You could slice up this game a bunch of different ways. Was it an easy win? Was it a win that was far too difficult? Did we watch more of a clinic on poor officiating? The correct answer seems to be all of the above. The final score won’t turn heads but on sweltering South Bend afternoon the Fighting Irish mostly controlled visiting Boise State and eventually cruised to their 3rd win of the season.
Here’s the 18 Stripes review of Notre Dame’s 28-7 win over the Broncos.
QUARTERBACK: B-
Carr has set the bar very high for himself through 5 games and I suspect he might agree with this type of a grade. In the grand scheme, he was fine and played well. The missed 4th & 8 throw over the middle to a wide open Will Pauling was something we’re just not used to Carr missing, even if it was just a little off. That would’ve pushed the score to 13-0 or 14-0 and this could’ve been a blowout.
The pump fake scramble for 28 yards was a pretty nifty play. The two touchdown passes were very nice balls thrown on target, too. The 4th quarter also got pretty garbage time-y. Carr threw a pass to open the final frame (3rd & 25), Price scored on a long run the next series, and Carr threw another 3rd & 14 before they eventually kneeled down the end the game the next series.
RUNNING BACK: B+
The failed 4th down run to open the game felt like a “here we go again” moment that the team didn’t entirely shake off until the 2nd half when it became clear Boise State was having one heck of a time moving the ball and putting too much on short king Maddux Madsen. It’s weird because Love’s touchdown run against Penn State last year will go down in college football lore for effort and desire yet so many of his short yard opportunities seem to be either really poor vision or hilariously easy successful plays.
Love went over 100 yards, Price nearly did too. It was a very nice day, although not crazy dominant. Outside of their longest runs apiece, the Irish combo ran the ball 22 times for 101 yards. I think that’s a little frustrating because the offense was close to putting it together but just didn’t get there, and allowed Boise State to hog possession and even gain more first downs.
WIDE RECEIVER: B
With Jaden Greathouse out with injury it’s no surprise the depth chart tightened up and only 3 receivers caught passes. We almost saw a long completion to Micah Gilbert, otherwise it was only Faison, Fields, and Pauling in the mix. Things were close to perfect with Faison and Fields (10 receptions on 12 targets) although Pauling only had 2 catches on 5 targets from Carr.
I know I’ve brought this up in the past–will they ever develop some depth at receiver this year? Seven out of the 11 receivers on the roster are either barely playing or not playing at all. Through 5 games, those 7 have combined for 7 receptions, 4 of them coming from Gilbert. Remember the August camp love for Elijah Burress? That feels like it was ages ago!
TIGHT END: C+
A long reception by Eli Raridon was called back by penalty–one of approximately 3,659 on the day. After a hot start to the season, Raridon has only caught 4 passes over the last 3 games. I wonder if this will be the lowest amount of tight end receptions for Notre Dame since 2016? That year saw a hilariously low 12 catches between Durham Smythe and Nic Weishar, although most seasons the combined total is in the 40 to 50 range.
OFFENSIVE LINE: A
A talking point leading up to this game was Boise State’s ineffectiveness creating havoc after being one of the top teams in the nation last year in this regard. On Saturday, the offensive line for the Irish dominated the proceedings. No sacks given up, Carr wasn’t pressured very often, and the Broncos only totaled 5 tackles for loss.
Aamil Wagner briefly left the game but came back and looks okay. This group really seems to have turned the corner from the beginning of the season and I’ll be interested to see them up against some better defenses down the road.
DEFENSIVE LINE: B+
I was surprised to see Boise State finish with 100 rushing yards because it didn’t seem like they A) ran the ball very much or B) had much consistent success with it. I thought their offensive line had a big problem keeping Notre Dame in check. Boise State did gain 40 yards on 3 chunk plays on the ground, though. In a game like this it just wasn’t enough to sustain drives.
Madsen was not comfortable in the pocket most of the game and I think that largely drove the overall defensive performance. The Irish even picked up 4 sacks, although amazingly AGAIN, no additional tackles for loss. That’s 6 non-sack tackles for loss through 5 games!
LIINEBACKER: B+
This was as fast and aggressive as the linebackers have played this year, I thought. Madsen likes to attack the middle of the field and found some success occasionally, although Notre Dame won more of those battles.
The 4th down tipped pass by KVA in the 4th quarter might have been the play of the game for me. Boise State had the ball just inside Notre Dame territory and a potential 21-14 score with half a quarter remaining really colors the perception of this game differently.
SECONDARY: A
Four interceptions! Two from Leonard Moore (back from injury!), and one each from Tae Johnson and Luke Talich. I’d like to see a really detailed breakdown of his game because Tae Johnson seems to be getting better and better with several “wow” moments each game. His unnecessary roughness penalty was absurd, and not even the worst call of the day from this abomination of an officiating crew. He’s started the last couple games and Notre Dame really needs to prioritize his development over the transfer Jalen Stroman.
Overall, this group did an excellent job against an offense that got pass happy. They only allowed 2 explosive plays, Madsen dinked and dunked for a terrible 5.8 yards per attempt, and threw in those brutal turnovers.
NOTES:
I’m curious to see the future for this Boise State program. I feel like I’ve been writing them off for a few years as they’ve wandered in the wilderness outside of the now enlarged power conferences. They almost beat Oregon last year! Still, they aren’t making the playoffs this year and won’t face a power team, potentially, until the postseason. For a program known as a giant killer they haven’t beaten a power program since the 2019 opener against what would become a 7-loss Florida State squad. It’s been 7 full years!
After the game, Freeman said kicker Noah Burnette tweaked something during practice this week and didn’t feel right during warmups. True freshman Erik Schmidt had the first PAT blocked (and has looked shaky at best this season), continued to handle kickoff duties, but gave way to Marcello Diomede for the last 2 PAT attempts of the game. The kicking situation is not in a good place right now. Freeman’s comments about being “comfortable with the offense” lead me to believe they won’t be kicking any field goals outside the 20-25 yard line for the foreseeable future.
Jadarian Price boosted his rushing average on the season up to 7.41 yards per carry. Do we dare believe he could flirt with George Gipp’s 8.1 average from 1920?
The Justin Elliott-led ACC crew called a combined 24 penalties during this game and took their sweet time discussing them before telling the world the results. It was the worst of both worlds. Ticky tack calls and a game completely broken up with no rhythm. I’m sure the roughing the passer call on Jason Onye will be the worst called against the Irish this year.
Boise State gained 112 empty calorie yards in the 4th quarter alone. They still lost the YPP battle by 2.8 yards. This was really close to being a super ugly 42-7 loss for the Mountain West team.
NO JINX: CJ Carr has not thrown an interception over his las 83 pass attempts, an important streak for a redshirt freshman. It’s been about 14.5 quarters of football since his last one back in the Texas A&M game.
Although I will always call for the gold pants with green jersey, the all-green look was a great color balance against Boise State’s all-white.
On the Onye roughing the passer, did they ever show the replay of the right penalty? They showed a sideline hit, but that wasn’t what was called – I think Onye might have hit him in the head on a pass rush. But, unless I missed it, they didn’t show it.
Anyway, good game, bad refs. I think your grades are all more or less right. And agree re: Tae Johnson – is it possible by the end of the year he’ll surpass Shuler in our collective minds? That seems like a lofty goal but Johnson looks really good.
They did show it. He basically ran into the QB just as he was releasing the ball (so it wasn’t a late hit), and his helmet didn’t hit the QB’s helmet and each of his arms was on either side of the QB. The closest that came to roughing the passer was that his chest hit the QB’s chest. Either Garrett or Hicks asked what was going to be a legal hit on the QB if that wasn’t one.
I read somewhere (the discord thread, perhaps?) that after the game, MF said the refs told him they called the penalty because Onye landed on top of the QB with his full weight,which the rule prohibits. Not sure how you can avoid doing that in a split second, though.
Oh I’m mixing up that roughing call with another one. Yes, the Onye roughing call was terrible. There was some other personal foul where the back judge threw the flag because (I think) a defensive lineman hit the QB in the head, and then the NBC broadcast thought they called a late hit out of bounds that was very obviously not a late hit – but that’s because that wasn’t what the actual penalty was.
EDIT: maybe I should read down the subthread before commenting.
Are you thinking of the play where there was a holding call on Moore and a roughing the passer? NBC showed Talich tripping up the QB near the sideline but the penalty was on KVA for contacting his head in the pocket.
Yes, that’s right – broadcast was like “what, that sure doesn’t look like a penalty?” and then decided to show it again rather than realize that wasn’t actually the penalty.
I texted some friends during the second half that this feels like one of those monsoon games, where everything is disjointed and you’re not sure how many take away you can legitimately have because both teams were fighting the elements. Just a horrifically officiated game all around.
I saw on one of the boards that this is the same crew from the Virginia game last year, which makes sense because that also felt like a poorly officiated mess. Notre Dame needs to make whatever threats they can to ensure no one from that crew ever sets foot in the stadium in a professional capacity ever again.
If this is Carr’s “bad” game we’ve all been waiting for, I’ll take it. With so many of our recent QBs, if they missed an open throw, you knew it was gonna be a long day. Yet Carr still had a few dimes in there and no interceptions. Hopefully a minor bump in the road.
Per SP+, our postgame expected margin of victory was 32.5, our largest expected margin this season. A frustrating game in many ways but a good performance overall for a good win.
This was the most aggression the ND D has played with this year. It looked at times like they had a true dislike for Boise St. I like that mindset much better than what we saw earlier this year.
Absolutely! I was watching in a Paris bar with ND folks, and even my son’s French wife, who has been struggling to master the arcane sport of American football, said, they (Irish defenders) “are really hitting fast; they seem kind of mean” — so yeah!
Which gets to HCMF’s very clear assessment that when the details of the various play calls (actually he said the various techniques that could be used within each play call) are simplified, players can play faster and with more violence. My guess is that he has inserted himself into the DC’s business and is getting the D leaning hard in this direction.
Some thoughts: (1) The refs were frustrating, but at least they were calling them on both teams. (2) Whatever MF told Ash to simplify or change after Purdue has made a big difference. (3) KVA and Price are some dudes. (4) All in all, a solid victory that helps ND on their playoff redemption tour
I have a question about referees:
Has there been any discussion about getting rid of conference affiliated refs in D1 football (or whatever they call it now)? It seems like it should go away. A little off topic but I was curious.
No, there hasn’t. And the reason is because the conferences want it that way (you can probably guess why, though no one wants to admit it) and they run the sport.
As far as Stroman vs. Tae Johnson, I’ve been hearing that Stroman is a poor man’s Shuler, ie a great run stuffer. Johnson is becoming a great center fielder like X Watts last year, which is freeing up Shuler to do his thing. So yes, a combo of Stroman and Shuler isn’t our best duo, and not just because of talent.
Hoping we get some more garbage time games at the end of the season to see what the bottom of the WR depth chart can do.
For TE, I have no problem with a low usage rate at TE this year now that we have WRs who are more than cromulent.
Agree 100 percent on seeing the AR depth chart. (Also love the use of “cromulent”!)
I was at the game (hence no instant this week), but want to echo Eric’s thoughts about the KVA 4th-down play. One of my favorite plays of the season. That wasn’t KVA’s primary responsibility on that play but he’s a great athlete and he acted with confidence and with instinct and made a play himself.
It’s a microcosm of what has changed with this defense since the fiascos in the first 2 games. They are playing with confidence and attacking the football. Whatever changes were made and whoever made them, the right buttons were pushed, if too late for our liking. Freeman and the whole defensive staff deserve credit for that.
With our outrageous 18S subscription fees, we demand an instant analysis every week!
Those subscription fees are totally real and not in some offshore account in the Caymans right now, don’t you worry about it!
Andy, off topic, but in pursuit of my forever efforts to improve the crowd noise:
It was a hot day, and a disjointed game with 24 penalties, etc. But I noticed Boise had more than a few false starts. How was the crowd overall?In particular (as I’m readying a final full offensive on this point), was the band miked up? Showing evidence of being coordinated with the overall noise effort? Did they try to play the Celtic Chant just at the last minute before Boise would snap the ball on 3rd down (thereby quieting the students at a moment of need), vice playing it at earlier moments?
My sons and I were in Section 14, and I was disappointed at how many Boise fans were in our area and throughout the stands.
However, I can assure you that I made sure our section was living the MORE NOISE life whenever Boise was on Offense and doubly so when they were near our end zone.
That and we had good air pushup participation on the first 3 Irish TDs despite the encroaching heat exhaustion from cooking under that sun until halfway through the 4th quarter.
Good on ya all! I’ll try to follow in your path on Saturday, at least with my younger son.
Last note, I heard that we don’t have that many TFLs but we do have a lot of run stuffs. Kind of makes sense with a good but not great interior D Line, and also the eye test. Lots of one and two yard runs by our opponents.
Agree 100 percent. All those 2nd and 9’s and 2nd and 8s are very good ways to start series.