Any time you’re dumb enough to pick against this Notre Dame team it’s important to trust what your eyes have seen in 2020 and to believe in Clark Lea. And also, believe in Tommy Rees. And Ian Book. And…well you get the point.
Following a scary opening to the game that saw North Carolina’s offense putting the petal to the metal for a couple drives, the Fighting Irish did what they’ve done so often this year–started making plays on defense and slowly strangled their opponent. In a supporting role, the Notre Dame offense kept making enough plays to take a big road victory ahead of what should be a laugher Senior Day against Syracuse coming up on Saturday.
Let’s review Notre Dame’s journey to 9-0.
Stats Package
| STAT | IRISH | UNC |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 31 | 17 |
| Plays | 69 | 57 |
| Total Yards | 478 | 298 |
| Yards Per Play | 6.9 | 5.2 |
| Conversions | 4/11 | 2/12 |
| Completions | 23 | 17 |
| Yards/Pass Attempt | 8.4 | 7.8 |
| Rushes | 36 | 30 |
| Rushing Success | 53.1% | 37.5% |
| 10+ Yds Rushing | 6 | 4 |
| Defense Stuff Rate | 29.8% | 18.8% |
The game started about as poorly as you could script it if you’re the Irish. They were stuffed on each of their first 3 offensive plays, punted, and gave up a quick score to North Carolina. Notre Dame did respond to tie it up but allowed another touchdown, thanks largely to a 51-yard completion by the Tar Heels, while falling behind again.
From that point forward, Notre Dame absolutely controlled the game allowing just one extended drive by North Carolina’s potent offense. One drive! A field goal anyway!
Offense
QB: A
RB: A
TE: B+
OL: B
WR: B+
Ian Book’s insane 3rd down flip to Michael Mayer to move the chains broke the internet for a while and only helped to highlight his growing persona as a college football winner who just makes plays. He did so again on Friday totaling 327 yards and engineering touchdown drives of 75, 82, 97, and 89 yards in a perfect display of keeping the ball away from North Carolina’s offense who had the bell for 10 fewer minutes and ran a season-low 57 plays.
Book moved into a tie for 1st place with 29 wins as a starter at Notre Dame and will surely break that record against a hapless Syracuse team on Senior Day. That’s not all for Book and the record books, either. His 29-3 record as starter moves him past Tony Rice (28-3) for the 2nd best winning percentage of all-time at Notre Dame. Additionally, Book broke Brady Quinn’s 2006 record for most consecutive passes without an interception and Book’s 1.73% interception rate currently leads the school annals by a wide margin as no one else is under 2.4% in their career. He also passed Jimmy Clausen for 2nd all-time in career passing yards in the win against North Carolina.
Brian Kelly was awfully salty after this game addressing the disrespect for Ian Book and I love it. Although, I will say that tide seems to have turned considerably nationally over the past month. I thought it was interesting that Kelly mentioned Book is a great “college” quarterback, too. Sometimes we get too caught up in NFL stock that we can miss great things in these short careers in college. Even now, so much talk about Book is how much he’s improved his pro stock and can we just appreciate what he’s doing here and now?
Most consecutive passes without an INT in @NDFootball history:
🎯 @Ian_Book12 (230 and counting)
🎯 @Brady_Quinn (226) pic.twitter.com/ovRwIttN08— ACC Network (@accnetwork) November 27, 2020
If there was a play Book wanted back it was the slip on 3rd & 9 before Doerer’s missed field goal. It looked like he was going to be angled off short of the sticks anyway but we’ve seen Book somehow slip past a defender for the first down in that instance so many times in the past. I thought it was interesting that this wasn’t a super impressive rushing effort from Notre Dame, nor from Book either, and yet the offense continued doing a lot of good things.
I know many expected Carolina’s defense to be terrible but truthfully their talent level isn’t quite that bad. They came in with a good gameplan to blitz the crap out of Notre Dame’s re-shuffled line and they ended up doing a pretty good job bottling up the Irish ground attack.
But, Rees & Company made adjustments and scored big touchdowns.
Rushing Success
Williams – 13 of 23 (56.5%)
Book – 2 of 6 (33.3%)
Tyree – 1 of 2 (50%)
Skowronek – 1 of 1 (100%)
Good news in that Kyren looked fully healthy again and while his numbers aren’t eye-popping it just goes to show how high he’s raised the bar that 144 total yards and 3 touchdowns seems like just another day at the office for him. It was sneaky important for him to carry the load as Tyree only played sparingly and Flemister was held out nursing his own injuries.
I’m tempted to raise my grade for the offensive line. At times, they allowed too much pressure on Book, Correll’s snapping was iffy in a few instances, and North Carolina’s kamikaze-like blitzing disrupted things a little too often. But, I look at the rushing success rate north of 50%, they bullied North Carolina on the ground a bunch of times, and the Tar Heels had zero tackles for loss apart from a pair of sacks. I think Jeff Quinn has to be super happy about how things transpired without two veterans.
Yet another big game for Javon McKinley who is on pace for about 800 yards on the season to lead the team. It still doesn’t even seem real that this is happening for him and it’s going to be December soon.
Defense
DL: A
LB: A+
DB: B
How could I ever doubt Clark Lea!??
North Carolina’s first 2 drives saw them total 125 yards on 14 plays, good for a 8.9 YPP average. Kelly mentioned that it was like adjusting to the triple option and it didn’t take long for that to happen. Even on those first 2 drives the Irish were buzzing, getting close to Harrell with a bunch of pressure, it’s just they weren’t tackling really well and the UNC receivers made a couple nice plays.
Outside of Carolina’s 2 opening drives they mustered 3.3 yards per play the rest of the way. They did put together a field goal drive on their final series in the 1st half and then finished with just 58 yards in the 2nd half. Fifty. Eight. Yards.
With their season on the line, the Heels punted 5 straight times before giving up the ball on downs during their sad final series to close out the game.
Somehow, Notre Dame appeared to Jedi mind trick this offense. Clearly, they beat them up like they have to everyone else and it threw them off their game. Still, with Shaun Crawford gimpy and Kyle Hamilton ejected for targeting how did UNC suddenly forget how to pass the ball? It almost seemed like they quit in a way–2 of their third down attempts in the 2nd half were running plays and a third was a failed scramble from quarterback Sam Howell.
We were all bracing for a big half from Howell with Hamilton out and he had only 3 pass attempts in the 3rd quarter and finished the 2nd half overall just 7 of 12 for 46 yards. So bizarre.
Stuffs vs. UNC
White – 3
Ogundeji – 3
Foskey – 1.5
Ademilola, Ju. – 1.5
Liufau – 1.5
Mills – 1.5
Hinish – 1
MTA – 1
Griffith – 1
Cross – 1
Hayes – 0.5
It wasn’t just the passing game, either. The Irish looked shaky early then shut down Carolina on the ground, too. The speedy Michael Carter ripped off a 26-yard run from a team-high 4 successful carries. But their star back Javonte Williams was limited to just 28 yards on 11 carries, with only 2 successful carries overall!
I’m picturing Clark Lea popping in the tape of this game with a cigar and glass of bourbon.
Final Thoughts
Does Sam Howell secretly weigh 270 pounds? He seemed hilariously difficult to get on the ground while under constant pressure. Scary thing for Carolina is that there could’ve been a handful more of sacks by the Irish if they finished a little better. Also, the people that get paid to track these things should just stop if this game officially only had one quarterback hurry from Notre Dame.
Tommy Tremble had 2 drops and nearly dropped his lone catch. Somehow, this offense has to find him again in the passing game because he could be such a big weapon outside of his blocking. I think he’s someone who could be the difference between winning and losing a playoff game.
What an impressive performance from Marist Liufau at linebacker bringing a ton of pressure. I still don’t understand how the defense was able to be this aggressive, especially at linebacker, and not get beat with North Carolina’s patented slants off the RPO game.
Kyle Hamilton’s targeting ejection gifted North Carolina a first down on 3rd and 20 on what would be their final points of the game once they ended the drive with a field goal. The Heels would not convert another time for the rest of the way going 0 for 7 on 3rd down and then failing on 4th down to finish the game.
I’ve mentioned it in the past but Ian Book is preternatural when it comes to tossing the ball back to the ref after a play. He gave us another gem after his 18-yard run early in this game. While being tackled out of bounds, he deftly rolls onto his back and fires a complete strike to the moving official right into his hands. Incredible savvy and accurate.
Heisman-level assist to the official.
There are many shocking examples of player development on this Notre Dame team. We should probably be talking more about Ade Ogundeji who has blossomed into an All-ACC type of edge rusher.
The 4th down offsides penalty on North Carolina was such a classic “you’ve never been in this big moment” type of let down for them. The Irish would go on to score the game-winning touchdown on that drive. Also, how important was it for Book to find Avery Davis on the sideline for a catch that even made that offsides possible?
I’m not done with Clark Lea praise. Immediately after Hamilton’s ejection, UNC completed a 23-yard pass and would finish the game with 3 additional long plays of 16, 11, and 10 yards respectively. The other 25 Tar Heels plays without Hamilton went for 39 yards. Ridiculous.
Somehow, we can’t let Tommy Rees get lost in the shuffle. Two offensive linemen injured, a receiving corps that early in the season looked good enough for Toledo, and a quarterback who couldn’t win the big game or carry the offense when needed. And yet, the offense just moved into 2nd place for the best YPP of the Kelly era following nearly 7 yards per play against North Carolina. They are also 0.1 points better than last year’s school record for points per game and have a good shot at creeping towards averaging 40 per game with Syracuse and Wake Forest to finish the regular season.
Jonathan Doerer has to be excited that his missed field goal didn’t come back to bite the Irish.
Kicker life.
This is the most physical Notre Dame team since at least 1993, if not longer. I was trying to figure out why that is and I’ve come up with 3 reasons:
1) Kyren Williams adds a dimension to the run game that transforms the offense. The offensive line is no joke in its own right but Williams’ ability has made this the best short-yard rushing attack of the Kelly era. There’s such a physical competency to the offense because of this that permeates throughout the whole team.
2) The defensive line depth is kind of shocking, plus I think Hinish and MTA are among the most underrated players this century. Both those players bring a consistent high level combination of strength and speed from the interior that is tough to deal with for any offense. Also, the depth being used and playing well is kind of absurd. The backups along the defensive line were playing liberally in a tight road game in the national spotlight and it was completely fine.
3) The linebackers are on a different level as a unit. JOK didn’t do much against North Carolina and yet Drew White steps up with a terrific game. Suddenly, Liufau looks like a man possessed. The speed and ability for this group to arrive at the ball in a bad mood is unprecedented in recent years. Plus, JOK and White are the best linebacker duo in a really long time in South Bend.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this one Eric!
I was born in ’88 and my only memory of the notre dame Holtz steamroller years was my dad literally throwing the Christmas tree out the front door when they gave FSU the title. Since then, I’ve only had 2012 and 2018 to hang my hat, and both of those included some yucky* losses (*but for real, who’s playing Clemson any better than ND does that year).
Is yesterday what it felt like to be an irish fan in the 60s and 70s? This team wants to turn opponents into powder, digest their souls, physically dominate, all the silly superlatives. After the clemson game, i listened to my welder union iron-worker brother, john Wayne in 2020, tear up for the retribution we got from our the crushing losses of our childhood and early adulthood. This year has sucked in so many regards, but during a time for giving thanks, I’m thankful that I can enjoy notre dame football wins. I’m thankful for the reporting on this site; top notch and my first stop to read about ND. And yes, I’m thankful for kelly, lea, reesus, book, kyren, wu’, hinish, and this whole team of tough winners!
Cheers!
Totally agree with the Jedi mind trick comment. We were absolutely suffocating everything they wanted to run in the second half. Deep routes? We’ll beat you with pass rush. Short routes? Our DL will bat the passes down. Create space for the RBs? Our DLs will singlehandedly chase them down.
With both offenses struggling, I appreciated that Tommy was going with what the defense would allow. Can’t run the ball into a stacked box? Let’s just throw every down in the 3rd quarter.
I couldn’t understand why UNC wouldn’t do the same. They should’ve thrown those quick outs every down. They were averaging about 10 yards a play. Sometimes you have to throw out your game plan and take what’s there.
So have we concluded that the early passing game problems were more about Book getting acclimated with the new WRs/key injuries than it was lack of talent? It’s been pretty cool to see this chemistry develop in real-time over the course of the season and I feel very confident that we can score points against anyone with this group of players.
I just can’t believe that defensive effort. I thought the Hamilton ejection was a game-losing mistake and one that would ruin the entire season when it happened. But it turns out your suddenly vulnerable secondary can’t be exploited when the QB is constantly under pressure. That’s why UNC kept trying to run the ball in the second half even though they weren’t getting much traction out of that either. That was far and away Clark Lea’s best coaching job of the season.
No, I think it’s more about Book just coming into his own. It’s not like he was great all the way through last year or something. He’s on a whole new level.
Certainly McKinley and Ben have stepped up but this is primarily on Book himself (credit one would imagine should go *big time* to Rees).
As for the amount of guys we play on D, there was one time on the first or 2nd drive when they got inside the ten and we were subbing 5 or 6 guys in and Herbie sounded like he was really surprised – like this was a little odd (and we weren’t just bringing in the goal line defense or something). The point to me is that this is not normal but in a good way obviously since the backups hold up just as well (which should bode well for next year).
My ears perked up at that too. We might not have any future NFL sack masters up front but we have a whole freaking ton of guys who are pretty good, and that’s an incredible luxury at that position.
Subway Alum 2012 — yes! It is simply a great and solid feeling to be an Irish fan this morning, and as one who was there, yes this is the same exact feeling as the Holtz era but even more, as in Ara’s era. Good for you and your family (and your dad was right to throw out that tree).
Total agreeance on being thankful for this team, which are being steamroll-y fun to watch, and also for this site, the Staff, and all of you — first place I go as well.
Couple of points keyed to other observations:
— Ian’s breakthrough seems to be to be due to both causes cited: himself, AND in synergy with the development of the wide receivers. As far as himself, it is so much damn fun to see him having fun.
— Which brings up Eric’s excellent point about appreciating Ian as a college QB. One of the evolutions of the past 50 years I dislike the most is the pervasive shadow of the NFL. Eric has it exactly right.
— The real concern over Correll for the balance of this year is not the snaps, nor his technique or knowledge. Rather, he seems undersized (so weird to say that about someone who weighs about 285 lbs!) One of the analysts on the best Clemson site (at least I think it is, my Clemson buddy and I traded “best sites”) noted that about Patterson, and against some of the beast DL we would meet in the playoffs, Zeke being lighter still could be a real problem.
But, this is no time to wring my hands!
I agree with More Noise, especially regarding the Era of Ara. I used to hear (from my friends in the locker room) that Ara recruited from the lines out on both sides of the ball. In other words, he thought line strength was the most important thing. Secondly, I remember getting told that we had running backs on the team that were much faster than the starters. However, those guys couldn’t be trusted not to fumble. Ara’s emphasis on the skill players was that the most important thing was not to turn the ball over.
Holtz’s teams physically abused their opponents much like Ara’s teams did. It does seem like ND’s best model is what I described above, concentrate on the lines and everything else will follow.
So yes, this team feels a lot like Ara’s and Holtz’s teams. It’s BK’s first team that feels that way, and certainly the first ND team like that since Holtz’s era. They are fun to watch.
Correll is only 6 lbs lighter than Patterson. I don’t think it’s a matter of size/strength so much as game experience. He’ll get there, potentially soon-ish.
Noise, this sure does feel like it did in the golden years of Ara and Holtz. We have our deepest and most complete team in a very long time. We seem able to cram very long drives into very short clock time when needed, and take lots of time for long drives when we want to eat up the clock.
Book’s ability to extend or scramble has been critical to that, and keeps the opposing defense off balance. It must be maddening for their defense to see him squirt out of tight spots again and again.
Im blown away by our linebacker play. It has improved dramatically since the start of the season, yet every time a look up it’s a different buck LB starting, it seems.
Fun ride, I hope Syracuse and Wake play the games so Book gets his shot at more records and we have an 11-0 unbeaten regular season (if you can call anything about 2020 regular).
Thought the sequence after the Hamilton ejection was huge. Carolina had now picked up two long third downs that drive including the Hamilton ejection and moved down to red zone. End up settling for a field goal on 4th and 2 and Nd has a chance to come back down and tie it up before half. If Carolina holds onto scores a touchdown and gets the ball to start second half it’s feeling a bit different.
Have to admit I was way off on the D they played so much better than I expected and liafu was a beast. Definitely remember a lot or Nd linebackers over the years blitzing and then immediately engaging the rb and getting stopped. Liafu played like a man possessed. Was fun to watch.
Last bit Mack brown is still a pretty terrible in game coach. Holding onto all three timeouts during Nd 4 minute offense was atrocious. Thankfully he had those three timeouts with 90 seconds left and down 14.
It really cannot be overstated how incredible it is that UNC offense scored zero points in the second half with Hamilton out. Going to be interesting to see the film reviews and figure out how that happened. Seems like we were blitzing two linebackers every other play, which presumably would have left DJ Brown and/or Houston Griffith on an island a lot. Cheers to them for making that work!