Scarlet Sunrise: Notre Dame planning on more aggressive approach this year versus Ohio State

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Notre Dame planning on more aggressive approach this year versus Ohio State

Marcus Freeman admitted it Monday: He played it safe in last year’s season opener against Ohio State. The current Notre Dame frontman — and former Buckeyes grad assistant and accomplished linebacker — was leading the Fighting Irish in his first game as full-time head coach.

Without continuity or star-level talent at the quarterback position, and really an offensive identity, Notre Dame ran the ball 30-of-48 plays while trying to chew as much clock as possible.

The Irish mustered only 76 yards on the ground, and Notre Dame was outgained, 395-253, in total yards under the lights of Ohio Stadium. But, even so, the Irish held onto the ball for close to 27 minutes and held their own defensively, limiting the Buckeyes to just 14 points through three quarters.

The effort kept Freeman’s team in the top-five matchup most of the night. It wasn’t enough to upset Ohio State on the road, though — not after wide receiver Xavier Johnson heroically filled in for the injured Jaxon Smith-Njigba and scored the game-winning touchdown for the Buckeyes.

But Notre Dame, 4-0 and No. 9 so far in 2023, will be taking a different offensive approach when the teams meet this year, Freeman said Monday.

“I thought Coach [Al] Golden and the defensive staff had a great game plan last year and really did a good job of executing it for the first game of the year, trying to figure out who we were defensively,” he said. “Yeah, and part of the mindset going into that game was control the ball as long as we could, right? Limit their offensive possessions. It’s still got to be complementary football as we go into this Saturday.

“But I don’t want to play not to lose. I don’t want to play that way. I want our guys to be aggressive and our guys to be attacking. We will play complementary football. But our objective isn’t just to hold the ball and huddle every single play, kind of what my mindset probably was last year.”

It helps that the Irish have more confidence in their quarterback situation. Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman is a Heisman Trophy candidate through four weeks, after all, with 1,061 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions.

And, more importantly, the Irish — led by running back Audric Estimé and his 521 rushing yards — actually have an offensive identity. They want to run the football in their 12-personnel-heavy, pro-style system to set up Hartman and the play-action pass.

“Going into last season,” Freeman said, “you had some questions on really what was our identity — this was Game 1, right — what was our identity on offense? Similar to this year, Game 1, you don’t know until you face an opponent. But we know what we can do offensively after four games. And we’re not going to go rapid speed. I don’t want to go up tempo and go as fast as we can. It’s complementary football.

“And so the ability for our defense, what we want to do is make sure that we limit the big plays. We want them to have to truly drive down the field and we limit those big plays. And offensively, we want to have success. We’re not going to go throw deep balls every play. Like, it’s complementary football — we still want to win time of possession and those type of things that really factor into your success. But the mindset is different because you know more about your team this year than you did last year for Game 1.”

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Three Storylines to track as Buckeyes gear up for Notre Dame showdown

The highly-anticipated showdown between No. 6 Ohio State and No. 9 Notre Dame is less than a week away. “College GameDay” will be in South Bend for a rematch of last year’s heavyweight season opener.

Notre Dame is in a very different spot this time around, having settled in under head coach Marcus Freeman. Ohio State, meanwhile, has a new starting quarterback and three new starting offensive linemen but also an improved, so far at least, defense.

With four days until kickoff, Lettermen Row is breaking down three big storylines to track this week ahead of the marquee matchup.

Check it out here.

‘That was a good week of work’: Ohio State aiming to replicate practice intensity ahead of Notre Dame

Ohio State had its best week of practice this season leading up to its 63-10 blowout of Western Kentucky in Week 3.

The Buckeyes want to replicate their practice intensity this week with their Notre Dame trip on the horizon.

“Having a game like this I think will give all the guys a little boost of confidence going into the game next week,” quarterback Kyle McCord said. “I think the biggest thing is just continuing to ramp up that intensity in practice. Because we know what it’s going to be next week in South Bend. It’s a really good team in a tough environment.”

For the full story, go here.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Notre Dame: 4 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 67 days

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