Breaking down the advanced stats from a wild win over Wake Forest – a poor performance from the defense that isn’t as bad without garbage time, an uncharacteristic struggle in the red zone, and a look ahead at an enormous showdown in Miami this weekend.

The Basics

This game is a perfect summary of why advanced stats are so much more helpful than counting stats. Post-game there was a lot of reaction, both good and bad, to the gaudy yardage totals put up by both teams. The Irish tied a school record for total yardage! How did we give up that many yards and points to Wake freaking Forest? Depending on how you wanted to interpret the result you could use the raw numbers to develop a compelling argument that everything was fine or that Miami is going to put up 600 yards on us next week.

By the advanced stats though, this was not as much of an abnormality, either offensively or defensively. Both offenses piled up yardage and points in garbage time, and with Wake Forest running a high tempo offense that meant many opportunities. Where to begin/end garbage time can be subjective – if you go by looking strictly at point differentials by quarter, which is how most systems define it, this game would have gone in and out of garbage time several times. But I’ll count garbage time beginning when the Irish went up 34-10 in the 3rd quarter, which leaves 41% of plays in garbage time.

Explosiveness

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for celebration, and 700+ yards is incredible. But from the team’s post-game comments, it doesn’t sound like the Irish offense was all that impressed with their own accomplishments against Wake Forest. Before garbage time the Irish YPP mark of 8.05 was only their 4th best of 2017, and garbage time actually aided their total yardage (10.4! YPP in garbage time).

In terms of explosive play percentage, this was actually Notre Dame’s best performance of the season, but it was coupled with so-so efficiency and one of the poorer performances of the season in terms of converting scoring opportunities. The Irish had scoring opportunities (first downs inside the Wake 40-yard line) on eight of the first nine drives, but uncharacteristically came up short on a few of those drives with a missed field goal and failed fourth down conversion.

Defensively, 5.83 YPP allowed pre-garbage time was the 3rd biggest mark allowed, behind Miami (OH) (a weird one), and Michigan State. Post garbage-time, when no defense was really stopping anyone, that number spikes to 7.43 YPP allowed to the Demon Deacons offense. At the end of 40 minutes Wake accumulated 342 garbage time yards, and maybe that isn’t a good reason not to panic about Mike Elko’s unit. While an imperfect analogy, I’d also call the 2nd half defense’s effort level much more “LeBron in the second game of a back to back in January in Sacramento” than “LeBron in the NBA Finals”.

Efficiency

Despite losing #33Trucking early in this game, the Irish rushing attack continues to roll without bias toward the ball carrier and care for the opponent. Brandon Wimbush looked excellent in almost every part of the game – I say almost only because he could have done without taking a few hits and he did put the ball on the ground. But through the air he was very impressive, with a pass success rate that was Notre Dame’s second best this season against a Wake Forest defense that is very decent overall and top-20 in Passing S&P+.

While the completion percentage again wasn’t pretty, 9.3 yards per attempt marks a season-high for Wimbush. It was also a career day for Chase Claypool, who took advantage of a whopping 13 targets to compile 9 receptions for 180 yards. That line (13.8 yards/target) stood in stark contrast to Equanimeous St. Brown (2 for 36 yards on 8 targets, 4.5 yards/target) and it doesn’t feel premature to wonder if there may be an ongoing changing on the guard in terms of the number one receiver on this team.

By defensive percentile performance (think standardized tests) this was very easily the worst defensive performance of the season. The Irish graded out with a 25th percentile defensive performance (not excluding garbage time, but still) when the previous low was a 61st percentile effort at Michigan State (another high garbage time game, but also one where the opponent moved the ball very well). If the pessimistic argument is that the ND defense looked like trash in garbage time and should still be better, I have no arguments for you.

However, the numbers in regular time were far from disastrous, and it’s worth acknowledging that John Wolford and Wake Forest executed extremely well and successfully unveiled some new wrinkles. The Demon Deacons are a top 40 offense per S&P+, and they were below average nationally in efficiency and average in explosiveness in the first half. The Irish are still 7th nationally in opponent success rate, and I wouldn’t anchor too heavily on efficiency allowed in the 3rd (61% success rate) or 4th (54%) quarters.

Finishing Scoring Opportunities, Field Position, & Turnovers

This was just the second time in 2017 that Notre Dame had fewer point per scoring opportunity than an opponent, the other coming in the Georgia loss. The Irish bogged down a little bit on a few scoring threats, and I wonder if Adams’ absence may have made a difference there. Still, 4.8 points per scoring opportunity is still above average nationally. Convert opportunities the way the Irish had all season and a 60-point game was well within reach.

The defense failed to tighten up on scoring opportunities for the first time this year – the previous worst points per trip inside the 40 allowed was 4.67 against USC. Seven scoring opportunities allowed was also a season high, but the numbers pre and post garbage time show an expected disconnect. Before garbage time, and excluding a one-play end of half possession, the Deacs had two scoring opportunities in eight possessions. In those two scoring chances they settled for a field goal and had one touchdown (easy math – 3.5 points per opportunity). In garbage time, Wake Forest had scoring chances in each of their five drives and converted four into touchdowns (5.4 PPD).

It won’t make any headlines, but this was one of Notre Dame’s better games in terms of starting field position. It made little difference, especially since Wake put together long garbage-y drives, but a seven yard advantage in average starting field position would be extremely valuable moving forward – please continue the good kickoff coverage.

The Irish again benefitted from some turnover luck in this game, with fumble recoveries continuing to bounce in Notre Dame’s favor. Julian Love continues to put his hands on a lot of passes, and hopefully that continues against a Miami team that likes to throw the ball up for grabs multiple times a game.

