It was a somewhat sloppy performance, but Notre Dame still dominated Florida State, winning 42-13.
My immediate observations from the game:
OFFENSE
* Notre Dame starts their backup QB, a guy known as a runner and not a passer, so what does OC Chip Long do? He comes out throwing the ball deep. I laugh as I type that, but it's not a criticism. Long came out aggressive against the Seminoles and the result was a 17-0 lead after just one quarter and a 32-6 halftime lead. The finish was disappointing, but you have to love the start, which allowed Notre Dame to bury the Seminoles.
* The deep shots played a couple of roles. First it got QB Brandon Wimbush comfortable, and during the first half Wimbush looked very good. I wrote about this in the morning, one way to get Wimbush going is to let him take shots deep. The early shots resulted in Wimbush getting comfortable early in the game, and Long also used Wimbush's legs.
* The second aspect of taking shots downfield early is it softened up the FSU run defense, which was stout coming into the game. With FSU on its heels a bit the Irish ground attack went to work, going for 141 yards on 18 carries in the first half. Notre Dame was able to attack FSU where it is best, which is right up the middle. FSU's starting DT's (Christmas, Wilson) both graded out better as run defender's than anyone that starts for the ND OL by PFF coming into this game, but Notre Dame dominated them. The early game plan was a part.
* This comment is an observation and not a criticism or a praise, it's not good or bad, just different, so keep that in mind people who like to read things into what I write in these observations. But Notre Dame ran the ball so well today in large part b/c of Brandon Wimbush being the QB. Again, not better or worse, just a fact. Here's what I mean. In this game you saw more read zones and not as many RPO's, so where in the past Book would pull and throw, Wimbush would keep it and run. We also saw more designed runs in this game where there wasn't really an RPO option, and that locked ND into more runs, whereas Book would have the freedom to pull and throw, often very effectively. FSU was obviously keying on Wimbush with its LB's and safeties in the run game, which is another reason ND was able to rip them right up the middle. The OL and RB's played great, but schematically having Wimbush is why ND had its season high in rush yards ... by far.
* Notre Dame finished with 365 rushing yards (7.3). It's the most yards FSU has allowed since 2009, when it gave up 401 yards (7.0 YPC) to Georgia Tech. In FSU's first nine games no team rushed for more than 3.89 yards per carry. Which makes ND's 7.3 far more impressive. The last time a team averaged more 7.3 YPC against Notre Dame was in 2009. That team had a QB named Tim Tebow. For context purposes.
* Speaking of Wimbush, he played a really good first half. He caught a break on a ball that was batted at the LOS, but other than that he performed quite well in the first two quarters. He got the ball in position to allow his WR's and TE's to make plays, and they absolutely made a ton of plays. He went 10-19 for 111 yards and 3 TD's in the first half and he added another 48 yards on the ground as ND jumped to a 32-6 leads. Wimbush was snapping the ball off and even though he under threw a few balls (obviously not as much on the same page as the WR's, which happens to all backup QB's), but he was confident as a passer and the results were impressive. ND went 6-9 on third-down in the first half, with Wimbush completing four passes to convert third downs and he used his legs to convert the other two. He did a good job going through progressions early and made the throws he needed to make.
* In the second half he looked more like the QB we saw early in the year. He was aiming passes, guessing instead of reading and he wasn't nearly as sharp as a thrower. On the first INT he tried to stay in the pocket and force a throw instead of running to the right, where there was a HUGE hole. He can't make those kinds of mistakes. If they want to drop 7-8 make them pay. He did that in the first half, didn't in the second half. On this 2nd INT he assumed FSU was playing man coverage, so he threw the inside slant to Finke that he threw in the first half to move the chains, but FSU dropped into a zone and he threw it right to the LB. It's okay to think man based on the pre-snap read, but he still has to react to what the defense actually does, and he didn't do that.
