Notre Dame Clears Path to College Football Playoff as Gunner Stockon Delivers Heisman-Caliber Performance – CFB Newsletter
Notre Dame and Georgia were massive winners in Week 8 of college football
Week 8 of college football more than delivered. With multiple upsets and massive victories, let’s take a look at two performances that will define the season of two big-name programs.
Notre Dame controls their destiny once again
Saturday’s matchup between Notre Dame and USC was filled with bubbling drama surrounding the state of the rivalry. With uncertainty around whether the Fighting Irish and Trojans will even continue to play one another, both sides wanted bragging rights on what could be the final game in the series.
USC’s side condescendingly stated throughout the week that Notre Dame needed USC, but USC did not need them. It’s apparent there’s truth to that claim, as they’re now consistently helping Notre Dame’s playoff chances every year with layups.
The Fighting Irish outlasted the Trojans 34-24 in a back-and-forth battle that should have been a shootout. The rain picked up, and in true South Bend fashion, the elements consumed the team from Southern California. Two failed fourth downs and three turnovers contributed to USC’s messy loss.
The most praise on Notre Dame has to go to Jeremiyah Love, who had a career performance. Watching Love glide through rushing lanes was like watching an artist delicately but confidently strike brush strokes on a canvas. While it’s an uphill battle for running backs to win the Heisman, Saturday night was one of the few Heisman moments we’ve seen in the sport this year. Our Ryan Roberts highlighted Love’s performance in his postgame winners and losers piece.
“The 6-0, 214-pound runner turned in the best rushing performance of his career, exploding for 228 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. Love also hauled in five receptions for 37 yards in the game as well. Following the performance for Love, you are going to hear his name brought up more and more in Heisman Trophy conversations. While the deck is probably stacked against him to win the award, Love absolutely deserves to be a part of the conversation at least. In seven games, Love has rushed for 758 yards and nine touchdowns, while also catching 19 passes for 197 yards and three more scores.” —Ryan Roberts
The game was far from perfect for Notre Dame. While the upperclassmen stepped up, their young quarterback had one of his worst games. CJ Carr struggled to find a rhythm and was misfiring throughout the game. If it weren’t for Love’s dominant day, the game could have been much tighter. Roberts pointed out those struggles in his story as well.
“This was the worst game of Carr’s career so far, and it isn’t particularly close. The 6-3, 210-pound passer struggled with accuracy mightily during the contest, and he also made a couple of head of scratching decisions as well. The redshirt freshman finished the game completing 16 of 26 passes for 136 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and -7 yards rushing. Carr is going to have to be a lot better in big games in the future.” —Ryan Roberts
Carr is one player who absolutely deserves the benefit of the doubt. It was his seventh-ever game and the third matchup with a ranked team this year. While it’s frustrating to see the missfires he had, the mistakes will help his development. Sadly, the only way young passers can get better is by making mistakes and learning from them. This game will pay its dividends later in the year.
Ultimately, Notre Dame is now back in control of their College Football Playoff path. The remaining stretch of their schedule is all winnable, but they can’t let up. A 10-2 finish firmly plants them into the discussion to make the bracket. However, they’ll need to hope that the weekly chaos in college football doesn’t create too many teams with similar resumes.
Stock up for Stockton
If you tried to explain to a Georgia fan after Week 2 that their defense was a mess but their offense is incredibly explosive, they would have called you nuts. Somehow, that is the reality that the Bulldogs have created.
Georgia’s identity is confusing, but it’s working. Yesterday, it survived a boxscore bloodbath of a game, a 43-35 home win against Ole Miss. Our Travis May pointed out after the game how astonishing it is that this is what Georgia has become.
“This is not Georgia football. This is not winning SEC football. Not on defense anyway. If Kirby Smart and company can’t find a way to start bringing more pass rush pressure and getting off the field on third down there is no way they make it very far in the College Football Playoff. The team barely ranks top 120 in sacks, and likely falls outside the top 100 in third down defense after this week. Just atrocious. Kirby and his staff has some work to do there still before this team is ready for the postseason.” —Travis May
The root issue of their defensive problems is their pass rush, which is perplexing. Considering the elite prospects that have come through the program, it should never be a problem for Georgia. However, defensive woes aside, one man needs to be praised.
Gunner Stockton was unfairly criticized after two weeks for not playing aggressively enough in their warm-up games. Before they faced Tennessee, no one knew if they had what it took to even score points in the SEC. Yesterday’s win was additional evidence that Stockton is really one of the best passers in the country.
Stockton completed over 83% of his passes and tallied five total touchdowns. He also made several clutch, difficult throws along with gutsy runs to move the chains. The Heisman trophy goes to a player who is elevating his team. Without Stockton, I’d argue this Georgia squad isn’t in the SEC Championship mix like they are now.
On the flip side for Ole Miss, this game should serve as a gigantic red flag. After the program was riding high from their LSU win, it’s clear they have massive issues on defense. May emphasised that the defensive performance was unacceptable for the Rebels.
“Giving up 34 first downs is just absolutely indefensible. It doesn’t matter who Ole Miss is playing. That is almost impossibly bad. The worst defense in the entire country is giving up 25 first downs per game on average. 34 first downs is what an SEC offense puts up against FCS opponents … Ole Miss was so close. Up by two scores in the fourth quarter at Georgia. They just couldn’t seal the deal and it was entirely the defense’s fault.” —Travis May
I had a significant pause on the hype Ole Miss was getting recently. It’s become more true in recent weeks that LSU is a weak program that makes its opponents look better than they actually are. This game will serve as a sobering reality for the Rebels.
The SEC race is really heating up at the current moment, and one thing is clear: no team is safe.
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish News
Notre Dame got a monkey off its back against USC, but one Fighting Irish star is going to need to learn quickly from the performance
Notre Dame QB CJ Carr has a next step in his maturation.
