After a long layoff a lot of rust was expected for a Notre Dame program coming off a serious Covid breakout in the days after the win over South Florida. Somewhat unexpectedly, it was the Irish offense that came out completely under control as the defense scrambled, tackled poorly, and put together a surprisingly poor effort in the Clark Lea era. A couple of really unfortunate turnovers in the first half also contributed to a tighter game than expected.

Ultimately, Notre Dame out-classed what we can describe as a gritty Florida State team that put a lot of effort into a potential upset. The Irish will hope to tweak things on defense, get back on track on that side of the ball, and build off some of the momentum from the offense as reeling Louisville is up next.

Let’s review Notre Dame’s latest game to get to 3-0 on the season.

Stats Package
STAT IRISH FSU
Score 42 26
Plays 67 71
Total Yards 554 405
Yards Per Play 8.3 5.7
Conversions 3/10 5/17
Completions 16 17
Yards/Pass Attempt 8.0 8.1
Rushes 42 40
Rushing Success 69.0% 47.0%
10+ Yds Rushing 9 5
Defense Stuff Rate 22.5% 11.9%

 

This was one of those games where one more touchdown for the offense or one fewer touchdown given up by the defense would’ve felt like a completely acceptable result. A lot of the numbers point to a thorough win that was kept closer-than-expected thanks to a Kyren Williams fumble and Lawrence Keys fumbled punt return. We’ll look forward to Michael’s advanced stats review as that should have some very interesting nuggets to digest, too.

A game with +2.6 YPP differential feels about right as a 21-point favorite but the scoreboard didn’t exactly reflect that when the contest was finished.

Offense

QB: B+
RB: A
TE: B
OL: A++
WR: B-

There wasn’t a whole lot to complain about with the offense. At times, it looked like they were toying with the Seminoles as if they were playing a JV squad. Over the last 2 meetings, Notre Dame has rushed for 718 yards on 92 carries (7.8 per rush) against FSU which has to bruise their egos considerably.

The killer instinct just wasn’t quite there on Saturday night which dampened things a tiny bit.

The Williams fumble on the 2nd play from scrimmage, a bad 3rd down drop by Wilkins, a missed field goal on a stalled drive in the 2nd half that would’ve brought about 4 straight touchdowns for a 23-point lead, plus the final 12-play 75-yard drive that ended with Tyree stuffed at the FSU 2-yard line all contributed to a night that easily should’ve saw Notre Dame score close to 60 points.

Otherwise, the offense hummed nicely.

Cool, calm, and efficient Ian Book was back in effect. He started 8 of 10 for 96 yards with the aforementioned drop by Wilkins and a strange deep-ball attempt to Kevin Austin as the only blemishes. Beyond a 38-yard connection with Javon McKinley it was mostly short and intermediate routes as per usual, but the offense was completely balanced and able to move the ball easily for large sections of the game.

I also liked that Book got involved in the run game early and performed well moving around in the pocket. Florida State only mustered 2 hurries and no sacks but Book stepped up into the pocket like he should to make plays numerous times.

The offensive line’s performance was just a cavalcade of chef’s kisses which included Liam Eichenberg’s eye getting poked, swollen shut, only to see him return to action after halftime and some ice. My goodness. Virtually no pressure on Book in combination with nearly 70% rushing success and 354 rushing yards–it doesn’t get much better in the college game.

Notre Dame relied heavily upon Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree in the backfield again and neither disappointed going for 185 and 103 rushing yards, respectively, with a combined 21 successful runs.

Rushing Success

Williams – 13 of 19 (68.4%)
Book – 7 of 9 (77.7%)
Tyree – 8 of 11 (72.7%)
Flemister – 0 of 1 (0.0%)
Lenzy – 1 of 2 (50%)

Kyren rumbled for long runs of 65 and 46 yards, while Tyree scampered for a long of 45 yards on a day when the Irish put up an impressive 9 runs of at least 10 yards. The duo is quickly gaining notoriety nationally as one of the best young tandems in the country.

Super fun 6-yard gain from Williams. 

Receiver Javon McKinley came through with a career-high 107 yards which vaults him all the way up to the co-leader in yards on the season with Williams at 114. Yes, this means the Irish are on pace for their leading receiver(s) to not even break 500 yards individually over a 12-game schedule.

The Irish just cannot get more than 1 pass-catching option going in a game yet this year. I’ll have more on this below but as many can sense it’ll likely be the offense’s downfall at some point.

Defense

DL: C
LB: D+
DB: B

I’m sure Clark Lea won’t be very pleased with this performance. The 5.70 yards per play allowed was the 8th worst since the beginning of 2018 and the defense allowed a few too many big plays in addition to spells of really poor tackling. A few notes on why this happened:

1) We don’t usually ever hear any excuses from Lea but I’m assuming if he answered honestly he’d say the Seminoles threw some new looks at them with the mobile Jordan Travis picking up his first start for FSU. Even with a lot of time to prepare they probably had very little idea what to expect.

2) Credit to Travis as he played pretty well (204 passing yards + 96 rushing yards) and escaped a lot of pressure to make plays with his feet or legs. I would expect the Seminoles offense to stabilize a lot more for the rest of the season with him under center.

3) The Irish were tackling rather poorly which can be chalked up to the lack of consistent work with the 3-week break. It really hurt the defense in missing some big havoc rate plays while also not wrapping up consistently on carries where Florida State gained 4 yards instead of 1 yard.

4) Lea seemed to go for the kill shot right from the first snap. If this wasn’t the most they blitzed an opponent over the past 2+ years it had to be in the top 3 overall. This looked to backfire far too often.

The defensive line was able to shoot upfield and at times embarrass a poor Florida State offensive line but also couldn’t always seal the deal when creating pressure. For example, younger players like Howard Cross and Jacob Lacey picked up a lot of playing time on the interior with Tagavailoa-Amosa out but only produced a combined 2 tackles. Moreover, the Irish used their inside linebackers a lot to blitz which didn’t amount to much and they were constantly over-running plays.

In particular, veteran Mike linebacker Drew White (3 tackles, 2 solo, 1 stuff) didn’t play very well and neither did Shayne Simon (3 tackles all solo) who picked up the start at the Buck linebacker spot.

Nice to meet you, sir. 

Things got a little better when Bo Bauer grabbed more snaps. He combined with Owusu-Koramoah for 9 tackles, 4.5 stuffs, 4 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 2 quarterback hurries to salvage something positive from the linebackers.

Still, even though FSU scored 10 points off turnovers with just 27 yards on 7 snaps–and that colored the early part of the game–the Seminoles still put together 4 more drives of at least 67 yards. That’s really unacceptable for a defense with this amount of talent. If Crawford doesn’t make the interception at the goal line with 8 minutes remaining this could’ve been only the 3rd time Clark Lea allowed 30 points to an opponent.

Stuffs vs. FSU

Ogundeji – 2.5
JOK – 2.5
Bauer – 2
Hinish – 1
Bracy – 1
Brown – 1
White – 1
Hayes – 1
Lacey – 1
Ademilola, Ju. – 1
Oghoufo – 1

On a happier note, the defense did allow only 10 points after the 1st quarter and Florida State was throwing the kitchen sink at the Irish with a trio of 4th down conversions on the night.

I’m sure Notre Dame didn’t expect the Seminoles passing game to do much damage, nor for Tamorrion Terry to go off for 146 yards and several impressive catches. Had they cleaned some things up and played a little better against FSU’s best receiver this is a far different game.

I thought Tariq Bracy had his best game of his career, leading the team with 8 solo tackles in addition to a pass break-up and 1 tackle for loss.

Final Thoughts

The school record for combined rushing and receiving in a single season on a per-game basis is held by Allen Pinkett’s 140.2 yards in 1983. I know it’s only 3 games and the opponents have been quite bad but Kyren Williams is at 157.7 yards per game so far in 2020. There are signs he will be receiving a ton of touches this year so this record is something to watch moving forward. Kyren would need roughly 1,300 yards on the ground and 400 receiving yards to set the record. That’s tough business but he’s on pace for over 1,400 rushing yards right now.

Shaun Crawford was moved to corner this week and after the game we learned from Brian Kelly that corners McCloud, Lewis, and Hart were all in Covid protocols until late this past week.

Early indications are that backup Rover linebacker Paul Moala suffered a serious leg injury and will likely miss the rest of the season. We’re guessing one of the backup linebackers working primarily on the inside will now backup Owusu-Koramoah.

Florida State’s uniforms are so, so bad. Is it me or did their garnet turn into fuchsia? Go back to the gold pants more often you guys.

The return of Kevin Austin was a dud, unfortunately. NBC never showed a replay of his long target but it looked like a miscommunication by him or Book. I’m not sure if Austin saw the field all that much.

When left tackle Liam Eichenberg briefly left the game with his eye injury the offense moved left guard Aaron Banks in his spot. They also brought in Dillan Gibbons at left guard with no sign of Josh Lugg that I noticed. Perhaps this is Covid related but that’s a big win for Gibbons who was assumed to be way down the depth chart coming into the season.

Over those 92 carries against Florida State in the 2018 and 2020 games the Seminoles have only 1 tackle for loss. They also didn’t sack Notre Dame in either game. We open the season at Doak Campbell next year, maybe let’s see what happens if we never throw the ball?

I’ll admit I didn’t think we’d see this type of offense from Tommy Rees. If we count the bowl game last year, the Irish are running the ball 61.5% of the time with 1,020 yards on the ground over the last 4 games. I still think it’s okay to be frustrated with the passing game but, despite oddly incorrect criticism to the contrary, Brian Kelly offenses have almost always worked to the strengths of their best players. Until things change at receiver, I’m not sure we should expect Ian Book (averaging 26.2 attempts per game under Rees which is typically below average for most quarterbacks nationally) to put up big stats through the air.

Therefore, I think this 2020 team will go as far as the ground game can take it and how efficient Ian Book can be when put in third and medium and third and long situations, plus throwing touchdowns in the red zone. Book is 8 of 16 for 80 yards on 3rd/4th down and medium or long this season but with only 5 first downs or touchdowns. This includes 2 pass attempts against Florida State, both of which were incomplete. Book has even rushed 3 times on 3rd/4th and medium or long for 18 yards this year but hasn’t picked up a first down yet. For certain, Book will need to be a touch more efficient if he’s not going to throw for 290 yards per game. Against the Seminoles, only being faced with 8 third downs is very efficient but you’d like to see more than just 2 conversions from those attempts.