I know we have a few threads on this, but I want to try to funnel the conversation here.

First, yes, this definitely happened. Notre Dame didn't have 11 players on the field coming out of a timeout for both second-and-goal from the 1, which was an incomplete pass to Marvin Harrison Jr, and third-and-goal from the 1, which was the touchdown run.

It appears to be a vyper defensive end not on the field.

Marcus Freeman was asked specifically about the touchdown play and what happened.

His response: "We were trying to get a fourth D-lineman on the field. I told him just stay off, because we can't afford a penalty. I didn't have any timeouts. We couldn't afford a penalty there. Yeah, it's on us. We got to be better."

Freeman was asked to clarify what the disadvantage would be in getting a penalty on such a short-yardage play. Could he have just taken the penalty to get an 11th man out there?

His response: "Yeah, you could've. You could've. But, to me, it was like, 'Hey, don't give them another opportunity to get settled and to try to make a different call. Hey guys, stay off the field. Let's not give them a freebie from the half-yard line, and let's try to stop him.' I thought maybe they would do the same thing they did the snap before. They didn't. They ended up running the ball. So, I gotta watch the play and see where the ball hit. But yeah, that's why I made that decision."

JD Bertrand was asked if he was aware they didn't have 10 for the touchdown.

His response: "No. Not at the time. I didn't know."

Thomas Harper was on that side of the field that didn't have a defensive end for both plays. I asked him if he noticed or if there was any communication on the field to correct it.

"I mean not really. Everything was going fast. I'm trying to do my job, get the call. That's something that we can't — we gotta do better. We can't be down. In that situation, we gotta do better — players and coaches."

Some notes/thoughts from me:

Notre Dame did have 11 guys on the field on second down before Marcus Freeman called timeout. The four D-linemen on the field were DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste and DTs Rylie Mills, Howard Cross III and Gabriel Rubio. Jean-Baptiste, Mills and Cross were the only D-linemen on the field for the final two plays. I'm not blaming Rubio, I'm just pointing out who was/wasn't there.

There's no excuse for Notre Dame to not notice that between plays and to get a fourth defensive lineman out there. Now, if they noticed super late like Freeman made it seem, I'm not certain that running a fourth D-lineman out late is going to make a difference. He's not going to get to the far side of the field in time. And the refs probably aren't blowing the play dead before the snap because of a guy running on the field late even if he's on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage.

My best suggestion — other than obviously not letting it happen in the first place — would be to have someone commit an offsides penalty and force contact with an Ohio State player so the play gets blown dead before the snap. Clearly, Notre Dame wasn't prepared for that scenario.

Login to view embedded media

Sorry, my mistake. Wrong year!

I posted in another thread, Estime had just busted up OSU for 11 yards. Literally no reason to take him out other than he got banged up. Hand it off to him 3 straight times, if he doesnt get the 1st they would have used all their TO’s for sure. So, has the reasoning for him not being in there been discussed?

The good recruiting vibes from Notre Dame's big visitors weekend are continuing into Sunday.

So much so that I'm putting in a Rivals FutureCast prediction for Notre Dame in the recruitment of 2025 DE Joseph Reiff. The Irish offered the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Reiff following his camp performance in June. He returned to campus for the Grill & Chill event in July and Saturday's Ohio State game.

Login to view embedded media
Rivals has yet to assign a rating or ranking for Reiff. In the first four games of his junior season at Elmhurt (Ill.) York, Reiff recorded 16 tackles, six tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

His offer list includes Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Louisville, and Cincinnati.

Login to view embedded media

You can see how every pollster voted at the link above.



Here's my ballot. Remember only my top 16 count in this poll, but I still do a Top 25 for myself, because I think it's the right thing to do and out of habit, having been an AP voter for more than three decades.

