The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame beat the Maryland Terrapins 45-21 in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score would indicate. It was the type of beatdown that was expected, but has rarely been seen over the past decade- until this year.
Notre Dame is doing all of this while hurting pretty badly. The Irish have starters on both sides of the ball out for the season with injuries, and many more playing through the pain with nagging injuries of their own. Still, this is a team that now thrives in November in spite of injury. Perhaps there is more to this “next man in” theme than we give it credit for. It’s not just a cheesy slogan from the dictionary of coachspeak for Notre Dame; it’s a way of life.
Yes, the stars still had a good game. Jonas Gray had 136 yards and 2 touchdowns while his partner Cierre Wood had 99 yards and a touchdown of his own. Tommy had a 70% night, throwing for 296 yards and 2 touchdowns to his top two targets, Michael Floyd and Tyler Eifert. Oh yeah, Floyd had 9 grabs for 90 and a TD, while Eifert snagged 8 for 83 and a TD of his own.
Yes, the stars had a good game. However, it was those next men in that stood out to me. Mike Golic playing well and helping out a great night on the ground. It was Robby Toma grabbing 7 passes for 73 yards. It was that defensive line rotation, Alex Welch, and a guy like Lo Wood taking an interception 57 yards for the touchdown. It was all of that that put an even bigger smile on my face.
One of the biggest problems that Notre Dame has faced over the past 15 years has been the lack of player development. If you can’t develop your players, it doesn’t matter if you continually get a top 10 recruiting class each year. It’s these type of games that help lay the groundwork for next season while still keeping focus on this season. This is Brian Kelly at his best.
