UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

No stat is perfect, but points win games not yards.

The Irish seem to find a way to score no matter who they play, and are playing complementary football. QB runs aren't damned pretty, but they are pretty damned effective, especially as the game wears on and the defense gets tired. While ND didn't light up the stat board on offense vs UGA, that is somewhat to be expected. They started their TD drive (or play, as it were) inside the 15, and had a KO for a touchdown. Once they were up 20 - 3 against a new starting QB, it made sense to grind out plays and not make mistakes (turnover margin 2nd nationally at +1.3 per game). The worst thing that could have happened in the second half was a turnover to let UGA back in the game. Instead, it was a slow choke hold squeezing the hope out of every UGA drive. All but 1 of ND's 2nd half drives were 3:50 or longer, while for UGA all but 1 was <3 minutes. When you're up by 3 scores, you trade eating time vs scoring points without being too conservative. That very aggressive 4th down switch from a punt to a throw was textbook complementary football without playing scared.

ND should have scored at least one more time if not for uncharacteristic drive-killing penalties. I expect that to be cleaned up.

Right now ESPN analytics has ND with the highest odds of winning the NC (29.2%) - this is skewed by Texas (27%)/Ohio State (28.3%) Game. Ohio State would probably be favored against ND by a touchdown. Texas might be favored vs Irish if they win vs Ohio State.