Irish Beat Miami-Ohio; Freeman: “It wasn’t pretty.”

Source: Icon Sportswire / Getty

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Notre Dame Fighting Irish clawed their way to a victory on Saturday against their second opponent out of the Mid-America Conference in three weeks in the Redhawks of Miami-Ohio.

Outwardly, the 28-3 result may seem ‘impressive’, but the performance by the Irish turned in in front of a packed house inside Notre Dame Stadium left many of the Irish faith wanting, especially given the result of their previous home game.

“I’m proud of the way our guys competed, but it wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t clean,” said Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. “Still, that’s a good football team. It’s huge that our defense was able to hold them to three points.”

It was the defense that was the dominant factor for the Irish. They were able to get things back on track after things got off the rails early in the 1st quarter. The Irish defense having held the Redhawks to 4th down and punt, the Irish special teams muffed the punt and Miami-Ohio recovered it in the Irish red zone. The luck of the Irish came calling in that moment as two plays later, linebacker Junior Tuihalamaka came up with an interception off a tipped pass from Redhawks quarterback Brett Gabbert.

However, the turnover failed to add substance to what has been an anemic Irish offense so far this season. The Irish were held to a punt and a turnover on downs, in field goal range, and another punt on their first two drives.

The bright spot for the offense, as it has been all season, has been running the football. Quarterback Riley Leonard did a lot of that throughout the game. After going down 3-0 midway through the 2nd quarter, Leonard engineered a 10-p-lay, 87-yard drive for Notre Dame’s first touchdown of the game, an 8-yard scamper by Leonard into the end zone, his fifth rushing score of the season.

“We have a lot of confidence in him to make the right decision in the run game and the pass game,” Freeman said. “I don’t think we design plays and say ‘this one is going to go for 50 (yards)’. Leonard has the ability, if he makes you miss a tackle he’ll make you pay.”

The Irish would score again before the end of the half on a 38-yard strike to Beaux Collins for a touchdown. The play marked Leonard’s first passing touchdown of the season.

Starting the second half with the ball, Notre Dame appeared to be over the ugliness of the 1st quarter. If you had spoken that out loud at that point in the game, you would have spoken too soon. Leonard kept on the ground again on the sixth play of what had been a surgical drive upfield. It turned out to be his longest run of the day. It also ended with the Redhawk defense making a play on the ball forcing a fumble which was recovered by Miami-Ohio linebacker Luke Evans.

The play was met with a palpable groan from the home fans, some of whom have been left wanting of Leonard’s performance so far as quarterback.

“We don’t make decisions based off what the sentiment of the stadium is,” Freeman said. “There’s obviously parts to clean up and we’ve got to continue to look at the mistakes that he’s made and say ‘How do we put him in a better position not to make mistakes?’. but, we have confidence in our quarterback and he led us to a great victory today.”

Thankfully, the Irish were again able to lean on the defense who by the game’s end had forced four turnovers and held the Redhawk offense to an average of just three yards per play.

Leonard, to his credit, shook off the turnover and was able to get some semblance of a consistent passing game going on Notre Dame’s next scoring drive late in the 3rd quarter. It was capped off by a Jeremiyah Love rushing touchdown. Leonard did the honors himself on their final scoring drive in the 4th quarter sprinting 50 yards to the house on a beautifully executed running play.

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Having been down early, Notre Dame persevered to score 28 unanswered to take their third victory of the season. Leonard finished with a team-high 143 yards rushing coupled with two touchdowns. He was 16-of-25 through the air for 154 yards and a touchdown.

To Coach Freeman’s earlier observation of the match-up, “It wasn’t pretty.” With that in mind, he urges the Notre Dame faith to keep the team, the season, and Leonard in perspective.

“We can’t perform to please, to make sure everyone cheers for it,” he said. “That’s part of the game. If you don’t do your job people are going to boo you. But, if you let that affect you and how you go out on the next play then you are not the right person for this job.”

The Irish will have a chance to rise to that assertion in a week when they face the Louisville Cardinals at home.