The numbers for Notre Dame look great in most areas, and the Irish showed just how talented they are as a football team during their dominating 66-14 blowout victory over New Mexico. But this game also showed that there is a lot to continue working on for the Irish.
I’ll begin my instant analysis with the Irish offense:
OFFENSE
*** The start of this game for quarterback Ian Book was really bad. He completed 11-19 passes for 251 yards, but by my count just three of those passes were completed beyond five yards down the field. He hit a shovel pass to Avery Davis for a 59-yard touchdown, he hit Javon McKinley on a shallow cross that turned into a 65-yard touchdown and Chase Claypool turned a short throw into a 20-yard gain. His decision making was poor and once again he missed multiple opportunities to push the ball downfield when he had one-on-one opportunities. He missed Claypool on a post-route that should have gone for a big play.
*** He settled down late in the first half and started to find his groove. He hit Claypool on a post route TD late in the half to make it 35-0, he threw a good corner route to TE Tommy Tremble and hit Javon McKinley perfectly on a back shoulder throw for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
*** Book finished the game 15-24 for 360 yards and 5 touchdowns. Those numbers look way better than he played, but Book did improve as the game went on as both a decision maker and downfield passer. Hopefully he can build on that and start pushing the ball downfield as effectively as he did in the late second and third quarters.
*** The run game was very disappointing. Notre Dame was well under 100 yards when the starters got pulled, and the only reason they finished with 157 yards was due to the second and third-team offense. The problems were all over. The offensive line did not get much of a push today and they were sloppy from what I could tell watching the game. I’ll see if that’s true when I break down the film, but that was the view I got. The decision making by the QB wasn’t always ideal and the perimeter runs that worked so well last week didn’t work today, and ND couldn’t just hammer New Mexico.
*** I’m really curious to see how the film looks of the offensive line after I watch the film. I wasn’t impressed watching live, but I also don’t focus on the OL as much during the game because I know I can watch them on film. I don’t think the play-calling in the run game helped very much, but the execution seemed to be off.
*** One thing I really did like was that OC Chip Long saw that New Mexico was over-playing those perimeter runs, and as soon as they saw a Notre Dame OL pulling they flew to the ball. That allowed them to shut down the run early, but Long came back with multiple calls to exploit that. On the 59-yard touchdown by Avery Davis, Long called a Buck Sweep action to the left – which has both guards pulling to the left. The UNM defense flew in that direction, which meant there was no one there to see and react to Davis, who took off in the opposite direction for a touchdown. That happened again later on Chris Finke’s 54-yard “reception” for a TD.
*** The route running by the receivers and some of the tight ends early in the game was sloppy. There was one particular third-down snap where the receivers ran into each other. There just wasn’t a sense of urgency. The tight end unit also had a lot of struggles in the run game. On back-to-back short-yardage plays in the first half both Brock Wright and Tremble got beat inside by an aggressive defender, which resulted in a no-gain or negative run.
*** The receivers started to pick things up as the game wore on, as we saw. One guy who played well the entire game was Claypool, who finished with 4 catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. He should have had another big gain had Book not thrown the ball behind him, although it did draw a pass interference. Late in the first half there was another Claypool was good after the catch, he was open quite a bit and when he did get the ball accurately down the field he made plays. The one mistake he did make was on a go route early in the game where he worked inside too much. If he stays outside he has a chance to make that grab of what I felt was otherwise a quality downfield pass from Book.
*** Sophomore WR Lawrence Keys III is a really good football player. He mis-timed his jump on the post route, but the ball should have led him. He gets open effectively, competes in the run game and he can do damage after the catch. We saw that today. It was good to see Avery Davis get a touch today and then do something with it.
*** Senior Javon McKinley showed off his talent today. He played well in the opener but he didn’t get thrown the ball when he was open. Today he got the ball and made plays. McKinley scored on both of his catches, totally 85 yards. He had a strong catch and run on a cross route that went from a throw he caught less than 5 yards downfield and turned into a 65-yard touchdown. McKinley showed very good ball skills on the back shoulder TD. He has shown that ability in the past, hopefully he’s finally tapped into his potential.
*** It was good to see Braden Lenzy get into the game and do damage as well. Lenzy showed off his speed when he connected with QB Phil Jurkovec on a 52-yard gain, the first catch of his career and Jurkovec’s first completion. It’s fitting that both of their first career catches/completions came on a bomb. Lenzy also showed the ability to do damage after the catch. Yes, it was against New Mexico’s back ups, but he still made those plays. Hopefully he can follow this up with a strong week of practice, because he would add some serious juice to the offense.
