Notre Dame Football

A relentless rushing attack, a dominant defense and sensational special teams propelled unranked Notre Dame to a 35-14 win over No. 4 Clemson on Saturday evening.

The Fighting Irish rushed for 263 yards and two touchdowns. Logan Diggs (114 yards) and Audric Estimé (104) led the way for Notre Dame, who possessed the ball for 33 minutes thanks to their efforts.

The defense shut Clemson out for nearly 50 minutes before the Tigers scored the first of their two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Benjamin Morrison also registered two interceptions, including a 96-yard pick-six that gave Notre Dame a 27-0 lead.

And the Fighting Irish got the ball rolling thanks to a Jordan Botelho blocked punt, which Prince Kollie returned for a 17-yard touchdown.

Clemson didn't play particularly well in either of its last two games, a 34-28 win over Florida State and a 27-21 victory against Syracuse. This time around, the Fighting Irish put their foot on the gas early and never looked back as the Tigers struggled from start to finish.

The loss all but assures that Clemson will not be participating in the College Football Playoff this year, and Twitter gave credit to Notre Dame for its big win over a team that many believed should not have been top four.

Both teams will play Saturday. Clemson will host Louisville, while Notre Dame will welcome Navy to South Bend.

Notre Dame college football fell to 3-3 this season after losing at home to Stanford 16-14 on Saturday evening.

This defeat serves as the nadir of a bitterly disappointing season for Notre Dame.

The Cardinal had struggled mightily against FBS competition before traveling to South Bend, as Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic noted:

However, this season has simply been a disaster for Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman, who is in his first full year as the team's head coach after being promoted from the defensive coordinator role at the end of last season. The offense, in particular, has struggled (94th out of 131 FBS teams in points per game entering Saturday).

Notre Dame lost 21-10 to then-No. 2 Ohio State to start the season before falling to Marshall 26-21 at home. The Fighting Irish then struggled to beat Cal for its first win of the season.

The offense came to life in a 45-32 win over UNC and a 28-20 victory against then-No. 16 BYU, but it shut down against a Stanford team that allowed 154 points over its last four games, all losses.

Freeman is only seven games into his tenure (including last year's Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State), and he obviously deserves more time, especially after Brian Kelly abruptly left the team for LSU.

At the same time, Notre Dame entered this game with 10 or more victories in each of its past five years, including two College Football Playoff appearances. Notre Dame would have to win out (including a bowl game) just to get to 10 wins this year, but the schedule isn't going to get easier with three Top 25 teams (USC, Clemson and Syracuse) on the ledger.

For now, Freeman is under fire, and Twitter provided its postgame thoughts.

Notre Dame will look to bounce back when it hosts UNLV on Saturday.

The unranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish upset the No. 16 BYU Cougars 28-20 on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to improve to 3-2 on the season, and it was a particularly impressive evening for quarterback Drew Pyne and tight end Michael Mayer.

Pyne, who is starting in place of Tyler Buchner, who is expected to miss four months after undergoing shoulder surgery, completed 22-of-28 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns against one interception.

Mayer, one of the top tight ends in the nation, caught 11 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. He became Notre Dame's all-time catch leader for tight ends with 141 receptions.

The combination of Pyne and Mayer drew instant praise on Twitter during and after Notre Dame's big win:

If one thing is clear, it's that Pyne and Mayer will continue to have a significant impact for Notre Dame this season.

The Fighting Irish have now won three consecutive games and will hope to improve to 4-2 with a win over Stanford next weekend.

Head coach Marcus Freeman looks to have turned things around at Notre Dame after Saturday's 45-32 victory over North Carolina.

The Fighting Irish have now won back-to-back games following their 0-2 start. This was their best offensive performance so far, putting up season highs in points, total yards (576), passing yards (289) and rushing yards (287).

Quarterback Drew Pyne has looked good since getting chewed out by offensive coordinator Tommy Rees in the first quarter of last week's game against California. The sophomore went 24-of-34 and set career highs with 289 yards passing and three touchdowns.

After going scoreless and racking up 25 yards on their first two drives combined, Pyne led the Irish to scores on six consecutive possessions to open up a 38-14 lead early in the third quarter.

Pyne had four completions of at least 20 yards against the Tar Heels. He and Tyler Buchner combined for nine such completions in the first three games of the season.

It's been encouraging to see Notre Dame's offense rebound from a brutal stretch to begin the season. It started with a rough showing in a 21-10 loss against Ohio State that was on prime-time national television.

