Leftovers & Links: Notre Dame's top priority this week to not let Ohio State beat it twice, as it did in 2022

“I challenged the leaders, I challenged them because right now is going to be a difficult time. Two situations are going to happen. There are going to be people that are saying you aren’t good enough, you guys aren’t good enough. (And) there are going to be people saying, you guys did your job.

“Neither of those things can creep into our program. We have to stay together, look internally to say what do we have to do to prevent this?”

Those were Marcus Freeman’s thoughts after Notre Dame lost to Marshall last year, falling in his home debut as the Irish head coach and stumbling to 0-2 to start the season. Before long, perhaps by the end of that night, the general consensus was Notre Dame had not mentally bounced back from its 21-10 loss to No. 2 Ohio State in the season opener. The Buckeyes had effectively beaten the Irish twice, a Sunday morning flight delay not exactly helping Freeman’s cause.

More than anything else, avoiding that mistake again will determine Notre Dame’s 2023. And No. 17 Duke (4-0) is a much stiffer test than the Thundering Herd was ever expected to be no matter how underrated Marshall’s trenches play was in retrospect. To quantify that difference, the Irish were favored by 20 points against the Herd; right now they are 5.5-point favorites on this trip to Wallace Wade Stadium.

That may help No. 11 Notre Dame (4-1) focus, quite frankly.

Freeman spoke with the Irish captains and some other team leaders on Sunday, before the team even gathered for film study or practice. The coaching staff began working through its internal frustrations on Sunday, as well, and Freeman acknowledged last season’s greatest worries after the loss to Marshall.

“I told the coaching staff this yesterday — last year, you lose to Ohio State and then you lose to Marshall, you don’t know if you’re ever going to win,” Freeman said Monday. “... Last year, what was going on in my mind was all over the place. I know we have a high ceiling as a football team, and it’s our jobs as coaches to get our players to perform as close to that ceiling as we can.”

That ceiling may be a touch more attainable — and yes, this is an intangible thought — with the top-20 tilt slated for 7:30 ET on ABC, emphasized by ESPN’s College GameDay making its first ever trip to Durham. If Notre Dame was going to overlook Duke, a primetime broadcast widely considered to be the biggest game of the week should dissuade that mental drift.

20 POINTS
Ohio State had scored at least 20 points in 74 straight games, dating back to a loss to No. 3 Oklahoma in September of 2017 before this past weekend. Even just holding the Buckeyes to fewer than 30 points has been a relative rarity, occurring just seven times in the regular season in that stretch, including that 21-10 win against the Irish last year. Ohio State lost five of the other six such games, as may have been expected entering this weekend if knowing the Buckeyes would fall short of 30 points, let alone 20 points.

“If you would have told me going into that game we would have had zero three-and-outs, zero sacks (allowed), zero turnovers, zero drops, zero penalties and run for 176 yards, and not win, I would have said no way,” Freeman said. “When you have three series that end on their side of the field and we get zero points out of it, that’s the reality of it. We have to finish those drives with points.”

Those other five games could all be summed up with one sentence without even consulting their box scores.

2017: Ohio State scored only 24 points at Iowa, all that really needs to be said is, “at Iowa.”
2018: The Buckeyes defense was so on its heels at Purdue, its offense could not keep up with Boilermakers receiver Rondale Moore’s highlights, thus scoring just 20 points.
2021: No. 12 Oregon held Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud to 28 points in his first career start of note; Michigan turned the Big Ten on its head with a 42-27 physical walloping of the Buckeyes.
2022: Notre Dame ground down the game to a crawl, intentionally keeping Ohio State to 21 points; excessive winds coming from Lake Michigan turned the Buckeyes trip to Northwestern into a 21-point debacle, though winning 21-7; Michigan doubled down on its 2021 statement with a 45-23 demolition of the Buckeyes.

INSIDE THE IRISH
— Things We Learned: In the past, Notre Dame was close. Now, the Irish might already be there.
— Ohio State-Notre Dame was ‘football at its best’— Highlights: No. 6 Ohio State 17, No. 9 Notre Dame 14 — A play-by-play breakdown of the 10-man Irish gaffe
— One play, one second, one inch between Notre Dame and an upset of No. 6 Ohio State

OUTSIDE READING
— Marcus Freeman sets tone as Irish move on from Saturday gut punch
— LSU and Notre Dame are facing questions. They can both blame Alabama.
— Ohio State not tough? Ryan Day fights back after win over Irish: ‘That ends tonight’
— Ohio State-Notre Dame thriller is NBC’s most watched regular-season college football game since 1993 “Game of the Century”
— Ohio State, Ryan Day send message with gritty win over Notre Dame
— After Ohio State loss, will Irish fans start asking themselves the tough questions?
— NCAA committee suggests removing cannabis from list of banned drugs

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