Another week, another bitterly disappointing defeat against a team you can argue Notre Dame had no business losing to. A season that began with dreams of a playoff bid will now culminate in a 2nd or 3rd tier bowl game. The most frustrating aspect of this slide is that the Irish defense has clearly taken a massive step forward and looks more like the uber-athletic defenses that Marcus Freeman built at Cincinnati. While the defense did not play up to their standard against Clemson, they certainly played well enough to win. But their effort was wasted by yet another shambolic offensive performance, the fourth or fifth one this year depending on how you look at the USC game.
It would be easy to watch these stomach-churning displays of offensive nonsense and blame the obvious scapegoats. Sam Hartman’s play has fallen off a cliff, the offensive line has been maddeningly inconsistent, WR play is virtually nonexistent, and Gerad Parker’s playcalling has not put the offense in good places to succeed. All of those elements probably deserve their own breakdown, but that’s not the focus of this post. I am going to argue that Notre Dame’s offense has been stuck in the past for a long time, and it’s time to forge a new identity. Preferably one that can win a national title.
How we got here
Brian Kelly took over Notre Dame in 2010 and installed the hyperspeed spread offense which led to a 34-6 record at Cincinnati. Remember when the offensive staff had to negotiate with NBC over commercial breaks because they were afraid we would move so fast it would impact commercial breaks? That seems like a funny memory now because BK abandoned that offense before the seasons was even over. The season-ending injury to Dayne Crist against Tulsa led Kelly to throttle things back and Tommy Rees ran a more pro-style attack for the rest of the year. That seemed to fit Notre Dame’s offensive personnel much better, and the Irish sprinted to a 4-0 finish.
Notre Dame ran a spread/pro-style blend for the next six seasons, sometimes leaning more into a spread identity (2013, 2014, 2015) but also returning to a more traditional offense (2011, 2012, 2016). The predominantly spread teams performed better, ranking 49th, 14th, and 7th in F+ respectively while the pro-style offenses struggled more (29th, 42nd, 42nd). Of course, this doesn’t explain everything as personnel, schedule, and injuries influenced how these offenses performed, but you can see how BK wanted to operate in that hybrid space.
Then came the post-2016 reboot where Kelly rededicated the Irish to a more physical identity. For all of his faults, Chip Long proved to be an adaptable coordinator. In 2017 he leaned on an elite offensive line to cover for suspect quarterback play, the following year he built the offense around Ian Book’s elite quick passing game to cover for a suspect offensive line. The real shift to a more pro-style offense came when Tommy Rees replaced Long after 2019. Thanks to Rees, we became quite familiar with terms such as “13 personnel”.
Manball and a Stale Identity
In a move that hasn’t proven controversial at all, Marcus Freeman promoted Gerad Parker to OC after Rees moved on to Alabama. Whereas Rees was more of a power spread guy, Parker has turned the clock back to some traditional West Coast concepts. Parker retooled the offense to be more dependent on pulling linemen in the running game and introduced more NFL elements into the passing game. His playbook is similar to what Kevin Stefanski runs in Cleveland right now and you can see why Parker would like to emulate that offense. Like the Browns, Notre Dame has a talented offensive line, a battle-hardened QB, and a fantastic running back (well, at least until Nick Chubb got hurt).
The initial returns were promising as the Irish massacred four overmatched opponents. Parker called a tremendous game against Ohio State and at that point it sure looked like this was going to work out. Well, five games later we can say that we spoke too soon. The offense has alternated between looking okay and 2007-esque despite employing one of the most prolific quarterbacks in college football history. The bottom fell out in the Clemson game which laid bare that the offense won’t be fixed in 2023. It’s gotten so bad that Notre Dame is now in Iowa territory in some critical categories.
Parker is almost certain to be gone at the end of the season and I doubt even the most optimistic fans could come up with an argument for why he should stay. There is clearly no salvaging his tenure as OC, but this piece isn’t about hiring a new coordinator. It’s time for Notre Dame football to evolve offensively so that we aren’t in this situation again.