Things bottomed out one week later with a 26-21 loss to Marshall in the Fighting Irish's home opener. The defeat snapped the program's 42-game winning streak against opponents unranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

It made Freeman the first head coach in program history to lose his first three games. He served as interim head coach for Notre Dame's 37-35 loss to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Since the second quarter of last week's win over Cal, Notre Dame has put up 69 points in its last seven quarters of football. Beating North Carolina won't go down as a marquee moment for the Fighting Irish, but it could end up serving as a crucial turning point for the team.

Next up for Notre Dame is a matchup with No. 19 BYU on Oct. 8 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Marcus Freeman is finally in the win column as Notre Dame's head coach after the Fighting Irish earned a 24-17 victory over California on Saturday in South Bend, Indiana.

Drew Pyne hit Michael Mayer on a six-yard touchdown pass to put Notre Dame ahead 24-17 with 9:16 left in the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for Freeman, his team's performance won't help to get the skeptics off his back.

The logic behind promoting Freeman to the top job was sound. The 36-year-old was a high-level assistant on the rise and poised to get a head coaching opportunity somewhere in the near future. Given his age, he can lead a program for a decade or more and provide a lot of long-term stability as well.

But the extent of Freeman's learning curve was clearly underestimated.

Freeman's defensive influence was evident toward the end, though. Isaiah Foskey in particular wreaked havoc on the Cal offensive line in the fourth quarter.

Things don't get much easier for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish hit the road to play 3-0 North Carolina, which has had a week off to prepare. From there, they have a date with 12th-ranked BYU on Oct. 8 in Las Vegas.

Maybe Saturday represents a turning point. Freeman will certainly hope so.

Manti Te'o returned to South Bend, Indiana, on Saturday ahead of Notre Dame's clash with California.

The 31-year-old had a legendary career with the Fighting Irish. He won the Maxwell Award and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up as a senior in 2012, when Notre Dame went unbeaten during the regular season and reached the national title game.

Te'o's return comes as Notre Dame is looking to rebound from an 0-2 start. With last week's 26-21 defeat to Marshall, Marcus Freeman became the first head coach in program history to lose his first three games in charge.

Te'o did what he could to rally the fans Saturday afternoon.

"There is a reason we’re the Fighting Irish," he said to the crowd, per On3's Tyler Horka. "We’ll fight you anywhere. We’ll fight you in there, we’ll fight you on the road, we’ll fight you in the parking lot. Turf, snow, rain—it doesn’t matter. We’ll fight you for four quarters. Now we’re going to get the job done. Remember that language, boys. Stay fluent in it. Go Irish!"

As much as he did on the field, off-field drama ultimately cast a shadow over Te'o's college career.

Deadspin's Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey reported in January 2013 the woman Te'o thought he had been dating, Lennay Kekua, didn't exist and was part of an elaborate catfishing scheme. Kekua's "death," which came shortly after his grandmother died, had served as a source of inspiration across his senior year.

The revelation of Kekua's true form was the biggest story in sports at the time, and it has received renewed attention after it was the subject of focus in Netflix's Untold series.

After leaving Notre Dame, Te'o was a second-round pick of the then-San Diego Chargers in the 2013 NFL draft. He spent eight seasons in the league and appeared in 62 games.

The Hawai‘i native became a defensive captain for the Chargers, but his pro career never fully recovered after he tore his Achilles tendon in 2016.

Marcus Freeman's first season as Notre Dame head coach is shaping up to be a long one.

Freeman announced Monday that quarterback Tyler Buchner suffered an AC sprain to his non-throwing shoulder and is expected to miss four months. Buchner is slated for surgery Tuesday.

The sophomore was injured late in Saturday's loss to Marshall and replaced by Drew Pyne, who will likely take over under center for the remainder of the 2022 season. Pine struggled in his limited action against Marshall, throwing for 20 yards and a touchdown against an interception as Notre Dame tried to fight its way back into the game.

Freeman's team is off to the program's first 0-2 start since 2011 after back-to-back losses to Ohio State and Marshall. Brian Kelly's replacement has lost each of his first three games as a head coach dating back to last year's Fiesta Bowl.

Notre Dame had just one losing record in Kelly's 12 seasons at the helm; no first-year head coach has finished below .500 in his first year with the program since Lou Holtz in 1986. After beginning the year as the fifth-ranked team in the country, the Irish have fallen out of the Top 25.

This Notre Dame roster is not stacked at quarterback. Pyne has thrown only 39 passes in his college career, and the team's new backups are freshman Steve Angeli and sophomore Ron Powlus III, who have taken a combined zero collegiate snaps.

If Freeman turns things around this season, it'll likely be due to his work on the defensive side of the ball.

The No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish were upset by unranked Marshall 26-21 on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, and head coach Marcus Freeman is taking the blame for the team's 0-2 start to the season.

"We have to look at ourselves as individuals, the whole team, starting with the head coach on down, and say, 'What do I have to do?' 'What do we have to do to fix the issues?'" Freeman told reporters after the loss. "We have to look at the lack of execution in all phases of our team."

He added: "This is an evaluation of everything we're doing. It starts with me, it starts with me as a head coach."

Freeman, who took over after Brian Kelly was hired as head coach of the LSU Tigers at the end of last season, is the first Notre Dame head coach to lose his first three games.

The Fighting Irish lost his coaching debut in the Fiesta Bowl last season, which was a 37-35 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, and also lost their 2022 season opener last weekend against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

After using a limited playbook against Ohio State, Freeman opened it up a little more against Marshall, but the offense still failed to find much success.

Quarterback Tyler Buchner completed just 18 of 32 passes for 201 yards and two interceptions. He also led Notre Dame on the ground with 13 carries for 44 yards and two scores.

The Fighting Irish held a 15-12 lead over the Thundering Herd early in the fourth quarter, but Marshall went up 19-15 with a little more than five minutes remaining in the game when quarterback Henry Colombi connected with Devin Miller for a three-yard score.

Marshall put the game just out of reach when Steven Gilmore returned a Buchner interception for a touchdown to extend the Thundering Herd's lead to 26-15.

Drew Pyne replaced Buchner after the pick six, but he tossed an interception on the next drive, which allowed Marshall to run down the clock even further. After the Thundering Herd punted, Pyne led the team on a touchdown drive, but it was too little, too late for the Fighting Irish.

The season won't get any easier for Notre Dame, which will fall even further in the AP Top 25 poll after starting the season ranked No. 5 in the nation. The Fighting Irish are set to face California, North Carolina and BYU over the next three weeks.

The No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish dropped to 0-2 on the season with a 26-21 loss to the unranked Marshall Thundering Herd on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

It's been a tough start to the season for the Fighting Irish under first-year head coach Marcus Freeman, who previously served as the program's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Freeman also served as the team's interim coach for the Fiesta Bowl (a 37-35 loss to Oklahoma State) last season after Brian Kelly took the LSU job. As he has yet to record a win as the team's head coach, Freeman has made some unfortunate history:

For Marshall, this is its first win over a top-10 ranked opponent since 2003 when they defeated Kansas State, per Adam Silverstein of CBS Sports. Notre Dame entered Saturday with a 42-game win streak against unranked teams, per The Athletic's Matt Brown.

Both Marshall and Notre Dame were held scoreless through the first quarter.

The Thundering Herd broke through first in the second quarter on a four-yard rushing touchdown from running back Khalan Laborn. However, Rece Verhoff missed the extra-point attempt, leaving Marshall with a 6-0 lead.

Notre Dame didn't respond until quarterback Tyler Buchner rushed in for a one-yard touchdown with three minutes remaining in the second quarter. Blake Grupe made the extra point to give the Fighting Irish a 7-6 lead.

However, Marshall ended the half with a field goal to take a 9-7 lead to the locker room.

The Thundering Herd added another three points on a field goal on their second drive of the second half, and the Fighting Irish didn't respond until early in the fourth quarter on another rushing score from Buchner, who also converted a two-point attempt to put Notre Dame up 15-12.

From there, everything went down hill for the Fighting Irish.

Marshall quarterback Henry Colombi found Devin Miller for a three-yard touchdown pass to give the Thundering Herd a 19-15 lead, which they would not give up, with about five minutes remaining in the game.

Not even one minute later, Buchner threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Marshall's Steven Gilmore to give the Thundering Herd a 26-15 lead.

Drew Pyne replaced Buchner after the pick-six, but he then threw an interception to Marshall's Owen Porter.

After the Thundering Herd punted on the ensuing drive, Pyne connected with Michael Mayer for a five-yard score to cut Marshall's lead to 26-21. However, it was too little, too late, for the team that began the season ranked fifth in the AP Top 25 poll.

Buchner finished the game having completed 18 of 32 passes for 201 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. He also led the team in the running game, having rushed for 44 yards and two scores.

Pyne completed three of six passes for 20 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Mayer led all receivers with eight catches for 103 yards and a touchdown.

If Notre Dame's struggles continue into Week 3, changes could be coming. They'll face another tough opponent in California on Sept. 17 before a matchup against North Carolina on Sept. 24.