On to Miami

Keys when Miami has the ball:

#1) Prevent the explosive plays

There’s a lot that’s scary about the Canes – they’re balanced (18th in Offensive S&P+, 27th in Defensive S&P+), athletic, and well coached. Their formula on offense is also unlike any of the recent offenses the Irish have faced that were high-efficiency – Miami is pretty average in offensive success rate but relies on a very explosive attack (6th in IsoPPP).

Miami has a wealth of skill position talent – definitely the most dangerous receiving corps the Irish will see in the regular season. Braxton Berrios (13.3 YPC, 71% catch rate) and tight end Chris Herndon (12.3 YPC, 68% catch rate) are the reliable efficiency options while Ahmmon Richards (19.4 YPC, 47% catch rate), (20.7 YPC, 50% catch rate) and Jeff Thomas (22.6 YPC, 58% catch rate) are explosive downfield threats. That stats of that last trio are telling- Malik Rosier takes a lot of downfield shots, is inconsistent, but has a lot of guys who can win one on one.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, has given up only one pass of 40+ yards this year (tied for second nationally with Alabama). If there’s any place the Irish have shown some weakness, it’s with jump-ball passes, and the field is likely the be in rough shape at Hard Rock Stadium. If the Irish can prevent the big chunk plays, I don’t think the Hurricanes are consistently efficient enough to put together several long, sustained drives.

#2) Win the battle in the trenches

It’s always easy to compare unknown future opponents to ones the Irish have already played. If we were to build Miami out of a Frankenstein of past opponents, it seems like it would be something like the USC offense with better receivers and a less consistent QB, then with a defense a little less athletic than UGA’s and a little better than NC State’s. So in trying to limit an opposing offense that has talent pretty close to the Trojans, it will again be critical for the ND defensive line to win up front.

The Hurricanes are 44th in adjusted line yards, and 79th in opponent stuff rate. The offensive line has been fine but not spectacular run blocking, and really poor in power run success rate (42.9%, 130th in FBS aka dead last). The Hurricanes are also 55th in adjusted sack rate – they’ve been better on passing downs, but poor protecting Rosier on standard downs (86th). The Irish can neutralize some of the Canes skill position talent (and an explosive back in Travis Homer) if they can again win with the defensive line.

#3) Keep Rosier in check and uncomfortable

The challenge in containing the U’s offense includes the threat of Rosier running with the ball. He can extend plays with his legs and is a threat on read option plays (and even had two passes thrown to him on trick plays against the Hokies). Rosier has good but not great speed, kind of similar to John Wolford of Wake Forest – their stats on the year (5.5 and 6.0 YPC) are very close.

The more uncomfortable the Irish can make Rosier, the better – whether that comes through pressures, sacks, or pass deflections that keep him off balance. The first-year starter already has three games this season with a completion percentage below 50%, and if Notre Dame can add a fourth they have a great shot to win.

Keys when Notre Dame has the ball:

#1: Feed the running machine

After the big win over the Hokies there was a good deal of praise for the Miami defense, who had a strong performance and didn’t allow a run of more than 15 yards against VT. Missing from statistic was the context that Virginia Tech entered ranked 125th in Rushing Explosiveness (IsoPPP). Even after that performance, the Canes are 65th in Rushing IsoPPP and 82nd in Rushing S&P+ overall.

Manny Diaz is an aggressive defensive coordinator with a lot of talent to work with, and this translates into a lot of disruption (like NC State and Wake Forest, who have high TFL numbers as well). The Hurricanes look a lot like the Wolfpack statistically – high stuff rates and high havoc rates with the DL (4th and 5th nationally). But S&P+ doesn’t like either that much in terms of run defense, and Diaz’s aggression can leave things exposed for long gains when runners break through the first level.

As with NC State, you will hear a lot about Miami’s defense against the Irish run. The Canes definitely have the athletes to pose Georgia-like problems – but their track record hasn’t really shown that.  Holding the Hokies to 3.26 YPC was a season best, but Syracuse (106th in Rushing S&P+) averaged 6.17, FSU (62nd) went for 6 yards a carry, and Duke (47th) hit 5.32. The Irish have to be efficient enough to hit some long plays, but there aren’t real signs before last week of Miami being able to slow an offense like this down.

*Sidenote: Who is the best offense Miami has faced this season? According to S&P+, it’s the Toledo Rockets at 13th in the offensive rankings! The top power five team they’ve faced in Georgia Tech (50th), with just three opponents in the top 70 of Offensive S&P+ (Syracuse nicely makes that cut at 69th).

#2: Don’t be the one whose turnover luck runs out first

Both teams have strong turnover margins (5th and 6th nationally in margin per game), and that’s a result of both performance and luck. The Irish have benefitted from about 3.42 points per game of turnover luck according to advanced stat profiles, and Miami 4.32. What’s going into that measure? Notre Dame has recovered 10 of 13 opponent fumbles (77%), which you’d expect to be a coin flip proposition, while also losing just 3 of their 8 fumbles (37.5%).

The Hurricanes have had similar fortune smile upon them – they’ve lost just two of their seven fumbles and recovered 58% of opponent fumbles. In addition, they’ve been pretty lucky with pass deflections resulting in interceptions for Miami and not as often for other teams. Someone is likely to start having the ball bounce the other way this weekend, and the best way to minimize that impact is not the put the ball on the ground or in dangerous spots.

#3 Finishing Drives

Despite an off week against Wake and a few kneel downs, the Irish are still a top-10 offense in converting scoring opportunities (10th nationally). They will meet a top-10 defense in preventing scoring chances in Miami (9th in FBS), and something has to give. In the loss to the Bulldogs, the Irish actually had more scoring opportunities (6 to 5) but did slightly worse in those chances, resulting in a one point loss. In what should be another close game – S&P+ projects a result of Miami 30, ND 29 – the Irish need to continue their red zone excellence.