Stop Wasting Great Defense
It’s not quite as bad as Iowa’s hilarious advanced stats profile, but Notre Dame has a recent history of wasting elite defenses with less-than-capable offenses. The Irish offense has ranked lower than the defense in eight of the last fourteen years, most critically in 2012, 2018, and 2019 when Notre Dame had legitimate opportunities to win the national championship.
| YEAR | F+ Offense | F+ Defense |
| 2010 | 55th | 4th |
| 2011 | 29th | 11th |
| 2012 | 42nd | 3rd |
| 2013 | 49th | 25th |
| 2014 | 14th | 73rd |
| 2015 | 7th | 37th |
| 2016 | 42nd | 44th |
| 2017 | 14th | 15th |
| 2018 | 30th | 9th |
| 2019 | 17th | 8th |
| 2020 | 16th | 20th |
| 2021 | 12th | 14th |
| 2022 | 34th | 31st |
As of right now, the Irish offense ranks 22nd in F+ Offense and 8th in F+ Defense which marks another sobering year where the offense is not on the same level as the defense. I wrote a piece in the spring of 2021 questioning whether Notre Dame’s recruiting was good enough to win a national title (spoiler: it wasn’t). What I found was interesting though in that ND in the Kelly 2.0 era had recruited much better on the offensive side of the ball, yet the defense continued to produce superior results on the field.
Think of it this way, Oklahoma fans from 2017-2021 would have killed to have Notre Dame’s defense. Maybe we should’ve been pining for Oklahoma’s offense in that same time frame.
Manball isn’t the Answer
Michigan’s recent run of regular season dominance has given many hope that you can Georgia your way to a title without Georgia talent, but I fear this is a red herring for two major reasons. The first and most obvious problem is that Michigan’s success might simply be the result of a criminal organization rivaled only by SPECTRE, the second being that we still haven’t seen them do this in the playoff. As Notre Dame showed earlier this year, it’s one thing to run the ball well against Ohio State on one night but another to do it consistently against the absolute tippy top of the sport.
So how has Manball worked out for the Irish? Since our biggest gripe as fans is the lack of big wins, here is a pretty definitive list of all the “big games” against top-25 F+ defenses Notre Dame has played since 2017:
- 2017 Georgia – 37 carries for 55 yards (1.5 avg yards per rush)
- 2017 Miami – 36 for 109 (3.0)
- 2018 Michigan – 47 for 132 (2.8)
- 2018 Clemson – 35 for 88 (2.5)
- 2019 Georgia – 14 for 46 (3.3)
- 2019 Michigan – 31 for 47 (1.5)
- 2020 Clemson, part 1 – 40 for 208 (5.2)
- 2020 Clemson, part 2 – 30 for 44 (1.5)
- 2020 Alabama – 38 for 139 (3.7)
- 2021 Cincinnati – 28 for 84 (3.0)
- 2021 Okie State – 21 for 42 (2.0)
- 2022 Ohio State – 30 for 76 (2.5)
- 2022 Clemson – 47 for 263 (5.6)
- 2023 Ohio State – 39 for 176 (4.5)
- 2023 Louisville – 28 for 44 (1.6)
In these fifteen games against top-15 competition, Notre Dame has run for over 200 yards twice and 100 yards six times while failing to gain over 60 rushing yards in six of these games. Do we really believe better playcalling would have resulted in a better running attack and more victories? Or is it more likely that the Irish consistently trying to play games in a phone-booth is the wrong way to go?
Imagine being a blue chip wide receiver recruit and watching that Clemson game. This is a program which beats its chest over how physical it is, yet couldn’t run the ball in the second half. At the same time, they’d be watching an “NFL-style offense” flail in the passing game. They’d probably wonder what the hell our staff did to Sam Hartman, the most prolific QB in ACC history. Blame Del Alexander all you want, but those displays of offensive incompetence also influence recruits. They tune in and see a complicated, ground-based offense that can’t run the ball against a 4-4 team. I’d rather go to Oregon or Florida State too.
Think about how many amazing offensive linemen and running backs have come through this program since 2017, and now think about how Notre Dame averaged more than 4 yards per rush exactly three times in those games against the best defenses in America. Oh, and the Irish had a 3-12 record even though the defense gave them a legit chance to win about half of them. That’s a pretty important stat too.
Marcus Freeman is a smart guy and surely he must know that subbing in another guy who wants to pound the rock NFL-style won’t cut it in modern college football. Manball has been Notre Dame’s identity for a while now and the Irish have won a lot of games, but there is a clear ceiling. I think we can definitely say that it will not win a national title unless Freeman plans on recruiting better than Georgia. This year we finally had the proven gamer at QB, and it’s still not working. It’s time to move in a different direction.
Where to turn?
So now the obvious question becomes how does Notre Dame transform its offensive identity? Where and who does it turn to for change? The big concern is the transition period where the Irish will need to change everything to fit a new offense. Recruiting must transition away from heavy emphasis on NFL offensive lineman and tight ends and orient more towards recruiting prolific skill position players. But here are a few ideas on where to turn next.