*** I thought Kyren Williams ran the ball effectively late in the game. He wasn't nearly as tentative as he was early. Hopefully that success can boost him moving forward, but he has some skill that can help this offense.
I’ll begin my instant analysis with the Irish offense:
OFFENSE
*** The start of this game for quarterback Ian Book was really bad. He completed 11-19 passes for 251 yards, but by my count just three of those passes were completed beyond five yards down the field. He hit a shovel pass to Avery Davis for a 59-yard touchdown, he hit Javon McKinley on a shallow cross that turned into a 65-yard touchdown and Chase Claypool turned a short throw into a 20-yard gain. His decision making was poor and once again he missed multiple opportunities to push the ball downfield when he had one-on-one opportunities. He missed Claypool on a post-route that should have gone for a big play.
*** He settled down late in the first half and started to find his groove. He hit Claypool on a post route TD late in the half to make it 35-0, he threw a good corner route to TE Tommy Tremble and hit Javon McKinley perfectly on a back shoulder throw for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
*** Book finished the game 15-24 for 360 yards and 5 touchdowns. Those numbers look way better than he played, but Book did improve as the game went on as both a decision maker and downfield passer. Hopefully he can build on that and start pushing the ball downfield as effectively as he did in the late second and third quarters.
*** The run game was very disappointing. Notre Dame was well under 100 yards when the starters got pulled, and the only reason they finished with 157 yards was due to the second and third-team offense. The problems were all over. The offensive line did not get much of a push today and they were sloppy from what I could tell watching the game. I’ll see if that’s true when I break down the film, but that was the view I got. The decision making by the QB wasn’t always ideal and the perimeter runs that worked so well last week didn’t work today, and ND couldn’t just hammer New Mexico.
*** I’m really curious to see how the film looks of the offensive line after I watch the film. I wasn’t impressed watching live, but I also don’t focus on the OL as much during the game because I know I can watch them on film. I don’t think the play-calling in the run game helped very much, but the execution seemed to be off.
*** One thing I really did like was that OC Chip Long saw that New Mexico was over-playing those perimeter runs, and as soon as they saw a Notre Dame OL pulling they flew to the ball. That allowed them to shut down the run early, but Long came back with multiple calls to exploit that. On the 59-yard touchdown by Avery Davis, Long called a Buck Sweep action to the left – which has both guards pulling to the left. The UNM defense flew in that direction, which meant there was no one there to see and react to Davis, who took off in the opposite direction for a touchdown. That happened again later on Chris Finke’s 54-yard “reception” for a TD.
*** The route running by the receivers and some of the tight ends early in the game was sloppy. There was one particular third-down snap where the receivers ran into each other. There just wasn’t a sense of urgency. The tight end unit also had a lot of struggles in the run game. On back-to-back short-yardage plays in the first half both Brock Wright and Tremble got beat inside by an aggressive defender, which resulted in a no-gain or negative run.
*** The receivers started to pick things up as the game wore on, as we saw. One guy who played well the entire game was Claypool, who finished with 4 catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. He should have had another big gain had Book not thrown the ball behind him, although it did draw a pass interference. Late in the first half there was another Claypool was good after the catch, he was open quite a bit and when he did get the ball accurately down the field he made plays. The one mistake he did make was on a go route early in the game where he worked inside too much. If he stays outside he has a chance to make that grab of what I felt was otherwise a quality downfield pass from Book.
*** Sophomore WR Lawrence Keys III is a really good football player. He mis-timed his jump on the post route, but the ball should have led him. He gets open effectively, competes in the run game and he can do damage after the catch. We saw that today. It was good to see Avery Davis get a touch today and then do something with it.
*** Senior Javon McKinley showed off his talent today. He played well in the opener but he didn’t get thrown the ball when he was open. Today he got the ball and made plays. McKinley scored on both of his catches, totally 85 yards. He had a strong catch and run on a cross route that went from a throw he caught less than 5 yards downfield and turned into a 65-yard touchdown. McKinley showed very good ball skills on the back shoulder TD. He has shown that ability in the past, hopefully he’s finally tapped into his potential.
*** It was good to see Braden Lenzy get into the game and do damage as well. Lenzy showed off his speed when he connected with QB Phil Jurkovec on a 52-yard gain, the first catch of his career and Jurkovec’s first completion. It’s fitting that both of their first career catches/completions came on a bomb. Lenzy also showed the ability to do damage after the catch. Yes, it was against New Mexico’s back ups, but he still made those plays. Hopefully he can follow this up with a strong week of practice, because he would add some serious juice to the offense.
*** I thought Kyren Williams ran the ball effectively late in the game. He wasn't nearly as tentative as he was early. Hopefully that success can boost him moving forward, but he has some skill that can help this offense.
