks struggled, even though the stats might tell you different.
The biggest question for the Fighting Irish is whether this was impressive enough for the College Football Playoff committee.
However, there were a few good things as well.
If you go back to my keys, the Fighting Irish checked off the entire list.
Keep A Clean Sheet:
Boise State had shown that they could be loose with the ball. Most of the season, it’s been with fumbles, but today it was interceptions.
Maddux Madsen was harassed for much of the day, which led to Notre Dame’s four interceptions. The Fighting Irish’s best cover guy, sophomore Leonard Moore, had two of them.
Notre Dame’s offense kept the sheet clean despite three fumbles. Today’s game was closer than it should have been anyway, turnovers would have meant that the game would come down to the fourth quarter.
“Proud of the way we took care of the football. And we got four takeaways which is huge. You win the turnover margin plus-4, you’ve got a great chance to be on the right side of the outcome,” said Marcus Freeman.
Chunk Running Plays:
The Fighting Irish had six running plays of 10+ yards. Three were by Jeremiyah Love, two for Jadarian Price, and CJ Carr had one run that fell into this category.
I thought it would be Price that would lead in this category, and I explained why in my preview article, but Love’s unwillingness to be tackled without a fight wore down the Broncos’ defense.
Pressure Madsen:
Notre Dame did a solid job in this category.
The numbers will show two sacks and four quarterback hurries, but you could see that Maddux Madsen wasn’t comfortable whenever it wasn’t a quick timing throw.
If Notre Dame defenders hadn’t let Madsen slip away a time or two, the numbers would’ve been more impressive. Don’t get me started on the roughing the passer call. (eye roll)
