On Saturday afternoon, Notre Dame hit the road for the first time in over a month, heading south to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Irish overcame early adversity, surrendering a turnover and trailing at the start of the second quarter. However, for the fifth straight game, they rose to the challenge, responding with 31 unanswered points to secure a decisive 31-13 victory over the Yellow Jackets. Here are five key moments that led to the Irish improving to 6-1 on the season.
Irish offense starts slow again
The Notre Dame offense has developed a habit of starting games sluggishly as of late. The Irish were held scoreless for the first 26 minutes against Miami (Ohio), lost a fumble on the opening kickoff against Louisville to spot the Cardinals a quick 7-0 lead and didn’t get on the scoreboard against Stanford until the final minutes of the first quarter. Any hopes of that trend coming to a halt on Saturday were quickly put to bed.
After receiving the opening kickoff, the Irish were forced to punt after a quick three-and-out. After the Notre Dame defense returned the favor with a stop of its own, the Irish picked up a quick first down with a 19-yard rush from junior running back Jadarian Price on the first play of the drive but looked lethargic in the plays to follow. A Riley Leonard keeper on fourth and short resulted in a second first down of the possession, but the senior quarterback was intercepted on the ensuing play after misfiring on a downfield shot toward the end zone. All in all, the Irish finished the first quarter with just 43 yards of total offense after being unable to find an early rhythm for the fourth straight game. These offensive struggles helped the Yellow Jackets take a 7-0 advantage into the second quarter.
Pyron rolls in first quarter, Leonard responds in second
The first half was a tale of two quarters for the opposing starting quarterbacks. Georgia Tech’s Zach Pyron — filling in for injured Yellow Jackets star Haynes King — was nearly flawless in the first 15 minutes. Pyron played an efficient, mistake-free period, completing all nine of his pass attempts for 81 yards and leading Georgia Tech on a crisp seven-minute touchdown drive that gave the Yellow Jackets a 7-0 advantage entering the second. From there, however, it was a different story. After looking so sharp initially, Pyron did not even attempt another pass until the final two minutes of the half. While he did connect on a pair of passes for 37 yards during Georgia Tech’s two-minute drill, he completed just two of his five pass attempts in the quarter and the Yellow Jackets were ultimately held scoreless in the quarter.
Conversely, Leonard struggled to find any rhythm in the game’s early stages. In the first quarter, he completed two of four pass attempts for just eight yards and added an ill-advised interception that contributed to the Irish being shut out in the period. However, in the second, he seemed to pick up where Pyron had left off, posting one of his most impressive stretches of play all season. Leonard completed all 10 of his attempts — all of which went for at least eight yards — for a total of 119 passing yards in the quarter. In the red zone, he was highly effective with his legs as usual, rushing for a pair of touchdowns to boost his total to 10 on the year. Behind his impressive play — which largely continued in the second half, as he surpassed 200 passing yards for the second straight week — the Irish were able to recover from the slow first quarter to carry a 14-7 lead into halftime and would never relinquish it.
Irish run defense continues to dominate
It may have flown under the radar because it’s been what Notre Dame fans have come to expect all season, but it’s hard to overstate just how good the Irish run defense was on Saturday, especially after losing several key players to long-term injuries. Georgia Tech entered the game with the ACC’s leading rushing attack at over 200 yards per game on the ground. In their most recent outing against North Carolina, the Yellow Jackets’ run game was unstoppable, racking up an absurd 371 rushing yards and five touchdowns on nearly eight yards per attempt. On Saturday, though, they were completely and utterly smothered by Notre Dame’s front seven. In the first half, the Yellow Jackets ran for just 32 yards on 18 attempts for less than two yards per carry.
That lack of success on the ground — in addition to the fact that Georgia Tech trailed for the entire second half and needed to put up points in a hurry down the stretch — forced it to become mostly one-dimensional in the later stages of the game and primarily throw the ball, where it found success downfield at times. However, the Notre Dame run defense never let up. The Yellow Jackets finished the game with 29 carries for just 64 yards — over 300 fewer than their previous outing — as Notre Dame's ability to stifle Georgia Tech’s usually dominant rushing attack kept them from ever finding an offensive rhythm.
Special teams provides key boost
Notre Dame has been great in a lot of areas this season, but special teams has not often been one of them. On Saturday, though, it was hard to keep up with the frequent game-changing special teams plays, most of which went in favor of the Irish. At the end of the first half, Georgia Tech had a field goal attempt that could have trimmed Notre Dame’s halftime advantage to 14-10 but could not handle the snap and came up empty on the possession. In the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets worked their way into Irish territory for another field goal attempt, but this time, it was blocked by freshman defensive lineman Bryce Young, again keeping Georgia Tech off the scoreboard.
On the other side of the ball, Notre Dame special teams coordinator Marty Biagi dug deep into his bag of tricks in an effort to give the Irish any extra possessions they could find. In the fourth quarter, on fourth and eight, Notre Dame dialed up a fake punt in the form of a double reverse that ended up with the ball in the hands of sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love, who picked up 14 yards and a first down. Later in the quarter, the Irish turned to an unexpected source for a fake field goal, as graduate student wide receiver — and former starting quarterback — Tyler Buchner came in as a holder for his first playing time of the entire season and ran four yards for a first down. Additionally, the state of the Irish kicking game was in question with graduate student starter Mitch Jeter out with an injury. Late in the game, with Notre Dame leading 21-7 and needing three points to stretch the advantage to three possessions and effectively clinch the win, the Irish turned to junior Zac Yoakam, who calmly drilled the first field goal of his career from 42 yards out. Special teams play can often shift the outcome of a game, and the Irish were bolstered by a season-best performance from that unit on Saturday.
Shuler, Watts seal the victory with interceptions
While the Notre Dame run defense was dominant throughout the game, the same could not be said for the secondary, which struggled to slow down Georgia Tech’s Pyron during his 9-9 first quarter and ceded several long downfield completions. However, the unit stepped up to make key plays when it mattered most. Early in the fourth quarter, with the Yellow Jackets looking to chip away at their 14-point deficit, graduate safety Xavier Watts — who seems to find the ball in his hands in almost every game — recorded his third interception of the season. Later in the quarter, sophomore safety Adon Shuler picked off a Pyron pass and took it 36 yards to the end zone to put Notre Dame ahead 31-7 and cap off an impressive road win in style.
This was a trying week for the Irish secondary, which found out that it would be without All-American junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison for the remainder of the season due to injury. While the unit was far from perfect on Saturday, its strong fourth-quarter performance, which extinguished any chance of a Georgia Tech comeback, demonstrated that they still possess the key components to contribute to a Notre Dame defense that consistently ranks among the nation’s best.