* it seemed like it was going to be a slow night for Dexter Williams early in the game. ND was throwing it and running Wimbush really, and Williams first three carries were for just 11 yards. That was just a tease, and Williams heated up, beginning with his 58-yard touchdown run right up the middle. He had some holes to run through, but he combined hard running to go with those holes, and Williams maximized the available yards on a lot of carries. Even when he's been good this year he hasn't always maximized yards, but tonight he did that extremely well. Williams was very decisive as a runner tonight, which also played a huge role in his performance. Yes, the OL played excellent, but Williams played an outstanding game and complemented the OL play with some fabulous decision making and aggressiveness. Williams finished with a career-best 202 rushing yards on just 20 carries (10.1 YPC).
* The wide receivers and tight ends fought their butts off tonight. They made several outstanding plays in the game and out-fought and out-played the FSU DB's all night long. Notre Dame was the bigger and older group and they imposed their will on the FSU secondary in the pass game and run game. It was a really impressive all-around performance, they played much better than their numbers would show.
* Senior TE Alizé Mack had just 3 catches for 29 yards, but his catches were really, really impressive. Those are the kinds of catches he's always been capable of, just never really stepped up when he needed to, but on Senior Night he did that.
* This was without question the best performance of the season by the Irish OL. Not only did they dominate on the ground, but they largely kept the FSU pass rush in check. PFF ranked the FSU defense as the 8th best group in the country at rushing the QB coming into this game. The Seminoles did not record a sack and had just 2 credited hurries. Wimbush had plenty of time to throw, and on the snaps where they did get into the backfield it opened up big run lanes b/c the Irish OL got a body on a body.
* Aaron Banks and Liam Eichenberg are really, really good together. They are going to be the next dominant duo at ND, and it's starting to happen now. Eichenberg had some issues at times in pass pro against Brian Burns, but overall he played well and got good movement in the run game. Banks is a dominant force when he gets a body on defenders. I thought this was Sam Mustipher's best game, but I'll have to get to the film to really evaluate for sure. I thought thought RG Tommy Kraemer was very good.
My immediate observations from the game:
OFFENSE
* Notre Dame starts their backup QB, a guy known as a runner and not a passer, so what does OC Chip Long do? He comes out throwing the ball deep. I laugh as I type that, but it's not a criticism. Long came out aggressive against the Seminoles and the result was a 17-0 lead after just one quarter and a 32-6 halftime lead. The finish was disappointing, but you have to love the start, which allowed Notre Dame to bury the Seminoles.
* The deep shots played a couple of roles. First it got QB Brandon Wimbush comfortable, and during the first half Wimbush looked very good. I wrote about this in the morning, one way to get Wimbush going is to let him take shots deep. The early shots resulted in Wimbush getting comfortable early in the game, and Long also used Wimbush's legs.
* The second aspect of taking shots downfield early is it softened up the FSU run defense, which was stout coming into the game. With FSU on its heels a bit the Irish ground attack went to work, going for 141 yards on 18 carries in the first half. Notre Dame was able to attack FSU where it is best, which is right up the middle. FSU's starting DT's (Christmas, Wilson) both graded out better as run defender's than anyone that starts for the ND OL by PFF coming into this game, but Notre Dame dominated them. The early game plan was a part.
* This comment is an observation and not a criticism or a praise, it's not good or bad, just different, so keep that in mind people who like to read things into what I write in these observations. But Notre Dame ran the ball so well today in large part b/c of Brandon Wimbush being the QB. Again, not better or worse, just a fact. Here's what I mean. In this game you saw more read zones and not as many RPO's, so where in the past Book would pull and throw, Wimbush would keep it and run. We also saw more designed runs in this game where there wasn't really an RPO option, and that locked ND into more runs, whereas Book would have the freedom to pull and throw, often very effectively. FSU was obviously keying on Wimbush with its LB's and safeties in the run game, which is another reason ND was able to rip them right up the middle. The OL and RB's played great, but schematically having Wimbush is why ND had its season high in rush yards ... by far.
