{"id":53898,"date":"2023-10-29T16:30:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T20:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=53898"},"modified":"2023-10-29T16:04:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T20:04:37","slug":"audric-estime-notre-dame-overpower-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/10\/29\/audric-estime-notre-dame-overpower-pittsburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"Audric Estime, Notre Dame Overpower Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fighting Irish running back\u00a0<\/span>Audric Estime<\/span><\/a>\u00a0turned in another impressive performance on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. Estime rushed for 114 yards and three touchdowns as the 14th-ranked Fighting Irish routed Pittsburgh 58-7. Showcasing their superiority in all aspects of the game, Notre Dame improved its record to 7-2 on the season in the blowout victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Audric Estime a Powerhouse<\/span><\/h3>\n

Notre Dame struck quickly and often against the Panthers.\u00a0<\/span>Estime led the charge<\/span><\/a>. Estime\u2019s combination of speed, agility, and strength has made him a force to be reckoned with in the backfield. His ability to find gaps in the defense and power through tackles makes him a standout player for the Irish offense. On the season, Estime has gained 901 yards (6.2 yards per carry) on 146 carries with 12 touchdowns. He ranks eighth in the country in total yards and is tied for second in rushing touchdowns (12) with\u00a0<\/span>Marcus Carroll<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of Georgia State.<\/span><\/p>\n

At his post-game press conference, Estime credited the offensive line for much of his success.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe offensive line is led by the strong,\u201d Esitme said. \u201cWe\u2019re led by those big boys. They\u2019re the hardest workers on the team, I feel like. Every week, Monday through Friday, they\u2019re bringing the juice. That\u2019s all a championship team needs, to be led by the strong. Those boys do a great job and they get better every week.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Questions Remain on Offense<\/span><\/h3>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s offense had an overall erratic performance. While the offense scored five of the eight Irish touchdowns,\u00a0<\/span>Sam Hartman<\/span><\/a>\u00a0threw interceptions on Notre Dame\u2019s first two possessions. Fortunately for the Irish, Pittsburgh did not take advantage of either miscue. He shook off his early interceptions to throw for 288 yards, going 18-of-25 for the game. Hartman successfully connected on a few deep passes, including a 47-yard completion to\u00a0<\/span>Chirs Tyree<\/span><\/a>, a 60-yard catch-and-run by\u00a0<\/span>Rico Flores<\/span><\/strong>, and a 42-yard deep pass to\u00a0<\/span>Tobias Merriweather<\/span><\/a>. Backup\u00a0<\/span>Steve Angeli<\/span><\/a>\u00a0replaced Hartman in the fourth quarter. Angeli went 6-of-7 for 92 yards and a touchdown. All told a dozen different players had at least one catch for Notre Dame on the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even with Hartman at quarterback, the Irish offense did not demonstrate a big leap forward after the bye week. The unit is making plays and putting points on the board, but it still seems as if the Irish offense is not living up to its capabilities. The offensive line is creating gaping holes for Estime and protecting Hartman, but the wide receiver corps has been hampered by injuries. Tight end\u00a0<\/span>Mitchell Evans<\/span><\/a>\u00a0left the game in the second half with an apparent left knee injury. The severity of the injury was uncertain following the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Irish Defense Falls Just Short of a Shutout<\/span><\/h3>\n

This season, the Fighting Irish have relied heavily on their defense. Notre Dame has generated 10 turnovers in its last two games alone. On Saturday, Pittsburgh started its sixth offensive line combination in eight games. It showed. The Irish defense kept Panthers quarterback\u00a0<\/span>Christian Veilleux<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on his heels from start to finish. Veilleux, who replaced former Notre Dame quarterback\u00a0<\/span>Phil Jurkovec<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(after he started 1-4 on the year), was sacked twice and was picked off four times. Xavier Watts intercepted Veilleux twice.\u00a0<\/span>Jaden Mickey<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(43-yard Pick six) and\u00a0<\/span>Christian Gray<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0also intercepted passes from Veilleux, each recording their first career picks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strong play from the secondary was key with the absence of\u00a0<\/span>Benjamin Morrison<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0who missed the game with a quad strain. Pittsburg\u2019s lone score of the contest came in the fourth quarter after the Irish had already established a 51-0 lead.\u00a0<\/span>Nate Yarnel<\/span><\/a>l replaced Veilleux late in the game and threw a 25-yard touchdown to avoid the shutout. Veilleux finished 14 of 29 for 127 yards. Pittsburgh\u2019s offense managed just 235 yards of offense and committed five turnovers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tough Loss for Narduzzi<\/span><\/h3>\n

