Opponent scout: A quick look at Notre Dame ahead of the Gator Bowl

After hours of sitting on the edge of their seats, Shane Beamer and his Gamecocks finally figured out its bowl game matchup on Sunday. 

No. 19 South Carolina will head to Jacksonville on Dec. 30 to take on the No. 21 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Gator Bowl.

Both teams come into the matchup with 8-4 records. Notre Dame lost its final game of the season two weeks ago to Southern California.

This will be the fifth ever matchup between the two schools – and the first since 1984. Notre Dame leads the all time series 3-1 but South Carolina won the last matchup in South Bend. 

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Here’s a quick scouting report of the Gamecocks’ final opponent of the season:

SEASON REVIEW

Expectations around Notre Dame before this season varied. The Fighting Irish lost head coach Brian Kelly to LSU after 12 seasons and promoted then-defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to head coach. 

Freeman and Notre Dame started the year out at No. 5 but appeared bound for a rebuilding year, dropping its first two games to Ohio State on the road and Marshall at home and disappearing from the AP Poll. 

Notre Dame rattled off three straight wins after those losses, including one against then-No. 16 BYU. 

That positive momentum disappeared as fast as it was created when the Irish dropped a shocking loss to Stanford at home. 

Notre Dame responded with five straight wins, including back-to-back wins over top 25 teams in Syracuse and Clemson. 

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The 35-14 win over Clemson got the Irish back into the AP Poll rankings for the first time since week one and they’ve been in the bottom half ever since, even after their season concluded with a loss to Southern Cal. 

KEY PLAYERS ON OFFENSE

The running joke in recent years is that South Carolina needs to throw to the tight end as often as possible. 

Notre Dame takes that to heart – and rightfully so. 

Junior tight end Michael Mayer is the teams leading receiver with 67 catches for 809 yards. The second-leading receiver for Notre Dame has 30 fewer catches and 469 less yards than Mayer does.

Mayer – commonly known as Baby Gronk amongst Notre Dame fans – was an ESPN mid-season All-American and was named to Pro Football Focus’ first-team All-American team last week. 

On top of the threat of Mayer, the Irish also has a one-two punch in the backfield. 

Sophomore running backs Audric Estimé and Logan Diggs have been electric all year, combining for 14 touchdowns this year. Estimé leads Notre Dame with 825 rushing yards and 5.81 yards per carry while Diggs is second in rushing with 732 yards and 4.82 yards per carry.

The Irish will have a question mark at the quarterback position coming into the bowl game though. 

Drew Pyne started 10 games for Notre Dame this season after sophomore Tyler Buchner went down with an injury during a loss to Marshall. 

Pyne was 8-2 in those games and threw for 2,021 yards along with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions.

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After Notre Dame’s loss to Southern Cal, Pyne entered the transfer portal. Multiple reports have said Buchner could be ready to return under center. If not, Notre Dame would likely turn to freshman Steve Angeli. 

KEY PLAYERS ON DEFENSE

Notre Dame’s defense hasn’t been world moving but it has been consistent. 

PFF has the Irish defense at No. 39 in the entire country with a grade of 85.5. Notre Dame allows 5.17 yards per play, which is No. 33 in the nation. 

The Irish allowed just under 22 points per game but showed signs of greatness when they held Clemson to 14 points and shut out Boston College. 

JD Bertrand, Jack Kiser and Marist Liufau are all names to look out for in the linebacker core for Notre Dame. The three have combined for 179 tackles this season alone. 

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Notre Dame also has one of the better young cornerbacks in the entire country on its roster. Benjamin Morrison is tied for No. in all of college football with five interceptions. Morrison has the second-highest defensive grade of any member of the Notre Dame defense with at least 50 snaps, per PFF. 

He was also recently named to PFF’s freshman All-American team. 

Senior defensive end Isaiah Foskey is also a name to look out for. Foskey is fourth in the country in sacks and just finished up his second straight season with 11 sacks. 

Foskey recently broke Notre Dame’s school record for career sacks – he currently has 26.5 of them.

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