If a 49-14 victory over USC wasn’t enough of a good weekend for Notre Dame, the Irish also landed the commitment of local consensus three-star safety Paul Moala. Moala won’t be going far to college, coming from Mishawaka, Ind., directly next to South Bend, and Penn High School. Moala chose Notre Dame over offers from Iowa, Nebraska and Vanderbilt, among others on a growing offer list.
Moala joins one of the country’s top safeties, Derrik Allen (Lassiter H.S.; Marietta, Ga.), in an Irish class of 2018 now boasting 17 commitments. Moala first drew Notre Dame’s attention by flashing his speed at the Irish Invasion camp in the summer, earning a scholarship offer shortly thereafter.
That speed will quickly get a chance to make an impression on Notre Dame’s depth chart. The players currently at the position do have plenty of eligibility remaining, but have not exactly established themselves as stalwarts yet. Current junior Nick Coleman may be the most entrenched, but with only two years of eligibility remaining after 2017, he will only somewhat overlap with Moala.
Theoretically, the Irish depth chart at safety next season will begin looking something like:
| Field Safety | Boundary Safety |
| Nick Coleman – 2 years eligibility remaining | Jalen Elliott – 3 years eligibility remaining |
| Isaiah Robertson – 4 years | or Alohi Gilman – 3 years (Navy transfer) |
| or Devin Studstill – 3 years |
Josh Adams moves to No. 6 in Notre Dame rushing history, and now Julius Jones is next up.
Adams’ 191 rushing yards Saturday pushed him past Jerome Heavens (1975-78). The Irish junior now sits a mere 273 yards behind Jones (1999-2001, 2003). If Adams continues to average 138.1 yards per game, including a bowl game, he will move to No. 3 in school history, passing Vagas Ferguson (1976-79) and only trailing ho-hum names such as Allen Pinkett (1982-85) and Autry Denson (1995-98).
Until then, the talk will inevitably continue to swirl around Adams’ Heisman candidacy, or lack thereof.
“He definitely should be in every Heisman conversation,” Notre Dame senior center Sam Mustipher said after Adams’ three-touchdown Saturday. “If you ask him that, he probably won’t talk about it.
“He runs hard. I love blocking for the guy. There’s nobody I’d rather be blocking for than him and all of our backs.”
First of all, the talk of Adams not getting enough national attention has led to him getting suitable national attention, so let’s drop that concern. Sports Illustrated’s Bruce Feldman ranks Adams No. 4 in his Heisman consideration, behind Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, Stanford running back Bryce Love and Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, and ahead of Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor.
The applicable stats of those running backs to date:
Barkley in seven games: 117 rushes for 757 yards and eight touchdowns; 32 catches for 448 yards and three touchdowns; nine kick returns for 273 yards and one touchdown. Totals: 1,478 yards and 12 touchdowns, helping to a 7-0 record.
Love in seven games: 135 rushes for 1,387 yards and 11 touchdowns, helping to a 5-2 record.
Adams in seven games: 105 rushes for 967 yards and eight touchdowns, helping to a 6-1 record.
Taylor in seven games: 149 rushes for 1,112 yards and 11 touchdowns, helping to a 7-0 record.
Secondly, Irish coach Brian Kelly summed up the Heisman conversation with the best approach to it. This may not be reality, but it should be.
“We’re going to play some really good football teams the rest of the year,” Kelly said. “Maybe everyone should just wait until the end of the year and vote for the Heisman.”
Not everyone will wait until the end of the year, but if they did, they would get to see Adams against a top-tier defense in No. 14 North Carolina State, likely in primetime against No. 8 Miami (FL) and in a back-a-back matchup with Love and the No. 20 Cardinal to close the regular season.
Likewise, Barkley will get to face No. 6 Ohio State this weekend, No. 16 Michigan State in three weeks and likely Taylor and the No. 5 Badgers in the Big 10 title game. Love, meanwhile, has No. 12 Washington and No. 15 Washington State on his radar, along with Notre Dame.
The Heisman conversation should slow down. There are plenty of remaining opportunities for players to prove themselves best. In many respects, the season is just getting started.
While we’re talking about rushing marks, though, let’s mention junior Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush tied the Notre Dame single-season quarterback rushing touchdown record set by DeShone Kizer in 2015. Wimbush’s two scores on the ground against the Trojans give him 10 on the year with six games to notch just one more and claim the record for himself.
Let’s acknowledge USC was not at full-strength.
Even a cynic, often generally including yours truly, has to admit Notre Dame did everything it could in Saturday’s win. There was not a genuine fault to be found. After all, you can play only the opponent across from you, and the Irish embarrassed that opponent.
Or, what was remaining of that opponent.
Defensively, USC entered the game without star linebacker Porter Gustin (torn bicep), defensive tackle Josh Fatu (concussion) and his primary backup Marlon Tuipulotu (back surgery). Defensive end Rasheem Green played with a sprained ankle, not making a single tackle.
In the first quarter, lock-down cornerback Iman Marshall departed with a left knee injury. Later that drive, Wimbush picked on Marshall’s replacement, Isaiah Langley, by finding Notre Dame junior receiver Kevin Stepherson in the end zone.
This seems an applicable time to remind folks, North Carolina State had the week off.
If, and that is meant as a big word, the Irish were to lose to the Wolfpack, the distinction between College Football Playoff and playoff-eligible bowl should be known.
Notre Dame will be out of the Playoff discussion with a loss in any of its remaining five games. It would, however, still be in the thick of the latter discussion.
The semifinal games rotate among six bowl games: the Cotton Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. This year, the Rose and the Sugar are the semifinal destinations, but the CFP committee still decides the participants in the other four games.
This may sound like the top 12 go to those games. Not quite. A Group of Five team (a mid-major) is guaranteed one of those slots. This year it seems unlikely that team will rise to the top 12, so it becomes a race to be in the top 11 for everyone else.
Why does any of this matter? As much as any football can matter, those games will get the most eyeballs on New Year’s Day weekend (Dec. 30 – Jan. 1, this year).
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