Tag: gi’bran payne

Notre Dame loses running back for entire 2024 season

Tough news for Notre Dame football entering the 2024 season

It’s not the news you want to get with the hours counting down in the month of May for 2024.

Notre Dame announced Thursday that running back [autotag]Gi’Bran Payne[/autotag] is expected to miss the entire 2024 season after having reconstructive surgery to repair the ACL in his right knee.  The injury occurred in the annual Blue-Gold game back in April.

Payne recorded 168 rushing yards on 45 carries (3.3 yards per carry) for Notre Dame last season while rushing for a pair of touchdowns.  He also hauled in nine receptions, two of which he took in for scores.

Notre Dame is deep at the running back position but will miss Payne who was expected to fill the typical third-down back role in 2024.

Fighting Irish Wire will continue to follow this story as it develops.

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Social media reacts to Gi’Bran Payne fumble-turned-touchdown

Yes, this was a score.

Notre Dame needed to show before halftime that it had no intention of letting Stanford do whatever it wanted. It looked for a moment that the Irish would fall short in that mission as [autotag]Gi’Bran Payne[/autotag] appeared to lose a fumble at the goal line after a 3-yard run.

As the Cardinal celebrated their apparent fourth turnover of the first half, replays showed that Payne might have broken the plane before he lost the ball. The officials reviewed it, and it turned out Payne did indeed score before losing the ball:

It might not have been the cleanest touchdown of the season, but it gave the Irish a 28-16 halftime lead. That will make it more challenging for the Cardinal to pull off the upset despite them showing that they won’t go away without a fight. That’s good news for Irish fans, including those who took to social media afterwards to celebrate the final touchdown of the half:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through 11 games

Hopefully, these players can end the regular season on a high note.

Notre Dame has one game left in the regular season against Stanford. Good luck finding a way to watch it on the Pac-12 Network, but that’s a topic for another day. Right now, let’s focus on who is most likely to help the Irish beat the Cardinal.

Statistically, here’s who is likely to factor in whether the Irish can get revenge for last year’s defeat in South Bend:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through 10 games

Here’s who to look for against Wake Forest.

Notre Dame has two games left to improve the quality of the bowl it will play in. That might not mean much given that the New Year’s Six bowls are out of play, but it still is something to shoot for. The first of these contests comes against Wake Forest.

Here are the players statistically leading the Irish going into their home finale, one of which knows the Demon Deacons very well:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through nine games

Here’s who to watch for in the next game.

Notre Dame is riding high after winning its past couple of games. Now, it will visit a Clemson team that looks nothing like it did the past few years. The Irish have to feel pretty good about their chances. Wouldn’t you?

Here are the statistical leaders for the Irish heading into November:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through eight games

In case you forgot after the week off.

Notre Dame has had an extra week to enjoy the blow it dealt to USC’s season. Now, it’s back to business with Pittsburgh coming to South Bend. With the gauntlet portion of the schedule behind the Irish, this hopefully will be the easiest game they’ve had to look forward to in a month.

For those who need refreshing after the week off, here are the Irish’s major statistical leaders:

Social media reacts to Notre Dame touchdown after early interception

That was pleasant.

Notre Dame needed to come out strong against USC. The Trojans took the ball first, and it looked like the first possession might not go so well for the Irish when Caleb Williams completed a third-down pass to extend that possession.

But [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag] immediately said enough was enough and picked Williams off. He returned the interception 38 yards to set the Irish’s offense up in the red zone:

Three plays later, [autotag]Gi’Bran Payne[/autotag] received a short pass from [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] and found enough room to get to the end zone and put the Irish up, 7-0:

Obviously, there’s a long way to go in this game. Still, the fact the Irish have let the Trojans know that they aren’t just going to roll over them is a thrill. We’ll see how long they can claim to have the upper hand. For now though, let’s see how social media reacted to this game’s early success:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through seven games

Having lost two of its past three, Notre Dame officially has little left to play for. Before it can enjoy its first of two bye weeks, it must first deal with yet another ranked undefeated in USC. This could get worse before it gets better. Alas, the …

Having lost two of its past three, Notre Dame officially has little left to play for. Before it can enjoy its first of two bye weeks, it must first deal with yet another ranked undefeated in USC. This could get worse before it gets better. Alas, the Irish must carry on because the schedule dictates such.

Here’s who leads the major statistical categories for the Irish:

Notre Dame-Louisville: Irish offense awful on money down

Money down was anything but money for Notre Dame’s offense.

Notre Dame’s offense has turned into a disaster.

After dominating what were essentially preseason games to start the year, the competition raised and the Irish have been unable to raise their output to meet it.

We can discuss many issues.

Let’s focus instead on perhaps the most important aspect of the offensive game: executing in third and short situations.

If you convert third and short more often than not, you’ll be in good shape.  Just like if you tend to stop your opponent on third down a lot, you’ll likely be happy with how things end.

Success on third-and-short was nowhere to be found for Notre Dame on Saturday.  Let’s take a look.

Notre Dame statistical leaders through six games

Who’s most likely to help defeat the Cardinals?

Notre Dame is getting ready to face another surging program, this time in Louisville. It probably would prefer to have an easier time than it did against Duke, which it barely escaped against. The road atmosphere the Cardinals fans will provide unlikely will be anymore forgiving though. That’s why the Irish must prepare for any and all possibilities.

Here are the statistical leaders for the Irish at the midway point of the season: