Notre Dame football: Takeaways from a tough loss at Ohio State

Notre Dame football: Takeaways from a tough loss at Ohio State

The Next Generation of Stars

Both true freshmen, Jaden Mickey and Benjamin Morrison had some terrific moments against one of the best passing attacks in college football. While nothing will specifically jump off the screen in terms of interceptions or massive plays, they played solid football. Sure, Mickey got a bit turned around on the touchdown to put Ohio State back up 14-10; not having help over the top played a sizable role.

Regardless, the future looks bright for the two young cornerbacks.

While they’ve been with the program for a couple of extra years, Rylie Mills and Marist Liufau had terrific games after not seeing an abundance of time in years past for various reasons. While unable to tally a sack, Mills was the only guy consistently breaking through protection and forcing Stroud to move out of the pocket.

Liufau was all over the field, making play after play and being in the right spots at the right times.

The offense will have to be carried by a healthy number of young players this season, including Buchner, Estime, Diggs, and Styles, to name a few. Buchner wasn’t perfect, but he proved he could hang with one of the best teams in the nation.

Diggs and Estime had 30 of the most brutal yards I’ve seen in the game of football. Again, the line wasn’t great, and holes were few and far between. Audric Esitme never stopped driving his legs and typically had to be brought down by 2-3 Buckeyes at a minimum.

Had the Irish kept the pressure on instead of being overly conservative in the third and fourth quarters, I think this outcome would have been much closer or different altogether. But that’s for another time. I fully believe in the Offensive and Defensive ability to win in the trenches and that our young guys will only continue to improve.

It’s a long season and far from over for the Irish.