Josh Heupel’s Tennessee offense took the SEC by storm last year and helped the Vols knock off Alabama. This year, UT’s offense hasn’t been quite as explosive due to struggles in the passing game but Heupel has successfully built a power run game using spread principles. The offense takes no-huddle, hurry up principles to the logical extreme which is something Notre Dame is unaccustomed to. That’s certainly one avenue you can take.
You could go the Kalen DeBoer route. DeBoer is a passing game merchant who uses speedy wide receivers and a strong-armed QB to stretch the field. The obvious problem is that the Irish have poor WRs right now, but it’s impossible to ignore how DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubbs inherited the 106th ranked offense in America and now has them 4th in Offensive F+ a year after ranking 6th. Grubbs turned down the Alabama OC job last offseason so it’s probably unlikely that he would end up here, but that’s absolutely an idea worth pursuing.
At Kansas, OC Andy Kotelnicki has installed a funky system that blends pro-style, spread, and RPO concepts into an offensive juggernaut. The two words that keep popping up in every article about Kotelnicki’s offense are “fun” and “simple” which coincidentally, are the two words that nobody has used to describe Notre Dame’s current offense. Kansas’ F+ offense has improved from 118th in Les Miles’ last year, to 87th in 2021, to 18th last year, and now ranks 12th in the country. He’s going to get a new job sooner rather than later, it might as well be in South Bend.
Wake Me Up Before You GoGo
Yet, nothing excites me more than the storm brewing out in Las Vegas. Last offseason, UNLV hired Brennan Marion as offensive coordinator who runs one of the most radical offensive systems in the country. Marion’s “GoGo” offense is like watching the past and future of college football collide with a mixture of Wing T, shotgun spread, and triple option rolled into one package. It’s a system that can throw for 300 yards one week and run for 300 the next. Take a look for yourself.
In Marion’s first season at UNLV, the Rebels have improved from 103rd in Offensive F+ from last year to 58th this season despite losing their starting QB for the year in week 4. It’s a major reason why the Rebels are one of the most surprising teams in the country with a 7-2 record. In what is always a good sign, some of the best offensive coaches in college football have borrowed concepts from Marion’s creation. Steve Sarkisian, Mike Norvell, Lincoln Riley, and Kliff Kingsbury have all incorporated GoGo aspects into their own offenses.
However, nobody has jumped in whole hog yet and truly explored the full range of possibilities that the GoGo Offense offers. Why not Notre Dame? The USA Today article mentioned how Marion inherited a poor receivers room at William & Mary in his first year as coordinator. So he implemented the most diverse rushing attack in FCS football and William & Mary nearly doubled its points per game from 13.6 in 2018 to 25.25 in his only year as OC. Needless to say, I’m sold.
All the way up!!! #Faith.Family.Football🔰 pic.twitter.com/B8PFLmsZYI
— William & Mary Tribe Football (@WMTribeFootball) May 17, 2020
Conclusion
To be clear: simply ditching the pro-style stuff and installing a full-blown Air Raid offense in no way guarantees success. I am keeping a keen eye on what’s going on at Wisconsin right now. Luke Fickell took the job last offseason and immediately decided to ditch Wisconsin’s long-established Manball identity. The results thus far have been underwhelming as the Badgers are worse on offense than last year (although injuries have taken their toll). This goes without saying that Notre Dame recruits much better athletes than Wisconsin, but the risk is still apparent.
Honestly, I don’t care if it doesn’t work. Take the risk because I am tired of Notre Dame always having to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era. For as long as I have been a fan, the Irish football program has been consistently one step behind the best teams in the sport. I think it’s unacceptable and completely antithetical to the history of the football program. This is Notre Dame, the school which popularized the forward pass and was the first to play a non-regional schedule. It’s the first school to negotiate its own TV deal and recruit nationally at a championship level. However, the perception of Notre Dame as stodgy and behind the times is a relatively recent development. There is no excuse for the Irish to not be innovating with the rest of the top of the sport and beyond.
In my opinion, installing a new age offense should be one of the easiest things the program could do to improve. Tactics are a thing that coaches have full control over, so why has Notre Dame chosen a much, much harder path to becoming an elite offensive team? Fans and media have worried so much about academic standards or conference realignment that we have failed to notice an opportunity to transform the team on the field. It is a choice to not become more dynamic and innovative on the offensive side of the ball, and we are way past the point of arguing whether its necessary or not.