1. Washington
2. Georgia
3. Texas
4. Ohio State
5. Florida State
6. Penn State
7. USC
8. Michigan
9. Utah
10. Notre Dame
11. Alabama
12. Duke
13. Oklahoma
14. Oregon
15. LSU
16. Washington State
17. North Carolina
18. Florida
19. Miami
20. Oregon State
21. Kansas
22. Maryland
23. Tennessee
24. Syracuse
25. Ole Miss

That is Fing stupid. ND falls to 13, that is BS. Who are these voters. The Irish should have fallen to 10 no further. Go Irish

Why was Hartman trying to pas in the last set of downs?

Login to view embedded media
Story coming momentarily.

I'm getting the game thread fired up early so I don't get preoccupied with it during the pregame festivities. Let's get ready for Notre Dame-Ohio State.

We will use this game thread as the primary home for game commentary from now until after the game. We have some rules we'll ask you to follow, which will be included below.

If you're not following the rules and do not respond well to reminders, we'll remove you're posting privileges for the rest of the day. We have too much to do today to argue about it during the game. This doesn't happen often as we're pretty lenient in the game thread, but please keep that in mind.

@HotCarNut has disciplinary powers as a moderator. You can argue with him about the game, but do not argue with him about the rules.

Our game thread rules:

1. Use this thread until the end of the game for ongoing game commentary. We'd like to keep the conversation in one place. If something from the game merits a separate conversation of substance, go ahead and start another thread for that topic. When in doubt, post in the game thread.

2. Criticism of decision-making by coaches and players is allowed. But please avoid making it personal. Don't be malicious. Remember, that person's mother could be reading your post. If you cross the line, you'll lose posting privileges for the day.

3. Don't be a doofus. Have some respect for your fellow subscribers.

Both teams last night made a decision that nearly EVERY team does, but they're wrong.

25 seconds left in the half, ND receiving a kickoff. If you know that you're just going to take a knee and head into the locker room for halftime, there's a very minimal risk in trying to bust a big return. Don't fair catch the kickoff, take a shot!

1 second left in the game, OSU just scored a touchdown to go up 2. There is a very small chance of a blocked PAT getting returned for 2 points, but the chance isn't zero. If you send your offense out there, snap the ball and take a knee, there's zero chance the opponent scores.

Neither decision affected the game last night, but one of these days, a similar decision will cost a team somewhere.

Alas, we can reveal the latest Notre Dame DT target in the 2024 class.

Game is on Fox if you can't sleep. Drew Pyne at QB for ASU.

2 fourth and one failures, missed field goal, and most blatantly the dropped INT on OSU's final drive

Login to view embedded media
MOD EDIT: Discussing in this thread with quotes.

Title, clown clown clown

MOD EDIT: Discussing in this thread with quotes.

@Eric Hansen and I discuss our biggest takeaways from Notre Dame 17-14 loss to Ohio State

Login to view embedded media
Click here to subscribe to Inside ND Sports on YouTube.

Disappointing loss but season far from over can easily run the table but we can not afford to look too far ahead.

Game I’m most worried about is Duke they are a pretty good football team, this game took a lot of energy and emotion out of us it’s letdown game 101 we need to come ready to play and handle business next week.

Got to put this game in the rear view mirror and get ready for next Saturday asap !!!

They are a solid football team very well coached by Mike Elko they are playing very good defense and like to pound the rock on offense we need to be able to stop the run and create some negative plays with our front 7 it has to be a priority.

Go Irish ☘️

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is expected at the podium momentarily.

Watch here:

Login to view embedded media

FOREVER

I’m going to use this thread as an update of pictures and videos of visiting commits, targets and prospects at Notre Dame on Saturday on campus for the Ohio State game.

I’ll have pictures and video taken from my own phone of recruits during The Victory March and arriving at Notre Dame Stadium. Inside ND Sports photographer Jeff Douglas will also be down on the field pregame to capture moments.

Starting with 2025 RB commit Justin Thurman

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Pick right in the hands to end the game, just like 93 against BC. When that happened I knew what the result was going to be. The losses in big games like this is sad. Made it worst Ryan Day running his mouth end of game.