Many different outcomes to this game seemed perfectly reasonable heading into it. However, I’m not sure anyone saw a Notre Dame blowout and beat down of the reigning Heisman winner coming, especially when considering what a hard journey the last month has been for the team.
Marcus Freeman needed this win. The players needed this win, and the fans needed this win. Quite frankly, Notre Dame needed this win. It felt as though whatever amount of energy jolt the team couldn’t dip into last week for whatever reason was carried over into this week tenfold. Never a dull moment with Notre Dame, that’s for sure.
There’s nothing that could be done in this game that could rewrite the final scores of the Louisville and Ohio State games. A Cardinals team that lost to Pitt by the way. The only thing the Irish could do to get back on track in every practical and perceptual way one could imagine was to win this game. And, boy, did they, in a very Clemson 2022-ish type fashion.
Let’s examine a few key areas from this mega bounce-back performance.