Pittsburgh head coach\u00a0<\/span>Pat Narduzzi<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0experienced the most one-sided defeat of his coaching career in the game. He led Pittsburgh to an ACC title in 2021 and an Associated Press Top 25 finish a year ago. With the Panthers now at 2-6 on the season, Pittsburgh is in danger of recording its worst season at the school under Narduzzi\u2019s direction. Pittsburgh had six players chosen in the 2023 NFL Draft, and Narduzzi addressed that fact after the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a football coach, you lose a lot of good players from a year ago and you think as a coach, you\u2019re going to replace them, and obviously we haven\u2019t. Again, it starts with me. I didn\u2019t do a good enough job coaching today. Put it on me, and we\u2019ve got to make plays.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Xavier Watts an X-Factor Again<\/span><\/h3>\n

Xavier Watts<\/span><\/strong>, who began his career at Notre Dame as a wide receiver, remains a key player, consistently performing at a high level and contributing significantly to Notre Dame\u2019s defense. The Irish capitalized on five Pittsburg turnovers, scoring 23 points. With a pair of picks on Saturday, Watts now has six interceptions this season, the most in the FBS. He also grabbed two picks in the 48-20 win against USC two weeks ago. After Watts\u2019 first interception against the Panthers, Estime had three carries for 51 yards during the subsequent drive. Estime sealed the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clemson on Deck<\/span><\/h3>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s defense has been stout all season. The unit basically ended the Heisman repeat chances for USC quarterback\u00a0<\/span>Caleb Wiliams<\/span><\/a>. Notre Dame\u2019s defense also shut down Duke quarterback\u00a0<\/span>Riley Leonard<\/span><\/a>\u00a0this year and contained NC State quarterback\u00a0<\/span>Brennan Armstrong<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s defense will face sophomore quarterback\u00a0<\/span>Cade Klubnik<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of Clemon on Saturday. Clemson has dropped two straight games now and\u00a0<\/span>Dabo Swinney<\/span><\/strong>\u2019s team has sputtered on offense. In Saturday\u2019s loss at NC State, Klubnik was 33 of 50 for 263 yards. He threw two interceptions with no touchdowns in the 24-17 defeat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Against Pittsburg, it was evident from the outset that Notre Dame was clearly the better team. The lopsided victory for the Irish makes it back-to-back impressive wins ahead of their next matchup against Clemson. The Irish\u2019s recent performances, combined with the dominance of Audric Estime and the ground game, have showcased the team\u2019s resilience and determination. If Notre Dame can win out, including on the road at Clemson, a berth in a New Year\u2019s Six Bowl is a likely outcome.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bunch of coaches and players that aren\u2019t satisfied that constantly are striving to improve,\u201d said Irish head coach\u00a0<\/span>Marcus Freeman<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0after Saturday\u2019s win over Pittsburgh. \u201cThat\u2019s the sprint. That\u2019s the sense of urgency we have to improve. And we\u2019re getting closer and closer every week to reaching that full potential.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fighting Irish running back\u00a0Audric Estime\u00a0turned in another impressive performance on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. Estime rushed for 114 yards and three touchdowns as the 14th-ranked Fighting Irish routed Pittsburgh 58-7. Showcasing their superiority in all aspects of the game, Notre Dame improved its record to 7-2 on the season in the blowout victory. Audric […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4854,"featured_media":53903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10906,8,11,2,2056],"tags":[9304,9062,680,9508,8494,6850,259,2184,5926,9140,8702],"class_list":["post-53898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cfb","category-fbs","category-independents","category-featured","category-top-25","tag-benjamin-morrison","tag-christian-gray","tag-dabo-swinney","tag-fbs-independents","tag-jaden-mickey","tag-marcus-freeman","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-pat-narduzzi","tag-pittsburgh","tag-rico-flores","tag-xavier-watts"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4854"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}