Audric Estimé should not have scored.
A chaotic 17-yard Sam Hartman scramble to convert a 4th-and-16 with less than a minute kept No. 11 Notre Dame’s comeback hopes alive at No. 17 Duke on Saturday night. The Irish (5-1) were suddenly in field goal range, and a field goal would win the primetime tilt without ever giving the Blue Devils (4-1) the ball back, even if that was perhaps a worrisome thought given Spencer Shrader had missed a 37-yard attempt in the second quarter.
The smart football play would be to run a couple times, drain the clock as close to zero as possible while costing Duke its timeouts and then trust Shrader.
Estimé had a different idea, scoring a 30-yard touchdown to give Notre Dame a 21-14 win in Durham. He never considered falling down at the one-yard-line.
“We were really trying to just run the ball, run the clock out, set ourselves up to kick the game-winning field goal,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said to ABC afterward. “It’s probably a situation where you want to go down and really kick the ball.”
But Estimé is a junior in college, an aggressive running back, a powerful ball carrier seemingly incapable of being tackled backward. He was the only Irish player to find the end zone on Saturday, and in the end, he was the only one that needed to.
“It wasn’t a pretty game, but we got the job done,” Estimé said after taking 18 carries for 81 yards and two scores. "... [Duke is] a really good team, they’re a physical team.”
That physical team kept the Irish offense in check most of the night. Notre Dame’s plight was not helped by having only four scholarship receivers available, freshman Jaden Greathouse and junior Jayden Thomas both sidelined by hamstring issues.
Marcus Freeman says he expects Jayden Thomas and Jaden Greathouse "back" which sounds like for Louisville next week. Said Thomas was close to returning. Greathouse warmed up, Freeman said that hamstring pull happened Thursday.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) October 1, 2023
Without them, the most experienced Irish receiver on the field may have been sophomore Tobias Merriweather, who was battling a case of the drops on Saturday. When Notre Dame needed 16 yards or the game would be over, no receiver responded to Hartman’s pleading waves to come back to the ball as he drifted out of the pocket on fourth down. Twice his off hand gestured toward himself, the universal signal for “come here,” the usual scramble drill default. And no one got open.
So off Hartman went.
“When he decided to run and pulled the ball down, I really felt good about it,” Freeman said. “I kind of saw, if Sam’s going to run this, he’s going to make it.”
Hartman awkwardly hurled his body an extra yard across the line to gain, last week’s costly pair of 4th-and-1 failures still in his head, not willing to risk a bad spot this time around.
“It happened last week, on a 4th-and-1 situation, he learned from that,” Freeman said. “That’s what I keep talking about. You have to learn from those opportunities. For him to run there, he wasn’t going to be denied.”
MAKE A PLAY 10#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/7lDIpLPpFX
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 1, 2023
Hartman finished with 30 rushing yards on four carries (sacks adjusted) along with 222 passing yards on 15-of-30 completions. Only junior tight end Mitchell Evans was a consistent target, catching six passes for 134 yards. The Irish offense very much resembled the 2022 version, relying entirely on a tight end, no other downfield presence to look for, waiting for an explosive running play.
That explosive running play arrived exactly when it was not supposed to.
Audric Estime house call. pic.twitter.com/3Wv87kQj63
— Matt Freeman (@mattfreemanISD) October 1, 2023
It was only enough because Notre Dame’s defense played as well as the Irish offense played inconsistently. While Notre Dame went 3-of-15 on third downs, six Irish tackles for loss repeatedly knocked Duke off schedule. Notre Dame protected the ball, unlike Duke, turning it over twice and narrowly avoided a third.
The Blue Devils gained only 4.8 yards per play and crossed midfield on just five of 12 possessions, twice stalling in the red zone and subsequently missing field goals.
“A lot of luck. Defense,” Hartman said to describe how the Irish won.
Duke had the ball with 7:58 remaining and began to wind down the clock, running just eight plays in more than five minutes. As the Blue Devils got into Irish territory, it seemed Notre Dame may not get the ball back at all. Instead, senior safety Xavier Watts and fifth-year defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah combined for a third-down stop, prompting Duke to pooch punt, pinning the Irish at their own five-yard line.
“Hats off to our defense,” Hartman said. “They battled all week, got us the ball back to close the game out. Defense wins championships, and they won it today.”
The defense kept Notre Dame in the game, long enough for Hartman and Estimé to go win it.
CLUTCH#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/K6TK5DXeIQ
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 1, 2023
A PYRRHIC LOSS FOR DUKE
Opponents had fumbled 10 times against Notre Dame this season, counting one fumble from Duke quarterback Riley Leonard at the end of the first half. The Irish had not recovered any of them. In a sport with an oblong ball, that is the definition of bad luck.
Notre Dame recovered the 11th fumble, fifth-year defensive tackle Howard Cross stripping Leonard as he sacked him two plays after Estimé's game-winning touchdown. Fifth-year linebacker Marist Liufau jumped on the loose ball to seal the comeback win.
But what will be most remembered is the visual of Leonard squirming in pain after Cross landed on his ankle. A possible All-American and first-round draft pick, Leonard is the straw that stirs Duke’s drink, the launching pad for the Blue Devils going 13-5 in head coach Mike Elko’s first 18 games. If he is out for significant time, Duke will lose more games and this dramatic rise will be short-circuited.
Hartman knows injuries, most notably missing the 2022 season opener while at Wake Forest as he recovered from a surgery to remove a blood clot. He also knows Leonard, quarterbacks spending more time together in the offseason than is generally realized, perhaps particularly quarterbacks who lived in the same state and played in the same conference up until this past January.
“Right now I’m just thinking about Riley,” Hartman said literally moments after the come-from-behind win. “That kid’s a helluva player. He went down, I really want to go check in on him.”
Sam Hartman waiting outside the tent after the game for Riley Leonard was so awesome
— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 1, 2023
Hopefully nothing serious for the Duke QB🙏 pic.twitter.com/peOW4MFrHc
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
11:00 — Notre Dame touchdown. Audric Estimé 6-yard rush. Spencer Shrader point after. Notre Dame 7, Duke 0. (8 plays, 82 yards, 3:57)
Second Quarter
14:56 — Notre Dame field goal. Shrader 35 yards. Notre Dame 10, Duke 0. (4 plays, -4 yards, 1:33)
Third Quarter
9:17 — Notre Dame field goal. Shrader 45 yards. Notre Dame 13, Duke 0. (10 plays, 43 yards, 4:55)
3:36 — Duke touchdown. Jordan Waters 1-yard rush. Todd Pelino point after. Notre Dame 13, Duke 7. (11 plays, 75 yards, 5:41)
Fourth Quarter
9:17 — Duke touchdown. Jordan Moore 3-yard pass from Riley Leonard. Pelino point after. Duke 14, Notre Dame 13. (8 plays, 80 yards, 4:27)
0:31 — Notre Dame touchdown. Estimé 30-yard rush. Rico Flores catch 2-point conversion. Notre Dame 21, Duke 14. (10 plays, 95 yards, 2:04)