Al Golden Explains Pivotal Decisions From Notre Dame Loss To Ohio State

Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden discussed his decisions on 3rd and 19 and goal line calls in Notre Dame's heartbreaking loss to Ohio State

There is no getting around the reality of Notre Dame’s loss to Ohio State last Saturday. It happened. Fans know it, Notre Dame coaches know it and the players certainly know it.

That twisted nightmare of an ending that snatched defeat from the hands of victory was on display with more than 14 million watching on live TV. Al Golden’s defense was the unit with just 10 players on the field at the end of one of the most dramatic endings Notre Dame Stadium has seen in the last two decades.

There’s another game to play this week, though and Golden, who spoke with the media on Tuesday for the first time since Saturday's shorthanded meltdown, noted the mindset he has seen from his players this week.

"I would just say that's like when we call it synergy or symbiosis,” Golden began. "Like, what drove me to get out of bed Sunday and go to work? What drove me to stay late last night? What drove me to get in early today? It’s those kids and the way they just responded. So, they know. Look, you can't BS the kids and they turn on the film, and they see the threat that Duke is. So, for them to go out like they did today and respond and put that behind them shows maturity, shows leadership, shows toughness and we're going to need all of that come Saturday night.”

Beyond having just 10 players on the field, Golden’s personnel packages were easily second-guessed as well. They used a timeout to change from a more traditional goal line look before the pivotal 3rd and 19 conversion and ultimately decided to play quarters on the back end while rushing just three on the pass to Emeka Egbuka that went to the Irish one-yard line.

“I just thought we would get a good vision and break, and obviously we’ve got to coach it better,” Golden said of the decision. "But what I didn't want to do (was what we did on) the previous 4th down, the previous longer third down. (We) went cover-1 both times, and they beat us and what I didn't want to do is throw a jump ball in the back of the end zone. That would have been one that I would have lamented. Could we call other things there? For sure, but we need to execute that call, break on the ball, get the ball on the ground.”

Ohio State ran two plays from the one. The first was the roll out to the right and incomplete pass by Kyle McCord. The second was the game-winning touchdown run. The Irish infamously had just 10 players on the field, but Golden also called for a nickel package, rather than a bigger goal line look.

“I chose nickel, because, without saying too much, I wanted a specific look,” Golden explained. "Obviously, I guessed right on (second) down (the incomplete pass play). But I really thought that this call would be the call that would handle all the options that they could have. Move the pocket. Some kind of read-option or zone-read component, so that’s the choice I made there.”

The real horror of Saturday’s final result is it masked what was an otherwise stellar performance by Golden’s defense. The Fighting Irish held a Buckeye team that was averaging better than 40 points a game to just 17 points. They were one play (and one absent player on the field) from holding the Buckeyes to just 10 points.

Throw in a 61-yard touchdown run for the only other OSU touchdown of the night. It’s a mixture that keeps a coach up at night.

“Every day is a battle during the season to get ready for Saturday,” Golden remarked. "If you waste time, if you feel sorry for yourself, if you're trying to commiserate with other people, you're not moving forward and you have to move forward. Like I just said downstairs (to the electronic media), I don't think there's a coordinator in the country that has been in that position that wouldn't say, ‘Ah, I wish I would have called this instead of that, because they threw the ball here or they completed that ball.’ So, there are always calls that I can look back and say, ‘I would do it differently.’ But the bottom line is execution. So, whatever we call, we need to execute. We need to coach it better and we need to finish. We really do. We need to finish, and it's not just one play or one series of plays. We need to do a better job.” 

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

Irish Breakdown Content

2023 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2024 Commit Rankings - Offense
2024 Commit Rankings - Defense

2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @SeanStires
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter