College football: Ohio State at Notre Dame matchups and more
Sep. 21—QUARTERBACKS
Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord (815 yards, 6 touchdowns, 1 interception) will make his fifth career start Saturday night in what will be the biggest, or at least the most hyped game of his college career so far.
Quarterback Sam Hartman has passed for 1,061 yards and 13 touchdowns without an interception for No. 9 Notre Dame (4-0). He played five years at Wake Forest and threw for 12,967 yards before entering the transfer portal.
Advantage: Notre Dame
RUNNING BACKS
TreVeyon Henderson has reminded people that when he is healthy he is a dangerous running back and Chip Trayanum has moved into the No. 2 running back role behind Henderson for No. 6 OSU (3-0).
Notre Dame's Audric Estime ran for 920 yards last season and appears to be on his way to a 1,000-yard season with 521 yards in four games.
Advantage: Ohio State
RECEIVERS
Since catching only three passes in OSU's opener at Indiana, Marvin Harrison Jr. has caught 12 passes for 286 yards and scored three touchdowns, two of them on catches of 75 yards and 71 yards, in his last two games..
After three years at Notre Dame as a running back, Chris Tyree moved to slot receiver this season. He has eight catches for 216 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Holden Staes leads the Fighting Irish with four touchdown catches.
Advantage: Ohio State
OFFENSIVE LINE
Ohio State's offensive line played its best game of the season in a 63-10 win over Western Kentucky last week, but Notre Dame will be a bigger challenge this week.
Notre Dame's left tackle Joe Alt was a first-team All-American as a sophomore last season. Center Zeke Correll is in his third year as a starter and right tackle Blake Fisher is a two-year starter.
Advantage: Notre Dame
DEFENSIVE LINE
Defensive tackle Tyleik Williams has been one of the standouts on Ohio State's defense through three games.
Former Ohio State defensive lineman Javontae Jean-Baptiste starts at one defensive end spot for Notre Dame. He has 15 tackles and two tackles for losses this season. The other end, Jordan Botelho, had 4.5 sacks in a back-up role last season.
Advantage: Ohio State
LINEBACKERS
Steele Chambers' interception in OSU's win over Western Kentucky was the fifth of his career since moving to linebacker from running back in 2021.
Linebacker Jack Bertrand, the leading tackler for Notre Dame in 2021 and 2022, did not play in a 41-17 win over Central Michigan last Saturday. No reason was given. Middle linebacker Jack Kiser is the current leader in tackles with 26.
Advantage: Ohio State
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Ohio State's has been successful in limiting explosive plays. The longest play against the Buckeyes defense this season has been 36 yards.
Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison was a Freshman All-American last season when he intercepted six passes. Cornerback Cam Hart and safety D.J. Brown both started 10 games last season.
Advantage: Ohio State
SPECIAL TEAMS
Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding is 3 for 3 on field goals but hasn't attempted one since the season opener at Indiana. Punter Jesse Mirco averages 42.8 yards per punt.
Notre Dame kicker Spencer Shrader is 3 of 6 on field goals but two of his misses were from more than 50 yards. He has hit a 54-yarder. Punter Bryce McFerson averages 48.8 yards per punt
Advantage: Notre Dame
This week
Ohio State at Notre Dame
Saturday, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Last week
Ohio State 63, Western Kentucky 10
Notre Dame 41, Central Michigan 17
Scouting report
Buckeyes: Ohio State (3-0) got the kind of game it was looking for after underperforming against Indiana and Youngstown State with its 63-10 win over Western Kentucky. The Buckeyes dominated offensively and defensively. A key stretch of the game was when OSU scored 28 points in the final eight minutes of the first half.
Fighting Irish: Quarterback Sam Hartman, a graduate transfer from Wake Forest, has thrown for 13 touchdowns, the most ever by a Notre Dame quarterback in his first four games. Audric Estime, the leading rusher for the Fighting Irish (4-0), has gained 521 yards this season.
Pre-game takeaway
This will be the first time Ohio State has played at Notre Dame since 1996. OSU has a 5-2 series edge with wins in 1995, 1996, 2006 (Fiesta Bowl), 2016 (Fiesta Bowl) and 2022. Notre Dame's wins came in 1935 and 1936 and then the two teams did not play each other again until 1995.
Recruiting update
Ohio State has the No. 1 recruiting class among all Big Ten schools for the 2024 class according to the composite rankings of 247sports.com.
The Buckeyes have five 5-star recruits in their 24-person recruiting class. No other Big Ten team has a commitment from a 5-star prospect.
Penn State is No.2, followed by Oregon, Michigan and USC to complete the top five. Nebraska, Wisconsin, Purdue, Iowa and Minnesota hold down spots 6-10.
Rutgers is No. 11, followed by Maryland, Illinois, Michigan State, Washington, UCLA, Indiana and Northwestern.
OSU is No. 2 nationally behind Georgia. Florida is No. 3, followed by Alabama, Texas A&M, Florida State, Tennessee, Oklahoma, LSU, Penn State, Oregon, Michigan, Notre Dame, Auburn and Clemson.
Georgia has nearly as many 5-star recruits as OSU with four.
Say what
"A healthy TreVeyon Henderson is scary."
— Kyle McCord
Buckeyes trivia
1. What year did NBC start showing all of Notre Dame's home games?
2. What was the first bowl game Woody Hayes coached in?
3. Where did Kyle McCord's father play college football?
4. How many touchdown passes did Marvin Harrison Jr. catch in high school?
Answers: 1. 1991; 2. Salad Bowl in 1951 at Miami (Ohio); 3. Rutgers; 4. 37.
