Rakes Report #230: Born down in El Paso where the tumbleweeds blow (The Oregon State Review)
A dominant performance in the Sun Bowl concluded a promising stretch for the Fighting Irish program.
~optional video accompaniment~
1) Prior to kickoff amid the mountains, the month of December had been a very good one for Notre Dame between coaching hires, transfer portal acquisitions and a drama-free signing day that brought another group of talented prospects into the fold. While good offseason moves are fun and often lead to on-field success, they don’t directly earn you trophies or marks in the win column, which is the entire point of this operation. It felt silly to put too much on a bowl game between two teams that had had so many opt-outs, but this was important, even if only for aesthetic reasons like 10-3 looking so much better than 9-4.
It was a great test for Marcus Freeman and his program. If the roster was as good and deep as we hoped it was, it would have in theory been much easier for Notre Dame to plug holes in comparison to their foes from Corvallis dealing with the same issue. If the culture was what we believed it to be, this group would be motivated to come out and take care of business even though they had fallen short of the New Year’s Six. Those boxes were checked with emphasis and now Freeman has his second bowl win against a ranked opponent in as many seasons and his first double-digit victory campaign. A great capper to a great month for the Fighting Irish.
(Real quick before we get into the meat of the review: Thank you again to everyone who donated to Christmas Giving this year. If you were considering a donation but hadn’t yet made one, we’ve hit the Jackie Young total points stretch goal but there is no rule against running up the score and it is in fact encouraged.)
2) The suspicion going into this game was that an Oregon State offense minus many of its key players against a Notre Dame defense mostly intact was going to have a tough time, and that was proven extremely correct. The poor Beavers didn’t convert a third down, score a point or run their second play in Irish territory until garbage time. The opposition could get nothing going on early downs and once they were behind the chains Al Golden’s scheme had all the kindness of a seasick crocodile, sending blitzers from all over the formation. It was a great final game for J.D. Bertrand and Javontae Jean-Baptiste, and an equally fine reminder of how nice it’s going to be to have incredibly talented players like Howard Cross and Benjamin Morrison back next year.
With Cam Hart and Ramon Henderson not participating, it was nice to see Christian Gray and Adon Shuler stepping into those snaps comfortably. Jaden Mickey, playing with the heaviest heart imaginable, also helped sturdy things on the back end and sniffed out the fake punt. Jordan Botelho did not have the flashiest season but was a consistent presence for the unit all fall so it was nice to see him rewarded with some bowl hardware. Joshua Burnham contributed, getting in on the fake field goal and the safety, while Jaylen Sneed showed the kind of flashes you’d like to see in extended snaps.
Botelho will be back next season, per Freeman’s postgame comments, and Xavier Watts made his return official on Saturday in a tremendous video. We are now in a situation where you have well over half the starting spots on defense filled by players in whom you can have complete confidence. “Do you remember how fun the 2023 defense was? Okay, now imagine that but maybe better” is a nice thought to hold in our hearts for the next eight months.
(Oregon State ran so few plays — 44! — that looking at the defensive stats for this game is hilarious. Only two players had more than three tackles, with Botelho and Watts both collecting five. Efficiency.)
(One more thing: Notre Dame has a bunch of young and intriguing linebacker options to cycle through next fall. Can you imagine a better situation for those greenhorns than playing behind Cross and Rylie Mills, next to Jack Kiser, with Watts backing up as a cleaner? Exciting.)
3) As little mystery as there was with the defense, the offense offered plenty of intrigue, as both tackles and the starting backfield featured new faces in addition to Gino Guidugli stepping in as the play-caller. I was thinking of trying to quickly power rank how all the replacements performed but it would be too difficult because it was a strong effort across the board. Guidugli had a great feel for the game and with the exception of holding onto the ball a bit too long a few times and one likely-ill-advised-but-admirable-in-its-own-way launch, Steve Angeli was excellent, showing comfort in the pocket, some wheels, some moxie and some nice touches on a few throws. This has always been both a pro-Angeli space and a pro-being-right space and I love that those two positions synced up in such a fashion.
How about true freshman Charles Jagusah stepping in for a guy who’s going to be going in the top ten of the NFL draft and thriving? The running game was solid all day but the penultimate touchdown drive is what we can lean on all offseason to fill the Audric Estime-sized hole in our hearts: A 54-yard sprint by Jadarian Price (his jukes are video game-esque) followed by Jeremiah Love taking a short pass and working his way to the endzone with flair. Tip of the cap to Joe Rudolph and Deland McCullough for having their rooms totally locked in for this one.
And while we’re complimenting assistants, what a debut for Mike Brown and his wide receiver room. We knew losing Jayden Thomas — capable of making plays down the field or blocking like a tight end depending on what you need from him — was a blow to the offense, but his performance on Friday really underscored that. Bowl MVP Jordan Faison showed off the entire package and I am again putting forth the question to the coaching staff of why exactly did it take until Game Seven for him to see action when he impressed in camp and then immediately became a key cog of the offense? Matt Salerno had a nice diving grab and Eli Raridon was a big bully to round things out for a splendid day for the side of the ball Mike Denbrock will be inheriting.
I get nervous even writing this, but: If the coaching staff can keep Angeli around for next season, having another quarterback that capable would allow them to do whatever they wanted with Riley Leonard in the run game because any ill befalling him wouldn’t submarine the season. I don’t know how things are going to shake out on the depth chart at QB or tailback as far as transfers, but the trend line on the overall level of talent in those rooms is pointing in the correct direction.
This applies to both sides of the ball: Additional bonus points for barely any flags. This was a team that showed up ready to play a clean, smart game and then did so.
4) Freeman made some concerning comments during his signing day press conference about wanting to kick more but he was one-for-one on going for it when the game was still in question, converting a fourth and one from the Beavers 26 when it was only 7-0 in the second quarter. (The Irish did not score on that drive after one of Angeli’s worst plays of the game set up a long field goal miss, but we’re going process over results.) Bonus points for also going for it on fourth and goal from the two up 24-0. It didn’t work, but it immediately led to a safety, which will hopefully remind Freeman that when you go for it deep in opponent territory you are at the very worst putting your defense in a great spot if you fall short.
As much fun as it would have been to be involved in the mascot sacrifice of the Pop-Tart Bowl, I loved being the full focus of CBS’s bowl season, as the second half of the broadcast and the postgame studio show essentially turned into an infomercial for Notre Dame. I would not say Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson were totally locked into the details of the game but considering this was a comfortable contest for most of the afternoon I did not mind my kindly old uncles having a chat. (I was praying Danielson would compare Love to a certain Arkansas running back he saw play many times, but no such luck.) Tony the Tiger’s omnipresence in the postgame was a delight, and I’ll think about him gently resting his paw on Freeman’s shoulder during the postgame interview for a long time. What an incredibly stupid sport -- I love it.
5) This is always a sad section to write, as it means we’re not going to get to gather and talk about another real game for so many months. A lot of stuff is still going to happen — the transfer portal remains open for a while, it will open again post-spring ball, the NFL firing and hiring cycle will have an effect on college staffs — but as far as seeing the lads take the field, it’s going to be a long wait until College Station.
I have felt a mild disappointment about the results of this season because the three losses were so crushing in their own ways, but I want to set that aside as we close. A friend recently read Amor Towles’ wonderful novel A Gentleman in Moscow, which reminded me of the line I have inscribed in my signed copy: “If philosophical investigations are not to your taste, then let us simply agree that the wise man celebrates what he can.” That’s right: It’s a fancy literary way of saying “Winning Is Hard.”
Let’s celebrate what we can: Ten wins, with nine of those coming with little-to-no drama in the final quarter. Two unanimous All-Americans on the same team for only the fifth time in school history. Audric Estime not just trucking people but leaping over them and speeding by them and absolutely saving the day in Durham. Xavier Watts winning the dang Nagurski. Joe Alt’s excellence all season. The legend of Sam Hartman, lighting up scoreboards and the TikTok algorithm. The Benjamin Morrison-Cam Hart tandem. Taking over another country’s capital for a weekend. Humiliating Southern Cal via the power of sippin’ cream. Surviving inclement weather in Raleigh to exorcise those specific demons. Mitchell Evans doing a weeks-long Michael Mayer impression. Gobs of young talent we’ll get to enjoy for years to come. The biggest bowl margin of victory in school history.
I said this often under the previous coach and I’ll say it again here: When we are even mildly grousing about 10-3, the program is in a good spot. Not perfect, not without continued improvements that need to be made, but with a floor high enough that it makes the ceiling we all desperately want to reach perhaps attainable some day. The items listed in the preceding paragraph omit things like “Hiring the offensive coordinator of the reigning Heisman winner” or “The administration being very down to clown with both the transfer portal and NIL,” which are quite heartening when thinking about the future. The pressure to make the inaugural 12-team playoff next fall is going to be immense, but let’s keep celebrating a little longer until we turn our attention to that.
Go Irish. Beat Aggies. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other.