Marcus Freeman is facing a huge halftime deficit in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
Notre Dame took the opening drive of the game 75 yards in 18 plays, milking 9:45 off the clock, to take a 7-0 lead. From there, it all went downhill. Notre Dame went 3-and-out on back-to-back drives while Ohio State scored touchdowns on each of its 3 first-half possessions to take a 21-7 lead into the halftime break.
The Irish converted 2 third downs on their opening drive. From there, they went 0-for-2. Third-down offense was key in the Orange Bowl win over Penn State, when the Irish went 11-for-17 on third down. Entering Monday’s game, Notre Dame was 22-for-44 on third down in the CFP.
While the offense struggled, the defense fared even worse.
Ohio State converted all 6 of its third-down attempts.
The Buckeyes’ average distance on third down was just 4.8 yards. That afforded offensive coordinator Chip Kelly the luxury of balance. Quarterback Will Howard completed each of his 3 passes for 46 yards — part of a brilliant first half from the Buckeye passer. The Buckeyes also averaged 6.3 yards on their 3 rushing attempts.
“We gotta get off the field on third down,” Freeman told ESPN before leaving the field. “We’ve gotta be able to cover them. We were trying to play a little man and they converted, we play a little zone and they’re converting. We’ve just got to get some things fixed. We’re making uncharacteristic mistakes on both sides of the ball.
“… Defensively, we’ve just got to relax. This moment shouldn’t be too big for us. We’ve got to relax and go back and do the things we’re supposed to do to be aggressive. We’ll get ’em going.”
Notre Dame held opponents to just 29.8% on third-down tries in its previous 15 games. That clip ranked fifth nationally. Only 6 FBS teams had forced more third downs.
If the Irish are going to get back into the title fight, they need to find their footing on the money down. That’s easier said than done, though. Ohio State was a 20.5-point favorite at FanDuel on the live game spread at the half.
Marcus Freeman highlights third-down struggles as Notre Dame trails Ohio State at half Saturday Down South.
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