Contrary to what some Irish fans will tell you, the identity of Notre Dame Football is not putting your hand in the ground and bowling over defenses even when they know you’re coming. Notre Dame’s true identity was, and should be, winning at the highest level. It’s time to take that latter part more seriously on the football field.
I do not disagree and I think the blame game is a lot less black and white across position groups and coaches and calls etc.
but at least in the clemson game we TRIED to look like a 2023 team
just refused to go out and take it most of the time 🙁
https://x.com/greg2126/status/1721894182649024632?s=20
I like Greg’s breakdowns because they also confirm what I’m seeing, this offensive line is just not consistent enough to run plays with so many pulling linemen. I think this is more of a current team problem, but you can see where some simplicity would help.
Great article!
Thank you!
A very good question to ask. Lots to digest here. Thoughts:
Since 2017, ND’s offensive approach has been to control the middle of the field with size and power. That makes sense given our advantages at recruiting OL and TE, but it has well-established limitations and is, unsurprisingly, incapable of beating good defenses. So clearly we need an approach that can threaten more of the field than between the hashmarks, 10 yards away from the LOS.
That said, I think our most glaring problems on offense are pretty simple: We do not have adequate talent at QB or WR, and we refuse to hire experienced OCs. Even Chip Long had been an OC for one year at Memphis when we hired him.
I would say the plan of attack should be, in order:
1. Immediately hire an experienced OC. This person must be older than Freeman and must have been an OC for at least 3 years, preferably more. The more the better. Style does not matter much right now, just functionality.
2. Upgrade WR and QB talent by any means possible, including the portal. Focus on size at both positions, and keep QB style consistent year to year — no wild swings from scramblers to pocket passers a la Book to Coan.
3. Once we have a functional offense, figure out what ND’s offensive identity is going to be. I would start by looking at our best offenses of this century, which are 2005, 2006, and 2015. All three of those were pretty similar stylistically.
An Al Golden type hire is a lot harder at OC it feels like but it would be really really nice
My pipedream is Sean Lewis
Nope, too young. He is the same age as Freeman.
hmmmm
veteran. experienced. penchant for explosive pass games.
by god i’ve got it
reply fail, but Kenan Thompson still wrong gif
Seeing people suggesting Charlie Jr. makes me want to cry.
DESTINY ARRIVES ALL THE SAME ACS
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR OPTIONS
-Tommy II: The Search for More Money
-Charlie Weis, Jr.
-Bob Davie probably has a kid
-I could use a raise why not just hire me
if i tell notre dame i won the heisman with tyler eifert in ncaa 13 will they hire me
We’d have a decisive schematic advantage!
How about someone 3 years older than Freeman who has been an offensive coordinator in a Power 5 conference since 2017? Someone who does not have a contract for 2024, so there should be no buyout concerns. Someone who has coached in the midwest since 2012. Someone who started his coaching career as part of the Patriots dynasty.
Yeah, but what are Brian’s connections to NBC?
Can I interest you in some Iowa Football Under Armour apparel?
Flammang stated this week that Lewis is not in the cards for what Freeman wants to do.
This team with better QB and WR play, plus an upgrade in plays run in the pass game would have had much better results. Hartman has disappointed, the WR room is young, inexperienced at best and just lousy at worst. The concepts of those plays run are not good and the execution of those plays is sub par too.
I think the Freeman-Lewis thing is getting blown out of proportion. Freeman didn’t want him last spring because he said different stuff about offense than HCMF did, while Parker was in total agreement with Freeman. Now Lewis is rumored to be attached to head coaching jobs going forward, so that ship has probably sailed, onto the next guy.
But really, a guy who is intriguing to me is Brennan Carroll at Arizona. Their offense has been fun to watch, and they’re doing it with the type of player at QB that even ND can recruit. I’m interested to see how he does the next 2 weeks; he hasn’t been able to win a shootout yet, and I’m assuming that’s what he’ll get with Colorado. And then he goes up against that vaunted Utah defense the following week. If he comes out of there with 2 strong offensive performances and just doesn’t crap the bed against ASU, I think he’s going to be a guy who draws a lot of interest this offseason. But perhaps not enough interest for head coaching jobs.
Great rec.
Another thing that 2005, 2006, and 2015 all had in common is that ND was at least close-ish to the offensive identity of the best teams in the country. I think the 2005 team was so successful because they had finally caught up with all of the other teams running similar pro-style systems.
Yep, and in fact, I’d say 2005 was ahead of the curve. “Decided schematic advantage” jokes aside, Weis was running a very sophisticated offense by the standards of 2005 college football. This was back when Michigan and Ohio State were still playing caveman offense.
SEC shorts guys at it again. Looks like a lot of schools are having trouble with their rebuild contractor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkkz4Z1mX0E
There’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation here with the offensive style and recruiting. Are we great at recruiting OL and TE and poor at QB and WR because of our offensive style? Or have we been forced into this style because we simply can’t recruit those start athletes at QB and WR?
Regardless, something needs to change. If we aren’t going to be able to pull 5 stars consistently at QB and WR, then I would argue we should still be going to an uptempo, spread run, zone-read/rpo style offense. I don’t think I’ve seen more than 10 true RPO’s where the QB has the option to keep and run since Wimbush left.
If Freeman DOES believe he can pull in the elite passers/pass catchers, than give me that DeBoer style offense any day. That machine he’s built out there is so fun to watch.
I think Weis recruited better QB/WR than OL.
That was more than a decade ago at this point, but our QB/WRs are higher rated than the OL in the 2024 class, and I’d say rated better overall in the 2023 class.
Also, the egg came first. Not sure how the whole which came first became a thing.
Yep, the 2024 class is the first one that makes me truly believe the offense of my dreams is possible. Of course, until they have all officially signed, I’m going to have some concern that the WRs might bail at the last minute.
I’ve thought of this too, we have really recruited ourselves into a corner where the coaching staff probably feels they have no alternative but to run a Manball style. However, the uptick in WR recruiting under Stuckey has me hopeful that we can someday transition away from our current system and into something more modern without too much disruption.
Can’t recruit or won’t try to recruit? There was a lot of lazy recruiting going on over the years and it much easier to settle for offensive linemen or tight ends at catholic schools in the Midwest than it was to compete for highly rated skill guys in the warmer states. I mean you can’t even drive to Florida or Texas in one Tesla charge.
^^^ Also very true. Like Iowa, we could keep churning out a laundry list of great offensive linemen and tight ends who get drafted but never win anything in college.
Kudos. FWIW – A well-written article that is both comprehensive, thoughtful and brings up some questions on future directions. I wish this was a two parter to offer comments on so much.
The status of the program and potential changes and that has been brought up on boards is results-driven. How would one feel if Marshall and Stanford were wins? Looking back on those, mistakes played a major part – interceptions, fumbles, penalties called or not called – that would have changed the results.
For reviews:
Notre Dame football vs. Marshall live updates: Thundering Herd shocks IrishBack to square one? What to make of Notre Dame’s shocking home loss to Stanford
Part of coaching at ND is accepting the criticism when you lose – and players – not living up to expectations. Is a retrospective analysis on Rees might be that he is the OC we may have wanted this year? Or was he another barrier to instituting a modern offense here and now at Alabama? Two wins without those mistakes in those games would have driven a different view of the program.
No, Rees is not the OC we would have wanted this year. Why do people think of this choice as binary? The choice for ND is not “Tommy Rees or Other.” There are like, at least 5 other OCs in the world. Could be more!
By the way, Bama currently has the #71 ranked offense, next door to La Tech and Houston.
Where is Bama’s offense ranked 71? They are 18 in F+ and 22 in FEI.
Total offense
Counting stats are useless.
OK. Well, one of these two stats is way off, that’s for sure.
Also FWIW, ND is #20 in SP+ and #25 in FEI.
Maybe Tommy will get a head coaching job this offseason and Saban will take Parker off our hands.
IMO Tommy Rees is a good offensive coordinator, but he has shown to have significant flaws. Once he figures out his personnel and has a couple of good games in a row, his offenses are hard to stop. You never really see his offenses get worse like ours has so far this year. It’s like a snowball rolling down a hill and building momentum until you can’t stop it (unless you’re 2020 Clemson or Alabama).
However, his fatal flaw is that it takes four or five games for him to figure out what he has and how to deploy it correctly. He doesn’t seem to have an understanding of how to use his athletes in fall camp and seems to only adjust in-season. In every single season he’s been an OC, his offenses have started slowly and I think that drove a lot of frustration with him.
The sad truth is that this would’ve been the perfect year for him to be OC considering we started with three joke games and NC State. If his history held serve, we would have seen a fully-optimized offense by the time we played Ohio State. That being said, I still don’t think he was the right coordinator to bring Notre Dame a national championship. He’s succeeding at Bama now because his inexperienced but dynamic QB has really settled in and their offensive line is gelling. But since ND doesn’t recruit like that, I have trouble seeing how he would’ve overcome our limitations enough to beat Georgia or the tippy top of the sport.
He’s a hell of a lot better than Parker though.
I mean, Stanford had little trouble stopping us smack in the middle of last season. In 2021, it took 6 full weeks before the offense could even function.
I don’t see the pattern that you do nor do I see evidence that he is a “good” — i.e. above average — OC. He’s replacement level.
In any event, none of this matters. He left, voluntarily, to go to Bama and he is not coming back. ND fans really need to stop thinking about the future of this offense as “Tommy Rees or something else.”
It says something that an article about what the future of ND’s offense should be has veered into a debate about the merits of Tommy. For some reason this fanbase cannot let him go.
Tommy can do some good Xs and Os things, but the fact that he has to blow up the offense and rebuild it mid season every year (including at Bama) and has never gotten good QB play when’s that’s supposed to be his specialty are pretty big problems.
Alabama put up 3 first half points (and 17 total) against USF, the #132 SP+ defense in the country.
And they’re averaging 34 in all the other games, including a shootout win over LSU.
Rees seems to be able to figure out his players’ strengths eventually, but he’s not experienced enough to anticipate their weaknesses until they’re exposed on the field.
Somehow he got us through a season with Drew Pyne, for instance. Would we be better off this year with Rees and then having time to make a decent hire instead of getting blindsided in the spring? I’m at 1000% yes on that.
Caveat being did we already have Carr and Minchey before he left? Feel like we did. Because if Rees/Freeman got those guys, then certainly yes on having Rees this year.
OK, but let’s try to apply this to what actually happened.
First, when Rees left, we didn’t know that we would “get blindsided in the spring.” So that couldn’t have factored into the decision at all.
Second, it’s true that Rees “got us through a season with Drew Pyne.” But why were we in that situation to begin with? Who recruited and developed Drew Pyne? And is just getting through the season with an extremely limited QB the standard that we’re aspiring to?
Third, let’s say that we really wanted to give Rees a shot with Hartman (or, I guess, Minchey?). Should we have offered him more money than Bama? How much?
Fourth, it is true that if you remove the worst performance from a set of data, the average improves. Funnily enough, that worst performance occurred with the QB that Tommy recruited, developed, and hand-picked to follow him to Bama. What does that say?
The guy who was the offensive coordinator when we lost to Marshall and Stanford is the guy who you are 1000% sure would have us better this year?
It’s not quite that simple, for context he’s also the same guy who also coordinated the best offensive performance against a top tier defense that I’ve seen in my lifetime (Clemson 2022). I think having continuity at OC would’ve made us better off immediately and at least he runs more modern stuff than Parker.
Was the Clemson 2022 defense top tier? I suppose that’s a subjective descriptor. Either way, I think our record this year would be roughly the same as it is right now with Tommy. Maybe 1 more win, but probably not contending for the CFP.
Clemson’s defense ranked top-15 in pretty much every advanced stat including 10th in FEI so it wasn’t a Venables defense but they were really good. They also had five players drafted in the first five rounds from that defense and that doesn’t include Trotter.
But what was most impressive is that ND had no passing game, Clemson knew they were going to run, but couldn’t stop it. That’s the only time I’ve seen Notre Dame dominate the line of scrimmage like that so comprehensively which is why I think it’s such a great performance.
Fair enough! For some reason I was remembering them as more like a Top 25 rather than Top 10-ish defense.
This is all true, but on the other hand, Clemson’s defensive gameplan against us in 2022 was awful. The book on how to stop ND was fully written at that point, and they did none of it. All Tommy had to do was spam duo over and over, which, I guess to his credit, he did.
With Sam Hartman instead of peak “Do your f’in job because you can’t throw a 5 yard screen pass” Drew Pyne? Yup.
I get that you don’t like Tommy, but have you considered that juuuuuuust maybe Nick Saban knows how to pick coordinators? I keep coming back to that fact, along with Alabama being 7-1 and watching Milroe and the offense from the start of the year to now.
Yea, I don’t understand why it’s so hard to see that Rees was far superior to what Parker is doing right now – at least as a play-caller.
To be clear, I don’t think Parker is good. But is there a single piece of statistical evidence to show that Tommy is “far superior” to what we’ve seen this year out of ND?
It does not matter. It does not matter how Tommy compares to Parker unless you think ND is going to hire Tommy back. Parker needs to be replaced. The options for his replacement are not “Tommy or Other.”
Tommy is gone.
You think Alabama is 7-1 because of Tommy rather than Saban? Man, I don’t think I can buy that. If anything, I think Alabama is 8-0 with a good offensive coordinator.
3 games with only 2 TDs. Only a FG in the 2nd half vs. Arkansas which nearly cost them the game. When his gameplan hits, it can be fantastic, like last week. But when it misses, it’s brutal.
Two comments because this is a fun internet argument:
First, strawman much? Obviously it’s a heck of a lot easier to have success with the players and system Saban has in place, for anybody. My point is that Saban is a pretty good talent evaluator, as his coaching tree clearly shows.
Second, the QB room he inherited was bad enough that Buchner was the best looking guy in camp. Unsurprising it’s taking time to improve.
I’m NOT a huge TR fan, but you might want to take a deep breath and show us on the leprechaun where Tommy hurt you 😉
[wildly gestures at what the QB room became under Tommy]
So let me say this about that.
When Tommy left, our QB room was Hartman/Minchey/Carr/Angeli.
Did Tommy become a magically better recruiter? Or did we get a HC who clearly is a far better recruiter?
And while Tommy was still there, the qbs included Wimbush, Book, Jurcovec, Clark, Pyne, Buchner, Angelli, Minchey, and required two grad transfers because the players recruited weren’t good enough. Not exactly the programs strongest personnel group.
Wait how is that a strawman? You’re the one who said you keep coming back to how Alabama is 7-1 as a positive for Tommy.
Thank you!
Would’ve bet so much money a Rees is bad/mediocre discussion was going to break out.
Just wait until he’s our next head coach following a successful but tumultuous tenure at Bama.
Truthfully the funniest thing would be Freeman firing Parker, Bama losing the SEC championship like 10-6, Saban encouraging Tommy to leave, and him ending right back at ND as O Coordinator. Running an offense that just had its 6th year senior QB leave, has huge question marks at WR, and is likely to take some time for its O Line to gel in 2024. I think I would have to preemptively ban myself from commenting on any ND negative offensive performances.
You have a very ND sense of humor.
If Tommy has kids, ND fans are going to be clamoring to hire Tommy Jr. until, like, 2090.
The next Five Wide Fullbacks is going to be wild:
Those Advent jerseys would be bestsellers at the bookstore, but Under Armour refuses to sell them to the public!
My heart is strong af.
Close, but #3 is going to be “If you put a hot dog on sandwich bread, it becomes a sandwich, but not if you put it on a hot dog bun.”
Finding someone to take that bet would have been challenging.
Thank you for sharing the gogo and brennan marion. I watched a few of their 2023 game highlights, and…
More of that please: using unique formations to stress defenses pre snap, motion pre snap in said unique formations to further force a defensive adjustment, strong side and weak side runs relying on 2 BACK SETS, incorporated triple option concepts, harmonious play action, trap blocking, veer blocking, base/zone blocking concepts.
All those tennants are nothing new to football, but their implementation and the active creativity displayed by brennan is awesome. I dont want to disparage OC parker anymore, but he wasnt the first choice for the job, and that’s not his fault. But as it stands, notre dame is extremely predictable based on formation, down and distance, etc. This has served fine in games where the talent differential is big, but as shown, in the games that count, you cannot just rely solely on your Xs being bigger than their Os. Everyone brace yourselves, but we do need scheme to help the players.
I appreciate you also mentioning josh heupel above: hes a baylor art Briles offensive student, which is another paradigm I’ve clamored for: run centric but WIDE spread vertical passing game focused too: 2022 tennessee looked basically like the RG3 baylor teams.
To the point, what brennan marion is doing at UNLV is significant, and I think his system would be excellent in south bend: using 2 running backs in a spread based creative run focused attack??? Judas priest sign me up.
Out of all of the weird Parker decisions this year (rotating 5 RBs against OSU; rotating interior linemen mid-game; running on first down all the time but never calling play-action), the one that blows my mind the most is how rarely we have gone with a 2 RB backfield. How in the world is a defense supposed to scheme to defend a situation where you’ve got Audric Estime and Jeremiah Love in the backfield at the same time? There should be a minimum 10 snaps per game with those two in the backfield together.
We actually have run plays with two RBs in the backfield, especially against Ohio State where those plays were mostly successful. Here’s an example:
Love and Ford
What drives me nuts is that it’s almost always Ford plus Love and everyone in the stadium already knows that Love is getting the carry when they’re both on the field. It would probably be helpful if Parker could diversity with Love and Estime, Price and Estime, etc. but I guess that’s not how they want to run the offense.
Those multi-RB Wing T backfields
I’m totally with you, like, put your best players on the field!!!!!
If the receiver room is young and depleted and your RBs and dope and deep, then my dude, 2 back sets por favor!!!!
It does appear as though many of the four letter last names of some HCs, OCs, and QBs, who are red meat for some, have been addressed, .
My point was more that on-field player mistakes, which no OC could control, would have changed our perception of the program. I’m sure I could find one in an Ohio State drive that made the difference. It’s also fair to make the point that another OC may have called a game that would have not reached that point or also that up to this point in the season we’ve been the toughest opponent yet for Ohio State despite that 20th century offense.
Would a 10-2 season last year (assuming a bowl victory) and an Ohio State win or a 8-1 season this year change perceptions of MF or GP? Still, the play-calling against Clemson was atrocious. I felt like the player on the sidelines saying “Put me in Coach” with the implication that I could do better. I do think of the WR recruit who sees early PT and the value of a ND education.
I totally get what you’re saying, different player actions could drastically swing a play success.
My counter: over 10 games and several hundred data points of play calling opportunities, what I’ve seen is the offensive play calling does not maximize the players to either enhance their efforts, or mitigates the execution errors.
Anecdotally, Louisville came out in 2 high safety first drive, which means theres one less defender against the run, and notre dame threw the ball every play until the interception. They were still moving the ball, however the pre snap play decision warranted a more optimal call. Further, it doesnt appear that hartman has the chance to change the play into a run during such situations, so they’re stuck with the called play. Every. Time. This lowers the success chances every time, and makes those execution mistakes that much more significant.
Further, in the same game, third and medium notre dame is in gun 4 wide, and louisville runs 5 man pressure with man coverage on the outside, immediately collapsed the pocket, long developing routes from the receivers, therefore sack. Such a look puts a LOT on young wide outside to beat strong man coverage, so another chance where poor scheme and play call reduced the effectiveness of the players ability, and amplified their execution mistakes.
I think if ND got all the breaks and beat the boys, went 11-1 and made the playoffs, we’d get the pants blown off us, and not because of a colossal talent differential, but because Georgia’s or Michigan’s DC would straight up out coach our offense (play stealing aside). I guess what I’m trying to say is, those 10, 11 win outcomes would be awesome, but I don’t think would diminish the flaws in the process (inputs) just maybe the fan response would be more subduded; everything’s a little nicer and easier when you’re winning.
I agree with all of this. I would also just like to add that our offensive line has been much better at iso blocking this entire season, we especially knocked OSU’s defensive line off the ball by going man-on-man for most of the second half. You watch some of our other games and you can see how our linemen seem more comfortable just firing off the ball without having to think as much.
But most of our run game consists of long-developing counter plays which requires precise timing and movement by our inexperienced guards. Needless to say, we have rarely gotten the timing or the movement right all season long and that issue is exacerbated against good defenses. Add in the fact that we pretty much run the same two or three plays from every formation and it’s a recipe for frustration.
Yes listening to Hit and Hustle (with Jamie U) which echoes a lot of these thoughts above, makes one think that Parker is basically a high school offensive coordinator (and not a very good high school one either!). It’s just really basic stuff we are not doing that at this level should be unheard of and an immediately fireable offense.
Funny thing as I was thinking about our offense what kept coming to mind was my high school football coach, who preached you just had to out muscle, beat up, and wear your opponent down. We very rarely passed, Absolutely no pressure snap motion, and only 2-3 formations. He didn’t know how to use personal, I was 120lbs playing on the line against 200lbs+ d lineman. We were a .500 team when in my senior year we probably had the talent to go undefeated.
Completely agree
Showing up to the party two days late, with two comments (one leaning into my perhaps trollish instincts):
(1) This article was excellent. Somebody should send it to Freeman and Pete Bevacqua. Seriously.
(2) “Marcus Freeman is a smart guy” – is this statement in evidence? Of course, there are different intelligences and his EQ is off-the-charts, and also you don’t have to be conventionally intelligent to be a great coach. But, you have to know your limits and hire smart coordinators (hi Dabo/Lou). But, given Freeman’s decisionmaking so far, I would not say he appears to be “smart” within the typical meaning of that term.