Fast start, check. Improved play across the board, check. Dominate a much weaker opponent, check.
Under a cloud-less South Bend sky in the beaming sun, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame quickly dispatched a ragged and rebuilding South Florida Bulls team unable to cope with the home team’s skill, size, and depth. With their 20th straight home win, the Irish have now set the modern-day record for the program.
Stats Package
| STAT | IRISH | USF |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 52 | 0 |
| Plays | 66 | 62 |
| Total Yards | 429 | 231 |
| Yards Per Play | 6.5 | 3.7 |
| Conversions | 10/16 | 3/20 |
| Completions | 13 | 12 |
| Yards/Pass Attempt | 7.0 | 4.3 |
| Rushes | 45 | 33 |
| Rushing Success | 70.4% | 31.0% |
| 10+ Yds Rushing | 11 | 3 |
| Defense Stuff Rate | 27.4% | 10.6% |
South Florida was very, very bad and toast practically from the first snap. But, the Irish overcame the loss of a handful of starters and backups to pitch the 309th shutout in school history (and only the 4th of the Kelly era) as they head to the third game of the season with a ton of confidence.
Offense
QB: C+
RB: B+
TE: A+
OL: A
WR: C-
This was nearly a pristine performance by the Irish offensive line who didn’t give up a sack, allowed just 3 tackles for loss, and 1 quarterback hurry to go with 281 rushing yards. Like most of the roster, this includes the backups who played extensively in the second half.
Ian Book was better, looking more like his normal self compared to last week’s opener. He exited the game pretty early, only played in 6 series, and it kind of felt like when he left it was a disappointing effort. I went back and logged each of his throws, though:
1 – Square out for 24 yards to Tremble
2 – Curl for 7 yards to McKinley
3 – Quick out for 5 yards to Mayer
4 – Back shoulder fade incomplete to McKinley
5 – Deep out for 22 yards to Lenzy
6 – Shallow cross for 3 yards to Lenzy
7 – Dump off for 9 yards to Flemister
8 – Free rusher throw away, near fumble
9 – Running back angle for 18 yards to Armstrong
10 – In route behind McKinley
11 – Dump off for 4 yards to Williams
12 – Hitch for 9 yards to Lenzy
13 – Quick out for 6 yards to Williams
14 – Crossing route back of end zone too high to Davis
15 – Miscommunication with McKinley
16 – Curl for 9 yards to Tremble
17 – Wheel route for 27 yards to Tremble
18 – Crossing route through Wright’s hands
19 – End zone fade behind Wilkins
He nearly started 7 for 7 if McKinley could’ve gotten a foot down along the sideline. The 5th and 13th throws were really nice and accurate attempts, his best of the day by far. Book smartly got rid of the ball on USF’s only pressure of the game, had a miscommunication with McKinley once, threw the ball away in the end zone to a blanketed Davis, and Wright seemed bumfuzzled that he was thrown to on Book’s second-to-last attempt.
Basically, the only real poor throws were the 10th behind McKinley and a much-too-short fade to finish his day to Wilkins which bounced off the corner’s helmet. He started hot but finished 2 of 6 for 36 yards but overall you can’t be too upset about this performance.
The larger issue is that the wideouts only caught 4 passes for 41 yards, and 3 of those catches came from Lenzy who returned from injury. A week after showing some promise, Wilkins was only targeted once (the aforementioned end zone shot), slot receiver Keys wasn’t active, and the other slot Avery Davis was targeted only once, too. Time is running out to get this fixed because the stronger teams on the schedule are going to take advantage of this weakness and it could be costly.
This could’ve been a potent passing performance but instead it’s largely a bunch of easy throws and not much damage after the catch. It’s not all on Book obviously but right now the offense looks like it’s operating with a really smart and capable quarterback, but also one that isn’t going to dominate better opponents.
This was one heck of a performance by tight end Tommy Tremble. He caught all 3 targets thrown his way for a team-leading 60 yards, blocked like a wild man motioning into a fullback role numerous times, and even converted a 3rd & 1 after running the ball from said fullback position. If this keeps up, he has certain All-American potential.
Rushing Success
Williams – 7 of 10 (70%)
Book – 3 of 4 (75%)
Tyree – 5 of 8 (62.5%)
Flemister – 11 of 13 (84.6%)
Lenzy – 1 of 1 (100%)
Armstrong – 3 of 7 (42.8%)
Tremble – 1 of 1 (100%)
This was an excellent performance from the running backs, admittedly with tons of room to run. Being able to have success on 7 out of 10 attempts on the ground–particularly when garbage time with full backups lasted more than a full quarter–is a big deal even against a weaker opponent.
Last week we found out that C’Bo Flemister was nursing a collarbone injury which led to his DNP against Duke. On Saturday, he was the third back in the lineup and looked quite good. He’s potentially a very strong third option–not as talented as Kyren or Tyree but quick and runs with anger. This game seemed to highlight that the more football we see the more it’s likely Armstrong fades from the picture in running back carries.
Tommy Rees must’ve had a lot of fun out there. The offense scored touchdowns on their first 4 series and really the only downer with the starters was the failed stretch run from Williams on 3rd down followed up by Doerer’s missed field goal.
Defense
DL: B
LB: A
DB: B+
This was a tough game to critique because the Bulls’ offense was so bad and the Irish were rotating extremely liberally from the beginning just like last week. As a result, the line didn’t really dominate the scoresheet in a way that seemed likely in the run up. The defense only had 2 sacks, one coming on the weird USF fake punt, and only 4.5 out of the 11 tackles for loss came from the linemen.
South Florida was absolutely beaten down, though. They managed a long run of 42 yards and a long pass of 36 yards. On their other 60 snaps the Bulls averaged 2.5 yards per play.
Hello to Jack Kiser!
The third-string Rover has been cross-training at Buck linebacker, and with Marist Liufau and Shayne Simon both out on Saturday, Kiser was tasked with starting for the first time in his career as a redshirt freshman. He responded with a team-leading 8 tackles (7 solo stops), 2 tackles for loss, one hurry, and 4 stuffs. Kiser picked up the game ball from Brian Kelly and looks like he’s going to be a weapon for the defense at one of the linebacker spots a lot sooner than anyone thought.
Stuffs vs. USF
Kiser – 4
White – 2.5
Ehrensberger – 2
Cross – 1
Foskey – 1
MTA – 1
Bertrand – 1
Wallace – 1
Ogundeji – 1
Lewis – 1
Lamb – 1
Lacey – 0.5
Even though the opponent was poor, it’s nice to see 6 players pick up the first stuffs of their careers on Saturday. That includes true freshman Alexander Ehrensberger who picked up his first career sack.
Not only was the defense missing safety Kyle Hamilton due to an ankle injury, starting corner Tariq Bracy was also a late scratch, as well. South Florida made a few nice throws in the second half but the secondary generally held up pretty well. Both Cam Hart (2 breakups) and Clarence Lewis (3 breakups) got beat but also made a decent amount of plays in their first live action.
Final Thoughts
I thought it was curious during the week that beat reporter Pete Sampson mentioned this USF team was several years away from being competitive again. I thought that was excessively harsh especially as most of us all picked roughly the same score this weekend (Irish by ~30 or so) and no one ever seems that far away in college football. On Saturday, USF did indeed look very far away. Besides running back Johnny Ford (70 yards) that roster looks like a struggling Sun Belt team.
I am highly interested in having Isaiah Foskey and Jordan Botelho pass-rushing at the same time down the road. The latter made his first major impact in his true freshman season scoring a touchdown on a blocked punt and looking awfully fast on a few snaps.
If there are nits to pick this game could’ve been and maybe should’ve been a historic beat down on the scoreboard. The game moved quickly into garbage time and the offense only had 10 series which made it feel like a much shorter game overall. Still, it’s a little odd to see 52-0 and “only” a +198 total yards difference between the teams. In the second half, the Irish were actually out-gained by 41 yards. It was kind of weird given the halftime speech featured on air that Kelly didn’t want to be “Mr. Nice Guy” anymore and the offense only scored 1 more touchdown.
In that same vein, you don’t typically see an opponent enter Irish territory 5 times and come away with no points. Granted, USF only got into the red zone once.
Hyped freshman receiver Jordan Johnson got into the game and he picked up a personal foul penalty early in the 4th quarter after swatting a defender in the face. Baby steps, I suppose.
Notified of a QUICK moving storm coming from the west. pic.twitter.com/T3rNUjm5Fr
— 18 Stripes (@18stripes) September 19, 2020
Tried exorcising some demons with this early-game humor.
Notre Dame was excellent again in moving the chains, picking up 16 first downs on the ground. They still don’t look real comfortable in these situations throwing the ball. However, on 3rd or 4th & 4 or less to go, the offense with the starters picked up 7 out of 9 conversions with all of the successful plays coming on the ground. The only missed opportunities were the aforementioned stretch play before the missed field goal and Book’s poor fade to Wilkins in the end zone.
I know he didn’t play very much given the circumstances but it’s odd to see Owusu-Koramoah with just one assisted tackle on the day.
Due to backup quarterback Brendan Clark being ruled out, true freshman Drew Pyne got his first action of his career. He’s pretty small out there!
On a day when numerous new players made an appearance perhaps the strangest moment was redshirt sophomore walk-on Matt Salerno taking over the punt return duties with Lawrence Keys not available.
USF had 50 yards of offense at halftime.
Kudos to Lance Taylor. These running backs seem to always squeeze out the last 2-3 yards on every carry. In a game like this that’s not a big deal but when the going gets tough it very well could be a difference maker. There’s a big difference between 3rd and 5 and 3rd and 2…..Hold onto to the ball Kyren.
The RB depth is really impressive – would not have anticipated that with Denson’s recruiting! (Though, Tyree is a full-on Taylor recruit.)
In any case, seems like Jafar Armstrong to WR is worth a shot at this point, given that depth?
I’m with ya on that. I don’t see why they wouldn’t move him already, but with Keys, Austin, Skowronek all out and Lenzy somewhat limited (or believed to be still on upswing from injury) and Armstrong isn’t back to WR by now, will he ever be?
Totally over Armstrong getting any carries, but I guess putting him in to catch a pass or two gets at least something out of him.
Fun game. Nice to have those completely stress free games sprinkled in. I think this game and season will be a testament to the program and coaching staff. ND May be lacking some of the high end depth to compete with Ohio state, Bama, Clemson but the quality depth is really really good. This year seems like it will really stress that. Could you imagine a willingham or Weis team losing half of their two deep on one side of the ball. Gross
Offensively the backs are very good; and agree Jafar should not be taking touches away from the others at all. Wide receivers still leave a lot to be desired. That has to improve by October and improve drastically for November.
It was great to be able to watch a game in total relaxation. This must be how Clemson fans feel 90%of the time.
However I do agree with your sentiment, Eric, that it feels like this is the type of game that some other teams would have won 77-0.
I think that just as there’s a difference between winning 37-10 and winning 52-0, there’s a level of difference between scoring 52 and scoring 63 or more. I think it’s why many of the computer models don’t eliminate blowouts from their calculations – there is a difference in the degree of domination that speaks to something about the team. Maybe thay something is depth more than anything, because the 2s can keep on scoring at the same clip as the 1s
I get the point and don’t think it’s totally wrong, but IMO it’s not that much of a big deal. 6 first half offensive possessions: 5 TDs and 1 missed FG. That’s what dominant teams do against overmatched foes.
ND only attempted 7 passes in the second half. Notre Dame could have pulled away even further in the 3rd if they wanted to, but by then it was over and they just closed out their business.
The domination to me was complete whether the game ended with 42, 53 or 77 points scored.
And Clemson “only” won 49-0 themselves yesterday, it’s not like blue bloods always just aim to put up 60+ points on outclassed opponents, even though it’s very possible to do so.
Like you said though, it was impressive the backups continued the rout and kept the door shut defensively. And the punt return unit is fun to watch every time.
Agree. I think the important thing is (1) we kept the shutout and (2) the backups looked better than their starters (other than Pyne, but to be fair he didn’t really get too many opportunities to shine).
I would attribute the lack of (Absurd) blowout to two things. Lack of explosiveness in offense. No 50 yard plays or quick burst touchdowns. Then no brendon Clarke as the other. It’s hard for me to keep track of qb years but they went right from boon to true freshman qb so no real second half offense.
By my calculation I think USF only had 1 successful offensive play in the first half so defense did pretty much completely shut them down.
Good point on the explosiveness. That bears out with the ypp, too
I think your first point is more explained by ND’s average starting field position in the 1st half. 50yd line. The explosiveness was shifted from the offense to the defense/special teams
Forgot to mention, I feel bad for Brendan Clark. It has to be so frustrating to miss a game where you were going to get a ton of reps and you’re trying to lock down being Book’s successor.
I’m so stoked to be wrong! I was all paranoid about not covering and having #2011 insanity, but was delighted to sit back and relax at the half! These running backs look like they’re doing much more with regards to YAC, several runs had an unblocked LB but the RBs beasted them for extra, and having 3 viable options to pound the rock means less hits for any of them, so juicy! That was something sorely lacking last season. Man it feels good to destroy who you’re supposed to, love having champagne problems with irish football, even if its one week
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen ND fans discuss some degree (admittedly not much, but it’s there) of disappointment that we didn’t score 60, after we scored only 52. 1st World Problems.
Like all of you, yes, truly nice to relax. That said, none of you have mentioned the elephant in the room, namely the 8 players non-injured who DNP. We all assume its for contact tracing. and I have to say, 8 feels like a lot. I wonder how long they’ll be out, and who else will join them, and of course what exposure S Fla brought along.
Yes, it seems extremely likely that the seven unexplained DNPs (the eighth was Hamilton, who was held out for precautionary reasons with his gimpy ankle) are related to either positive COVID tests or contract tracing. That’s by far the most probable reason we wouldn’t have an explanation for it, given HIPAA laws.
I think there are two things to note here, or sort of two-plus. The first is as you note, that it’s fair to wonder what the wider impact on the availability and, more importantly, health of the team would be. The second is that we were missing some key contributors and still watched our 3rd and 4th team demolish an FBS team. The “-plus” is that this will undoubtedly have to be a theme this year, and from a pragmatic standpoint it’s good to see that we can take it in stride.
I was very happy to see that the backups were still able to destroy USF. However, as I watch this team, I wonder just how good it could be if ND could have the star power at QB as they have elsewhere on the roster. Imagine Jimmy Clausen with this defense
Yeah, maybe… Book is way more popular in the locker room than Clausen ever was, though. So there’s that. But I know what you mean. I think we know what we have in Book by now. He’s not an elite QB, but he can be a very good QB if he doesn’t get in his own way. He also wasn’t helped in this game by missing Austin and Keys, who are two of his more legitimate deep threats.
Regardless, he is what he is. So the question then is whether a very good QB is enough to get past great teams, and I think the answer is “maybe.” I get the sense that as the season progresses and the youngsters on this defense get more time, it’s going to step into elite status. I think it’ll be good enough to keep the Irish in the game against anyone, Clemson included, so it’ll come down to whether the offense can do enough to steal one. Maybe. Maybe.
The crazy unknowns in the COVID 19 world apart (but like BK says, hard to do that) — I honestly think that it could be (wait for it) the Running Game that could become the magic ingredient. Elite defense, excellent special teams, strong running game — takes the pressure off our QB. I have personally noted this for every Natty I have been around for: 66, 73, 78, 88. Eric made a superior analysis of why Running Backs make the difference (assuming a good line). Like Lou Holtz used to say, when you go on the road, you better bring three things: defense, special teams, running game.
I know, you will all think I am drinking the French equivalent of Kool Aid. But I really liked the flashes from those backs.
I was chalking your enthusiasm up to French wine……I think it will come down to how good our Oline and RBs play vs. the very best. The jury on that will be out until early November.