* Notre Dame finished with 365 rushing yards (7.3). It's the most yards FSU has allowed since 2009, when it gave up 401 yards (7.0 YPC) to Georgia Tech. In FSU's first nine games no team rushed for more than 3.89 yards per carry. Which makes ND's 7.3 far more impressive. The last time a team averaged more 7.3 YPC against Notre Dame was in 2009. That team had a QB named Tim Tebow. For context purposes.
* Speaking of Wimbush, he played a really good first half. He caught a break on a ball that was batted at the LOS, but other than that he performed quite well in the first two quarters. He got the ball in position to allow his WR's and TE's to make plays, and they absolutely made a ton of plays. He went 10-19 for 111 yards and 3 TD's in the first half and he added another 48 yards on the ground as ND jumped to a 32-6 leads. Wimbush was snapping the ball off and even though he under threw a few balls (obviously not as much on the same page as the WR's, which happens to all backup QB's), but he was confident as a passer and the results were impressive. ND went 6-9 on third-down in the first half, with Wimbush completing four passes to convert third downs and he used his legs to convert the other two. He did a good job going through progressions early and made the throws he needed to make.
* In the second half he looked more like the QB we saw early in the year. He was aiming passes, guessing instead of reading and he wasn't nearly as sharp as a thrower. On the first INT he tried to stay in the pocket and force a throw instead of running to the right, where there was a HUGE hole. He can't make those kinds of mistakes. If they want to drop 7-8 make them pay. He did that in the first half, didn't in the second half. On this 2nd INT he assumed FSU was playing man coverage, so he threw the inside slant to Finke that he threw in the first half to move the chains, but FSU dropped into a zone and he threw it right to the LB. It's okay to think man based on the pre-snap read, but he still has to react to what the defense actually does, and he didn't do that.
* it seemed like it was going to be a slow night for Dexter Williams early in the game. ND was throwing it and running Wimbush really, and Williams first three carries were for just 11 yards. That was just a tease, and Williams heated up, beginning with his 58-yard touchdown run right up the middle. He had some holes to run through, but he combined hard running to go with those holes, and Williams maximized the available yards on a lot of carries. Even when he's been good this year he hasn't always maximized yards, but tonight he did that extremely well. Williams was very decisive as a runner tonight, which also played a huge role in his performance. Yes, the OL played excellent, but Williams played an outstanding game and complemented the OL play with some fabulous decision making and aggressiveness. Williams finished with a career-best 202 rushing yards on just 20 carries (10.1 YPC).
* The wide receivers and tight ends fought their butts off tonight. They made several outstanding plays in the game and out-fought and out-played the FSU DB's all night long. Notre Dame was the bigger and older group and they imposed their will on the FSU secondary in the pass game and run game. It was a really impressive all-around performance, they played much better than their numbers would show.
* Senior TE Alizé Mack had just 3 catches for 29 yards, but his catches were really, really impressive. Those are the kinds of catches he's always been capable of, just never really stepped up when he needed to, but on Senior Night he did that.
* This was without question the best performance of the season by the Irish OL. Not only did they dominate on the ground, but they largely kept the FSU pass rush in check. PFF ranked the FSU defense as the 8th best group in the country at rushing the QB coming into this game. The Seminoles did not record a sack and had just 2 credited hurries. Wimbush had plenty of time to throw, and on the snaps where they did get into the backfield it opened up big run lanes b/c the Irish OL got a body on a body.
* Aaron Banks and Liam Eichenberg are really, really good together. They are going to be the next dominant duo at ND, and it's starting to happen now. Eichenberg had some issues at times in pass pro against Brian Burns, but overall he played well and got good movement in the run game. Banks is a dominant force when he gets a body on defenders. I thought this was Sam Mustipher's best game, but I'll have to get to the film to really evaluate for sure. I thought thought RG Tommy Kraemer was very good.
