Blue-Gold five key moments

By J.J. POST a ssociate sports editor

n otre d ame football hosted its 92nd annual b lueGold Game s aturday, with team Gold handily winning the open scrimmage 24-0. Though a combination of blustery s outh b end spring weather whipping through n otre d ame s tadium and copious amount of depth chart rotation ensured play was far from consistently excellent, here are the five key moments that defined the game.

1. Sam Hartman excels on the opening drive, Gold Team takes early lead it didn’t take long for n otre d ame’s big offseason addition to look the part of a standout player. h artman was the first quarterback to lead a drive under center, and the graduate student did so with aplomb. h artman threw three passes and completed all three. The final, a short connection to junior Jayden Thomas, was turned into a nine-yard touchdown thanks to some nifty running by the junior receiver. a ll told, h artman engineered a five-play, 75yard drive in his first snaps in front of n otre d ame fans — a dream debut for him, as well as Freeman and offensive coordinator Gerad Parker.

2. Buchner struggles early on i f h artman was flawless to start his day off, junior Tyler b uchner was up-anddown. The junior incumbent starter couldn’t seem to find his footing over the course of several drives for Team b lue. b uchner was “sacked” (though not actually tackled due to his red jersey) twice on his first drive. h e went 2-6 with 10 yards on his second, which culminated abruptly with an interception by freshman cornerback Jaden m ickey. b uchner ended the day 8-18 with 44 yards and an interception. a fter the game, head coach m arcus Freeman admitted he deserved the blame for b uchner’s interception. “ i told [ b uchner] that i ’ve got to take responsibility for the pick,” Freeman said. “o n third down i went in there trying to help and said ‘ah, it’s cover two’ ... it ended up not being cover two. s o i ’ll take responsibility … i ’ll tell the media, don’t worry about it. s o that was on me.”

3. Hartman caps off his strong outing, increases Gold lead to 21

Though h artman only played the first 20 minutes or so of game action, he made his mark just about every time he took the field. a fter notching a running touchdown on his second drive of the game, h artman kept his momentum going in the second quarter. The Wake Forest transfer’s final action of the day was his best, a deft touch pass to the corner of the end zone for a touchdown by graduate student m att s alerno. The score capped off a 10-play, 55-yard drive and a stellar day overall for h artman.

4. Teams exchange failed fourth-down conversions throughout the middle quarters a fter an exciting start, the scrimmage action slowed down over the second and third quarters. Part of that slowdown was a failure by both teams b lue and Gold to sustain drives. b oth teams got aggressive on fourth down, attempting a combined six over the game’s middle 30 minutes. n either team found much success, however, with five of those attempts resulting in a turnover on downs. The failure to convert was especially prevalent in the third quarter. b oth teams combined for just three points while recording one punt and four turnovers on downs in the second-to-last frame.

5. Sloppy fourth quarter caps off dominant Gold display

With most starters removed from action by the final frame, the fourth quarter was the most disorganized of the game. a fter sophomore kicker Zac Yoakam buried a 28-yard field goal to put team b lue up 24-0, the game mostly became an exchange of three or four-and-outs. a combined 21 plays from scrimmage by both teams in the fourth quarter amassed a grand net total of -1 yards, as well as three turnovers. The final play of the game was a desperation heave by reserve sophomore quarterback d ylan d evezin, which was in turn picked off by senior safety Xavier Watts.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu