College Lacrosse: No. 1 Notre Dame Accomplishes Program First in Obliterating Marquette

A dominating showing by the nation’s top-ranked team!

A program first for the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team occurred Sunday when they dismantled Marquette in Milwaukee.  The 21-8 Notre Dame victory marked the first time in program history the Irish scored 20 goals in consecutive games.

The Brothers Kavanagh as they’ll forever be known here did what they do, putting on an absolute clinic.  Chris Kavanagh scored four goals while dishing out three assists and Pat Kavanagh added two scores and five helpers in the win.

Jake Taylor continued his fast start to 2024, scoring four more times, bringing his total to nine through two games.

Devon McLane added a hat trick for the top-ranked Golden Domers while Eric Dobson and Jordan Faison both netted a pair of goals.

Notre Dame sits 2-0 on the young season now and returns home next Sunday to welcome Georgetown in a 2 p.m. ET start.

Notre Dame Lacrosse: Defending Champs Open 2024 with Dominating Win

The reigning college lacrosse national champions opened the season in a big way, dominating Cleveland State to start 1-0.

The reigning national champions are back and opened the 2024 lacrosse season with a dominating win over Cleveland State on Wednesday as No. 1 Notre Dame routed the Vikings, 25-3.

The Irish started early with a 4-0 shutout in the first quarter, getting on the board initially a goal from Jordan Faison, the Sun Bowl MVP.  The Irish stretched the lead to 12-1 by halftime.

Jake Taylor led the way for the Irish with five goals while Chris Kavanagh and Notre Dame football walk-on turned starter [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] each added three goals a piece.

Pat Kavanagh led Notre Dame with five assists on the day as the top-ranked Irish handled business with ease.

Notre Dame returns to action on February 18 when they’ll be at Marquette,

Notre Dame Football: Best Offensive Players of 2023 Ranked 1-15

Which grades surprise you the most?

Notre Dame’s offense in 2023 goes down as one of the most successful in program history by a numbers standpoint.  By a viewers standpoint they were also towards the top of the list of being the most frustrating we’ve ever seen.

Great against poor competition while seemingly unprepared for the likes of Ohio State, Louisville, and Clemson.

So from a completely emotion-less perspective, who had the best seasons on Notre Dame’s offense?  And who left a decent amount to be desired?

Pro Football Focus has their grades for Notre Dame’s entire roster for 2023.  We went through and found the 15 offensive players they ranked the highest for their performances in 2023.  See who made the top 15 below.

Players included in this top 15 had to have played a minimum of 100 snaps on offense in 2023.

Notre Dame Destroys Oregon State: Instant Takeaways

What a way to end 2023!

Notre Dame dominated Oregon State in every aspect of Friday’s Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.  Some might even say the Fighting Irish closed their 2023 season by playing grrrrrrrrrreat!

Sorry, I had to.

Notre Dame stopped Oregon State quickly on the game’s opening possession and immediately marched down the field to take a 7-0 lead.  That would be rinsed and repeated for most of the afternoon to the tune of a 33-8 Notre Dame victory.

The win puts Notre Dame at 10-3 to finish the 2023 campaign while Oregon State falls to 8-5 with the loss.

Here are our instant takeaways for the final time in 2023.

Social media reacts to Jordan Faison touchdown reception

Good job, young man.

As the Sun Bowl goes on, it appears to be more academic for Notre Dame. While the offense has had more explosive games this year, it also is benefiting from a dominant defense that has kept Oregon State in check.

Sooner or later, another Irish touchdown was going to come. That’s just what happened when [autotag]Steve Angeli[/autotag] hit [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] for a 13-yard touchdown on third down, giving the Irish a 24-0 lead:

Faison has had a couple of nice catches in this game, and it hopefully is serving as an omen for how Faison can contribute in 2024 and beyond. Whether it’s Angeli, [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] or someone else under center next season, Faison definitely has the tools to stand out among a receiving corps that is getting more talented every year.

We’ll see how Faison does in the future, but for now, let’s look at some of the reactions social media had to his touchdown:

Social media reacts to Jayden Thomas’ touchdown on Irish’s first drive

Nice start.

Notre Dame is off and running in the Sun Bowl. After the defense forced Oregon State to punt on the game’s opening drive, the offense took over at the 4-yard line. While the Irish mostly ran the ball, [autotag]Steve Angeli[/autotag] completed a 55-yard pass to [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] and also a pass for 8 yards to [autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag]. The latter of those passes was good for a touchdown and an early 7-0 Irish lead:

 

The Irish has shown early that they’re ready to play in spite of missing so many familiar names from this season, especially on offense. While there obviously is a lot of game to go, you can’t discount how good both sides have looked so far. Even if things somehow flip the Beavers’ way, the Irish at least can take this part of the first quarter with them.

Here are some of the best reactions to Thomas’ score on social media:

 

Social media reacts to Jordan Faison 45-yard touchdown reception

Yes, it’s Faison.

Notre Dame has focused on the run game for most of its game against Stanford. [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] has been the beneficiary of that, scoring three touchdowns thus far. But the pass game has had its moments, too. We saw the latest example of that when [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] found [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] for a 45-yard touchdown, increasing the Irish’s big lead over the Cardinal:

And if that wasn’t enough, the Pac-12 Network went to commercial after this touchdown with a shot a Faison in his lacrosse gear:

This was Faison’s third touchdown this season and his second in as many games. It’s a testament to how there are so many great athletes on this Irish team. A national championship might not be in the cards this year, but it’s such a treat to watch these young men do what they do so well. If you don’t believe that, why don’t you see some of these reactions from social media?

Notre Dame football: Irish wide receiver earns scholarship

Congrats to this young man!

Notre Dame is coming off a bad loss Saturday against Louisville, but one of the few stars from that game has been rewarded.

Jordan Faison, who hauled in a 36-yard touchdown reception in the loss, is Notre Dame’s newest scholarship athlete.  Marcus Freeman made the announcement during Monday’s press conference.

“Jordan (Faison) had gotten scholarship offers out of high school by a lot of different football programs,” Freeman said. “But he is a national lacrosse prospect and he was committed to Notre Dame to play lacrosse and we wanted him (to be) part of our football program. So, he’s been a talented individual from the moment he stepped on this campus in fall camp and he has shown that he has a lot of ability.” – Marcus Freeman

Congratulations to Jordan on the solid play last week as well as the scholarship today.  Hopefully only more good things are in store for him in the days and weeks to come.

Social media reacts to Notre Dame walk-on scoring game-tying touchdown

Bet you didn’t have him scoring.

As far as Notre Dame walk-ons go, it’s gonna be tough to top [autotag]Rudy Ruettiger[/autotag] in terms of notoriety. But it’s a lot easier to pass Ruettiger in on-field performance if you have a chance to play. [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] got that chance in the second quarter against Louisville, and he came up at a big time. Two plays after making his first collegiate catch, he caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] to tie the game:

Whatever happens the rest of this game, Faison will have this moment forever. Not everyone in his position has this particular opportunity, and he made the most of his. If he has a few more plays like this, he’ll be listed on the depth chart every week. Not bad for someone whose main sport is lacrosse.

While Faison is waiting, he can read these and other reactions that were posted to social media after his touchdown: