Notre Dame shows fight but falls at No. 2 Ohio State: 5 instant takeaways

It wasn’t the storybook ending for Marcus Freeman’s regular-season debut as No. 5 Notre Dame’s head coach that Fighting Irish fans had hoped for but the night didn’t exactly go how most of the experts saw it going, either.

Notre Dame’s defense came to play against what could end up being the nation’s best offense in Ohio State, but ultimately the offense just didn’t do enough to put points on the board despite leading for a large chunk of the night.

What went well?

What was poor?

And what was awful?

Here are five instant takeaways from No. 5 Notre Dame’s 21-10 defeat at No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday night.

5. Fast start not the case for the night

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Tyler Bucher found Lorenzo Styles on the first play of the game for 54 yards and setting up an early Notre Dame field goal as they took a quick 3-0 lead.  The takeaway from that was that sure it was a great play to start but Notre Dame’s receivers would make just two catches the rest of the way.

4. Double Safety Blitz

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3rd and 13 and a stop away from Ohio State forcing to kick a field goal to potentially tie the game at 10?  Any Notre Dame fan would have signed up for that late in the third quarter given the opportunity.

Al Golden called a great game but the blitzing of both safeties and the 3rd and 13 resulted in Ohio State’s go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter.  High risk, high reward sure, but after keeping everything in front of them all night I hated that decision of a call in that spot, regardless of result.

3. Buchner: Some Good, Some Bad

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Tyler Buchner made his first collegiate start and went out and completed his first eight passes, including the 54-yarder to Lorenzo Styles to get things going.  That was good.  Not really putting a ball in harm’s way all night was another positive.

Buchner completed just 2 of 10 the rest of the way however and although I wouldn’t describe him as rattled, comfortable, and poised wouldn’t be correct, either.

Story continues

2. Front Seven is Outstanding

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It’s hard to live up to the hype in athletics but the defensive line was better than advertised.  The unit was the main reason for optimism with this defense but regular pressures, causing havoc, and being the why in regards to the 10-7 lead Notre Dame held for so much of the night.

I don’t know if I can say they’re at quite the level of the 2012 unit that just manhandled games but at very worst they’re extremely close.   Outside of the Clemson game this year, this will be far and away the better defensive line in all 11 remaining games and will be the reason anything less than 10 wins will now be seen as a pretty significant disappointment.

1. Offensive Line Needs Instant Improvement

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Notre Dame’s offense had a poor showing Saturday night in putting up only 10 points, showing virtually no life in the second half, and not being able to run the ball whatsoever.  That was because of an offensive line that despite having a lot of the same hype of the defensive front, played to anything but that level.  Significant improvements will be needed in order to simply give the rest of the offense a chance.

Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire