SOUTH BEND, Ind. — As well as No. 7 Notre Dame’s offense played in scoring 66 points and gaining 591 yards against New Mexico on Saturday, it was far from perfect. In particular, the Irish (2-0) struggled on third downs, although the greatest issue may not have been short-yardage situations.
Disregarding time with backup quarterbacks at the helm, Notre Dame converted only one of seven third downs, but it then went for it on three of the subsequent fourth downs, converting all three. In one form or another, those drives continued as if the Irish had converted the initial third-down attempt.