Tag: Central Michigan

FIW Exclusive: Interview with Notre Dame commit Cam Williams, Part III

Hear from one of Notre Dame’s top 2024 commits.

[autotag]Cam Williams[/autotag] is a four-star receiver commit in Notre Dame’s 2024 recruiting class. He is the state of Illinois’ second-best recruit in that class according to 247Sports. He also happens to attend Glenbard South in Glen Ellyn, my alma mater. To say the least, it’s been great to have him represent the same school community I once did as a student and continue to do as an alumnus.

I had the opportunity to see him play his most recent game, and he scored two touchdowns. One of them came on this 62-yard run that I captured myself from the top of the bleachers. This run is a perfect indication that he once was a running back:

I had a chance to speak with Williams after the game, making this the third time he has spoken with this site. I did it once last year, and our own Michael Chen did the other interview not long before. Here’s what what he to say:

How social media reacted to Notre Dame-Central Michigan: Irish side

We know you enjoyed the outcome.

Notre Dame’s game against Central Michigan was an appetizer for the one against Ohio State, and everyone knew it. There wasn’t a lot of overall interest in this game, and the fact that it was streamed on Peacock instead of broadcast on NBC is evidence of that. Still, ghe Irish will be happy with the 41-17 victory. At 4-0, they now have all the momentum they need ahead of welcoming the Buckeyes to South Bend.

Irish fans might not have been entirely happy with how their team played the Chippewas. The lead at halftime was only seven with two touchdowns having been allowed. Still, the fact that the Irish allowed only a field goal in the second half showed their ability to regroup when things got tough. They also did this in the win over NC State.

The win brought out the reaction tweets, and here are some of the best ones:

Notre Dame beats Central Michigan: Quick Summary

4-0!

It wasn’t the most inspiring of performances but it was enough to get the job done and move to 4-0 on the season for Notre Dame on Saturday as the Irish outlasted Central Michigan 41-17.

Big plays told the story offensively for Notre Dame as Tobias Merriweather scored a 75-yard touchdown reception from Sam Hartman on the first Irish drive.  Before halftime, Chris Tyree would add a 76-yard touchdown reception as well.

However, self-inflicted issues kept Notre Dame from running away, along with inspired play by Central Michigan.  Penalties remained an issue for the Irish, as did an enormous amount of missed tackles and failures to execute offensively.

With all that said, Notre Dame was in control throughout, even while dealing with some frustrations.

Stay tuned to Fighting Irish Wire for complete postgame coverage as it is now Ohio State week!

In the meantime, check out a few photos from Notre Dame’s 41-17 victory over Central Michigan below.

Hidden plays that helped Notre Dame football defeat Central Michigan

Which of the smaller plays stood out in Notre Dame’s win over Central Michigan

[autotag]Notre Dame Football[/autotag] improved to 4-0 on the 2023 season, defeating [autotag]Central Michigan[/autotag] in South Bend by a score of 41-17.

The Irish once again put up a ton of points, while allowing much less and cruising to a victory. It wasn’t just a bunch of touchdowns and turnovers that helped Notre Dame get the win, there were some smaller plays that made a big different in the long run.

Let’s take a look at some of those plays, five of them, that in my eyes made the difference, even though they will not show up on highlight shows when we look back at this contest.

Social media reacts to Holden Staes’ fourth-quarter touchdown

Exclamation point.

Even with the outcome most likely decided, Notre Dame continued to press against Central Michigan. [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] had hit a lot of receivers over the course of the game, but one he hadn’t was tight end [autotag]Holden Staes[/autotag]. That changed in the fourth quarter. Hartman hit Staes for a 4-yard touchdown, his first reception of the game, and any remaining doubts that the Irish would win were gone:

Not only did the touchdown extend the Irish’s lead further, but it set a program record. Dating to last season’s Gator Bowl, the Irish now have scored at least 40 points in five straight games. That’s the first such streak in 136 years of Notre Dame football. Everyone who has made this possible should feel very proud.

We will have more about the Irish’s 41-17 victory in other posts, but for our purposes here, let’s purely focus on social media reactions to Staes’ late touchdown:

5-stars: The best and worst of Notre Dame’s win over Central Michigan

Who did well? Who didn’t in Notre Dame’s win over Central Michigan

[autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] has defeated [autotag]Central Michigan[/autotag] 41-17 and improved to 4-0 on the young 2023 season.

The Irish have been scoring plenty of points, 40-plus points in every game so far. The defense was stellar through two games, and finally gave up a touchdown last week, before allowing two more today.

Ultimately, those two scores plus a field goal wouldn’t be nearly enough to take down the Irish this afternoon.

There was a whole lot of good that came out of the Irish’s win today, so let’s dig a bit deeper into who played well, 5-stars, and who didn’t, star, in Notre Dame’s win over visiting Central Michigan.

Social media reacts to Sam Hartman scoring touchdown on keeper

Just punch it in.

Notre Dame and its fans were stunned to be up by only one score on Central Michigan at halftime. That the Chippewas scored two touchdowns in one half, let alone the entire game was mind-boggling. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Sam Hartman needed to get something going on the second half’s opening possession to swing momentum back toward the Irish. He did that when he completed a 39-yard pass to Jayden Thomas, advancing the ball to the Chippewas’ 3-yard line. After a pair of 1-yard runs by Audric Estime, Hartman took the ball himself and put the Irish back up by two scores:

Sorry for the bad view of the play, but it was the only one available at the time this was written. In any event, the Irish are back in business. Take a look at some of the best tweets talking about the play that made that a reality:

Social media reacts to officiating during Notre Dame-Central Michigan

Never want to bash officials, but…

I have a personal philosophy of not bashing officials consistently during sporting events. Some fans do it until the cows come home. I just want to see how teams play and the results that come from that. Unless there’s a really egregious error by a game’s officials, I typically prefer to stay out of the bashing.

However, the first half of Notre Dame’s game against Central Michigan made it clear a subpar crew was assigned to the game. I’m not particularly concerned about the calls the officials have made, but they definitely have taken too long to make penalty calls, conduct replay reviews and even determine where the ball is. That slows the game. While more time watching football is good in theory, the increase in dead time makes it excruciating.

The first half took more than an hour and a half to play, and there is little doubt the officials influenced that. Here are some tweets that agree:

Social media reacts to Sam Hartman’s 76-yard TD pass to Chris Tyree

What a throw.

Full confession: I thought that [autotag]Chris Tyree[/autotag] had scored the game’s first touchdown. In fact, it was [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag]. However, it didn’t matter because it took only one quarter for Tyree to receiver a similarly long touchdown pass from [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag]. In fact, it was a full yard longer than Merriweather’s reception:

You have to love how well Tyree has played in the first part of this season in his new position. You never would have known he was a running back a year ago if you had just started following the Irish this season. That’s how effective he’s been.

The question is whether Tyree will be able to sustain this for the full season. We’ll find an answer to that question in the coming weeks, but one could make similar arguments for many players on this roster that have gotten off to hot starts. Until then, here are some tweets reacting to Tyree:

Social media reacts to Audric Estime TD after long, tedious wait

Good score, Audric.

They say good things come to those who wait, but that shouldn’t mean we have to wait longer than necessary. With Notre Dame trying to retake the lead after allowing Central Michigan a game-tying touchdown, [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] appeared to pick up a first down deep in Chippewas territory. The officials took way too long to figure out that Estime in fact had not picked up the necessary yardage, bringing the game to a tedious halt.

The Irish chose to go for it on fourth-and-1, and Estime made the risk pay off with a 17-yard touchdown run:

Just because this game only is available on Peacock doesn’t mean fans want the game to be dragged out. Oh well. All’s well that ends well. At least the Irish were able to finish the first quarter in front.

Here are some of the best social media reactions that came about after Estime’s touchdown: