Notre Dame kicked off game 4 of the season with a matchup against The Central Michigan Chippewas in South Bend. Indiana. This proved to be the first real test of the Irish team at home so far this season. Despite a sluggish start, the Irish were able to pull away in the 2nd half.
Notre Dame Comfortably Prevails Against Central Michigan
The Fighting Irish offense lit up the scoreboard early with a 75-yard dart from the right arm of quarterback Sam Hartman to Tobias Merriweather, who raced down the sideline for an Irish touchdown. On the second Notre Dame drive of the game, Hartman orchestrated an 11-play drive that was capped off with a 17-yard touchdown run by Audric Estime.
The 3rd drive of the game for the home Irish led to another score, as Hartman yet again had added a long touchdown pass to his stat sheet with a 76-yard pass to newly converted wide receiver Chris Tyree. Chris, with his game-breaking speed, was able to put the Irish up 21-7 early into the 2nd quarter. This would be the last time that Notre Dame would score before the half. Following the Tyree touchdown, the Irish would have three scoreless drives in the 1st half.
Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman (10) – Rick Kimball/ISD
During the first half, the Fighting Irish defense looked decent at best. The defensive unit got off to a hot start with a quick three-and-out to start the game, but the success of keeping Central Michigan off of the scoreboard would be short-lived. The Chippewas chipped away at the Irish lead, tying the game at seven all in the first quarter with a rushing touchdown by Myles Bailey.
This scoring opportunity was set up earlier in the drive when the Irish defender was called for roughing the passer, propelling Central Michigan 15 yards and giving them an automatic first down. The Irish defense quickly got back on track, forcing the visiting Chippewas into two consecutive three-and-outs.
The Fighting Irish defense failed to capitalize off the momentum, and Central Michigan had chances to score on back-to-back drives. The first was, again, aided by a roughing the passer call on the Irish defense that catapulted Central Michigan forward and eventually into field goal range. Luckily for the Irish, the field goal was no good.
Ironically, the luck of the Irish would not prevail the following drive as the Chippewas marched down the field in 9 plays to score a touchdown to draw the game closer at 14-21. Penalties were, again, a big culprit for this score, as the Irish had both a pass interference and an offsides penalty flag thrown at them during the drive.
Notre Dame LB Marist Liufau (8) – Rick Kimball/ISD
Coach Freeman made some tremendous halftime adjustments as the Notre Dame offense came out firing, scoring on the first drive after the halftime intermission to extend the lead to 2 scores. Central Michigan did score again, but it was just a 3-point field goal towards the end of the 3rd quarter. With an 11-point lead at 28-17, Notre Dame turned on the jets offensively and ratcheted up the defense to keep the Chippewas scoreless for the remainder of the game.
Following the Central Michigan field goal, Notre Dame responded with a Spencer Shrader of their own to end the 3rd quarter. The Irish kicked another field goal in the 4th quarter, and up-and-coming star tight end Holden Staes caught a touchdown pass from Hartman (his 3rd of the day).
Overall, the Irish performed well. There were some sloppy defensive efforts given by Notre Dame, especially when it came to being disciplined and not drawing penalties. This is something that Irish fans shouldn’t be too concerned about, considering most of them were made in the 1st half, and coach Freeman seemed to tighten the loose defense up in the 2nd half.
