Proud of the kids for the fight that they showed tonight. The first drive was an absolute clinic in physical football. I think Leonard was injured after the first drive, and he gutted it out. Jaden Greathouse has begun his star turn. The offensive line overall held up, and Mitchell Evans has regained his explosiveness and confidence.
That being said, I don't think that the coaching staff had a great night. Golden was outschemed by Kelly for most of the night, and Denbrock forgot about the running game to anyone aside from Leonard. I think that it would have helped on the drive that ended with the missed field goal. Freeman also made a poor decision to go with the fake punt - yes, the play was there and should have been converted, but I would prefer going with the first team offense to get the conversion there rather than the backup QB cold off the bench.
All that aside, this was an absolutely magical season, and I think things are looking like they will be really exciting for Notre Dame football. I hurt a lot for the Howard Cross's, the Jack Kiser's, the Xavier Watts's and the Rylie Mills's who gave so much to this program and didn't get the payoff of a national championship.
