Irish Schedule | Week 3 Opponent | Score | Record |
Texas Longhorns | California Golden Bears | L 45-44 | 1-2 |
Virginia Cavaliers | William and Mary Tribe | W 35-29 | 1-2 |
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | @Notre Dame Fighting Irish | L 30-22 | 2-1 |
UMass Minutemen | Temple Owls | L 25-23 | 0-2 |
Clemson Tigers | @Louisville Cardinals | W 20-17 | 3-0 |
Navy Midshipmen | East Carolina Pirates | W 45-21 | 2-0 |
Southern California Trojans | Stanford Cardinal | L 41-31 | 2-1 |
Temple Owls | @UMass Minutemen | W 25-23 | 3-0 |
Pittsburgh Panthers | @Iowa Hawkeyes | L 27-24 | 2-1 |
Wake Forest Demon Deacons | @Army Black Knights | W 17-14 | 2-1 |
Boston College Eagles | Florida State Seminoles | L 14-0 | 2-1 |
Stanford Cardinal | @Southern California Trojans | W 41-31 | 2-1 |
Irish Opponent Week 3 Record: 6-6 Irish Opponent Season Record: 22-12
Irish opponents had a somewhat disappointing week, but Texas takes the cake as far as heart-breakers go. The Horns scored three fourth quarter TDs to rally late against Cal, but shanked the game tying extra point to lose 45-44. Quarterback Jerrod Hurd racked up a combined 527 yards of total offense and three rushing TDs for Texas. His 45 yards touchdown run with under a minute left should have sent the game to OT, but kicker Nick Rose wasn't close with his PAT attempt. The loss ends a turbulent week in Austin which also included the firing of AD Steve Patterson. Virginia got their first win of the season against the combined strength of William and Mary. QB Matt Johns had another strong outing with 17/23 passing for 263 yards and 3TDs. His favorite target was RB Taquan Mizzell who had 123 receiving yards to go with 50 on the ground. The Cavs conclude one of the toughest OOC schedules in the country next week against Boise State. Next week's Irish opponent, UMass, fell to another future opponent, Temple. UMass found an new and interesting way to lose this one that, like Texas, included drama on a late PAT. The Minutemen scored a go-ahead TD with 1:20 to go in the game to take a 23-20 lead. Their PAT was blocked and returned for a Temple 2pt conversion cutting the lead to 23-22. This gave Temple a chance to win the game with a FG, and the Owls proceeded to drive 50 yards in just over a minute to set up a game winning FG attempt. Kicker Austin Wood drilled the 32 yard kick to give the Owls their third win of the season. UMass QB Blake Frohnapfel had a big day through the air throwing for nearly 400 yards with 3 TDs, but the Minutemen rushing attack was held to under 50 yards. Temple QB PJ Walker had a similar stat line throwing for 391 yards and a TD, but he threw two picks as well.
Clemson escaped with a win at Louisville, but not without help from Cardinals kicker John Wallace. The Louisville kicker missed a 38 yard FG with less than 5:00 to go in the game. Tigers QB Deshaun Watson struggled for much of the game throwing two picks against the Cardinals defense, but Clemson relied on strong running from Wayne Gallman who had 139 yards on the ground. The Clemson defense was very impressive allowing Louisville just 272 total yards and forcing two turnovers. The Tigers are idle until they host the Irish the first weekend of October. Navy dominated East Carolina 45-21 game at home. The Middies ran their triple option to perfection racking up 415 yards on the ground. While the stat line was obviously impressive, considering the Irish performance against GT, ND fans can probably relax a little bit about facing another option team. QB Keenan Reynolds rushed for 142 yards and five (5!) TDs for the Middies while RB Chris Swain also had over 100 yards and a TD. The Navy defense allowed ECU to pass for over 300 yards, but kept the Pirates under 100 yards rushing. Out west, two Irish opponents faced off in LA where Stanford topped Southern Cal 41-31. The Trojans offense looked impressive, but their defense couldn't stop QB Kevin Hogan or RB Christian McCaffery. Hogan threw for 279 yards and two TDs while McCaffery passed 100 yards on the ground. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Cody Kessler both had impressive games for SC, but it wasn't enough to keep up with Stanford. While the Cardinal looked much improved, the Trojans have to be concerned with the performance of the defense allowing 41 points to an offense that scored just six against Northwestern two weeks ago.
Pittsburgh lost a tough game on the road against Iowa when Iowa's kicker Marshall Koehn drilled a 57 yard FG at the buzzer to beat the Panthers. The Pittsburgh rushing attack was held in check by the Hawkeyes as the Panthers ran for just 55 yards on 27 attempts. Pitt QB Nathan Peterman had a better day than his RBs, but threw two INTs to go with two TDs and 219 yards passing. Pitt also blocked a punt and returned it for a TD. The Panthers start ACC play next week in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech. Also in the ACC, Wake Forest knocked off Army on the road to move to 2-1. While Pitt fell on a last second FG, Wake kicker Mike Weaver converted a 47 yard kick as time expired to defeat the Black Knights 17-14. The Deacons played better than the score indicated, but had three turnovers that led to both of Army's touchdowns. Wake dual threat QB Kendall Hinton struggled through the air, throwing for just 159 yards with two picks and no TDs, but he went for over 100 and two TDs on the ground. Lastly Boston College played excellent defense to go with atrocious offense in a 14-0 loss at home against Florida State. The Eagles held FSU to just 217 total yards, but couldn't pass 200 yards themselves. BC's two QBs combined for 5/14 passing and just 56 yards with one interception. The ground game was a bit better, but the Eagles needed 43 carries to reach 139 yards rushing. Former Irish QB Everett Golson was held to just 119 yards and a TD on 15/24 passing, but that was all the Noles needed to beat the Eagles.