No. 8 Irish put it all together in shutout
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — On a day when No. 8 Notre Dame did little wrong in a 55-0 shutout of beleaguered Georgia Tech on Saturday, coach Brian Kelly made a pitch for his team’s postseason aspirations in the College Football Playoff.
“It’s an improving team that continues to do the little things the right way,” Kelly said.
Jack Coan threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns in a little more than a half, and the Fighting Irish had two defensive touchdowns for the second time this season in winning its sixth straight game since its 24-13 home loss to Cincinnati on Oct. 2.
Coan, a graduate transfer from Wisconsin, completed 15 of 20 passes. He had first-half touchdown strikes of 52 yards to Michael Mayer and 20 yards to Logan Diggs as the Irish took a 45-0 halftime lead. Coan exited after one series in the third quarter and was replaced by true freshman Tyler Buchner, who ripped off a 68-yard run on his first play.
With Coan directing the offense and the Irish defense hounding Georgia Tech quarterback Jordan Yates all afternoon, Notre Dame improved to 10-1, reaching the 10-win level for the fifth straight season by outgaining the Yellow Jackets (3-8) by a 514-224 margin.
“That’s a really good football team,” Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins said “We got out-reached, out-executed and out-physicalled throughout the game.”
The shutout was the first at Notre Dame for first-year defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman and first by the Irish since a 52-0 whitewash of South Florida on Sept. 19 of last season, when the Irish reached the College Football Playoff for the second time in three seasons. The Irish have gone three games without allowing a touchdown.
“We’ve been in control of games,” Kelly said. “The quarterback is efficient and pushes the ball down the field, we have one of the best tight ends in college football and an improving running game. This is a really good football team.”
Linebacker Jack Kiser had a 43-yard interception return for a touchdown to give the Irish a 10-0 lead after the first of two field goals from Jonathan Doerer. The Irish then added a 9-yard touchdown run by Kyren Williams, the first of his two, and Coan’s scoring pass to Mayer for a 24-0 lead after the first quarter. Freshman running back Logan Diggs had two touchdowns in the second quarter, the second on a reception from Coan, as Notre Dame opened a 45-0 halftime lead.
Grad defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa returned Yates’ fumble caused by defensive end Isaiah Foskey 70 yards in the third quarter, and the Irish led 55-0 after three quarters. Notre Dame had two interception returns for touchdowns in a 41-13 victory over Wisconsin earlier this season.
Yates threw for 96 yards on 14-of-28 passing as Foskey and company had six sacks, nine quarterback hurries and forced two fumbles.
The Yellow Jackets couldn’t get out of their own way in the first half, totaling just 117 yards as Notre Dame harassed Yates and limited freshman running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who was second nationally in all-purpose yards at 168 coming into the game, to just 40 rushing yards. He finished with 58 rushing yards and 122 all-purpose yards.
“Obviously, that’s a hurting team in there,” Collins said. “That’s not the kind of football we’ve played the last couple of weeks. We’ve got to be better and it starts with me. We’ve got to find a way. We’ve got the No. 1 team in the country (Georgia) coming to town next Saturday.”
Notre Dame couldn’t have played much better than it did in the first half, scoring on all six possessions and adding the 43-yard interception return by Kiser. Kiser, however, left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury that Kelly didn’t think was serious.
The 45 first-half points were the most by the Irish since they scored 45 against visiting Miami (Ohio) in a 52-17 victory in 2017.