A slow start on Saturday afternoon had Irish fans worried about another horrible upset from a MAC team. However, a stabilized defensive effort and some explosiveness from the running game led to a solid if not sleepy 28-3 win over the Miami (OH) RedHawks.

Now 3-1, let’s recap the first home win of the season.

QUARTERBACK: B-

We’re already a third of the way through the regular season and the Riley Leonard experience and the passing game remains full of struggle and a bit sad to watch. The game was highlighted by a beautiful 38-yard touchdown pass to Beaux Collins but Leonard’s other 15 completions netted just 116 yards for a 7.7 YPC average. There were some inaccurate throws, frustratingly on some of the easy short stuff, and a continued lack of cohesion with the receivers on timing routes all over the field.

Leonard’s grade is bolstered by his running ability where scampers of 50, 43, and 21 yards made him the game’s leading rusher by a wide margin. Although, he did lose a fumble on the 43-yard run.

We saw a late appearance from Steve Angeli who had one inaccurate pass, a standard completion, and a nice throw on the run that was dropped by KK Smith.

RUNNING BACK: C+

Notre Dame only ran 26 plays on offense in the 1st half and spent a not-insignificant amount of time late bleeding the clock and using the 2nd-team offense. As a result, we only saw 11 carries for Jeremiyah Love and 6 carries for Jadarian Price. Combined, they couldn’t quite crack 100 yards (99 yards total) with long runs of 15 and 14 yards, respectively. Love also fumbled heading into the end zone but it was recovered by Aamil Wagner thankfully.

This was a pretty pedestrian game for the running backs.

WIDE RECEIVER: C

Can I give out a grade of incomplete? Beaux Collins remains the favored matchup for Leonard with 6 targets, hauling in 4 receptions for 60 yards, including the aforementioned touchdown. Through 4 games, he leads the team with 16 catches for 176 yards.

The offense just has such a hard time getting anyone else going. Jordan Faison returned to the lineup, promptly fumbled a punt return, and I don’t think he got much if any run on offense. I thought Jaden Greathouse would be the leader in receptions this season and he was targeted once on Saturday with a 12-yard catch. In 4 games, he’s totaling 9 catches for 79 yards. We should not be on pace for a sub-30 catch season from Greathouse, but alas.

We did see a decent amount of receivers get involved, but not enough playmaking ability from the group as a whole. If the scheme continues we’ll need to see someone take a hitch or out, make a guy miss, and pick up some big yardage. Otherwise, the offense will continue to serve up a steady diet of 5 to 8-yard completions with an occasional deep shot attempt.

I’ve been paying attention to the YAC lately and there were only 22 yards from the receivers against Miami (OH) this weekend.

TIGHT END: B

Mitchell Evans drew a defensive pass interference penalty and showed some nice footwork and strength near the sidelines to pick up some extra yardage. I’m still surprised this unit isn’t getting more targets in the pass game, although it really does seem like Leonard struggles and does not like throwing over the middle. Most of the throws are short and to the sideline, leaving the tight ends as little more than glorified fullbacks hoping to run past the 1st down line and move the chains as defenders dive at their knees.

OFFENSIVE LINE: B

Who was going in at right tackle if Wagner couldn’t have continued? That’s the question everyone was asking themselves when the cameras kept panning to him limping. Luckily, he was able to continue and doesn’t appear to have suffered anything too serious.

I thought the line played fine, there was only one sack and the pass protection was solid. The run blocking clearly wasn’t playing at a high level and slowed down Notre Dame’s athletic running backs.

DEFENSIVE LINE: B+

Things didn’t look awesome early and there was a bad taste in the mouth when this game was close. Still, the RedHawks only scored 3 points and 1 of their 2 red zone trips was thanks to Faison’s punt return fumble. As the game progressed, the Irish started dominating up front.

I thought Chuck Martin gave up on the run way too early. For a while, I was having flashback nightmares to his time in South Bend! It was like the RedHawks forgot about running and were chucking up prayers down the sideline to well covered receivers.

Was this the game where the Boubacar Traore era began in his first start? A pair of sacks and a forced fumble is a nice day at the office.

LINEBACKER: B+

Some of these weaker teams have found success pushing Notre Dame off the ball early and it’s affected the linebacker play. I wonder how things will fare against a really strong offense.

It was hard not to notice Drayk Bowen on the series where he broke up a pass and followed it up with a sack. I do think the helmet and facemask combination he uses looks super weird, though. I’ve put him our header photo for the game review.

Do we not blitz as much with the linebackers this year? That aggressiveness seems down by a healthy amount this year. I wonder if that will be increased as guys like Ausberry and KVA get more comfortable as the season goes on.

DEFENSIVE BACK: A

For as frustrating as Notre Dame’s passing game is to watch, imagine being a Miami (OH) fan and playing the Irish? Their quarterbacks combined for 22 incompletions, only mustered 119 yards through the air, didn’t throw a touchdown, and were intercepted twice.

Not great for the visitors!

I checked and 8 passes broken up is the most since the NC State game just a little over a year ago.

NOTES:

Not a whole lot from me in this section, I thought this was an intensely boring game all around.

James Rendell punted well! A 47.3 average on 4 punts is well above average, I think? Who really knows punting numbers outside of the Rigney Brothers? All I know is he came into the game with a 39.1 yard average (4th worst among qualified punters) and it looked much better on Saturday.

I’ve always thought Faison is a little too loose catching the ball on punt returns. You don’t need to be Willie Mays Hayes out there in center field. When he was caught up in traffic that looseness bit him.

The RedHawks were limited to just 3.6 yards per play which makes it 3 out of the first 4 opponents held under 4 YPP this season. That NIU averaged just a tick under 6 yards per play remains maddening. The Huskies also lost their MAC opener at home to Buffalo despite out-gaining the Bulls 359 to 184. We all saw it coming.

Adon Shuler’s unsportsmanlike penalty for tossing the ball at the Miami sideline after getting a 3rd down stop goes into the bonehead Hall of Fame, luckily it didn’t end up mattering.

Bryce Young blocked the first of what may be many field goals in his career.