Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

College Football

Notre Dame fans fed up with struggling offense after bad first half vs. Miami (Ohio)

Spenser Davis

By Spenser Davis

Published:

Notre Dame is struggling again offensively against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday afternoon in South Bend.

A week after the Fighting Irish hung 66 on Purdue in a road game, they didn’t get on the score board until there was just 3:33 left in the half against the Redhawks.

Notre Dame did close out the half with a pair of touchdown drives to secure a 14-3 lead going into the break, but it took a long time for the offense to get going. The Irish’s first 3 drives resulted in 2 3-and-outs and a turnover on downs after just 5 plays.

As a passer, Riley Leonard was 7-for-12 for 83 yards and a touchdown — his first of the year. However, a little under half of that passing yardage came on 1 play at the end of the first half — a 38-yard TD to Beaux Collins. He was also responsible for Notre Dame’s first touchdown of the game, which came on the ground.

But even that first touchdown drive was heavily-aided by a face mask penalty on Miami (Ohio). Without that infraction, Notre Dame would have faced a 3rd-and-long that likely would have resulted in a punt.

Notre Dame also didn’t clear 100 total yards for the half until after the 2-minute timeout at the end of the first half.

It’s the second time in 3 weeks that Notre Dame has turned in a woeful offensive performance. Of course, in that instance, the Fighting Irish went on to lose to Northern Illinois.

Criticism during the first half has been swift for Leonard, Marcus Freeman and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. Here’s some of the reaction to Notre Dame’s poor first half:

Spenser Davis

Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.

You might also like...

2025 RANKINGS

presented by rankings