Another week, another impressive win. With Saturday’s showdown with Clemson looming, I’m sure the handwringers will point out in distress that the Tigers beat this same GT team 76-3 earlier in the season, but not this guy. No, I’m extremely happy with the product I see on the field every week and this game was no different. ND now has a 12 game win streak which is the longest in the country (seriously, who knew that?) Here’s what I saw and why I’m excited about the Clemson matchup and the future of
Opening Drive- 15 plays in 8:44 with 6 pass completions (Geek Stat- Book didn’t throw and incomplete pass until 00:48 of the 1st Q). The State of Georgia hasn’t seen a drive that concentrated, meticulous, and sustained since Sherman’s march to the sea. Ok, maybe a bit of hyperbole there but, as so many ND games start off, it was a solid opening drive capped off by Joe Wilkins Jr. catching the TD in stride. I love Wilkins (more on him later and I loved that catch).
The Encore- As is often the case with BK’s teams, the successive drives aren’t always as spectacular. In this case, the 2nd drive was proceeding swimmingly with ND moving the ball to the GT 7yd line before Williams fumbled the ball and it was returned 93 yards for a TD. I’ve seen a lot of red zone turnovers returned for TDs in the BK era, but I digress. After the fumble there seemed to be a lot of guys lallygagging toward the ball instead of going after the runner. Not a big deal in the long run but definitely a lowlight in the game.
O-Line- ND cranked out 227 yards on the ground. Funny how we don’t hear how ND can’t run block anymore. Book was sacked 2x in the game for a season total of 11 sacks which is pretty darn good. There have been better players on the o-line in the past 10+ years, but there has never been a unit this good. It almost makes you feel like this guy Quinn knows what he’s doing.
Book- He had a solid, workman-like game this week. A much better game, accuracy-wise going 18-26 (69%) for 199 yards. As a companion to my o-line post above, for the season Book has 51 rushes for 212 yds, 4.2 avg. Book running looks like a young father tiptoeing through a room full of Legos; not pretty but you get out uninjured. I got stuck watching the Giants-Bucs game the other night and saw Daniel Jones throw 2 boneheaded picks and it made me think about Book so I looked back at some of the prior games and this one and noticed that when he’s inaccurate it definitely seems to be on purpose. If his guy can’t get to the ball nobody can. In 4 years he’s thrown 18 INTs, and only 1 this year. As a side note he was mentioned on Boston sports radio as a possible Patriot draft pick at QB. They didn’t go into much detail, but he did come up and I think it was because he makes smart decisions.
Best Play I Saw All Day- 4th Q and ND comfortably ahead. Kiser is penetrating into the backfield when Jordan Mason has the ball running to his left. Kiser disengages, runs across the field, crushes Mason at the 2 and prevents a TD. Sure, GT scored on the next play, but the game was comfortably in hand and Kiser still gave an all-out effort to prevent the score. The speed athleticism of his play shocked me.
Things That Passed Me By-
Wilkins- The story of his father was previewed a few games back, but here is some additional reading for you on him. If you missed this great piece by @AndrewMentock be sure to catch up on it: https://notredame.rivals.com/news/joe-wilkins-jr-maturing-through-adversity
Defense- It was mentioned in the broadcast that there aren’t a lot of standouts, stat-wise, on the defense but they are a talented group that does an excellent job together. The commentators said it may even be the best defense in college. Now for the reality check:
Post of the Game-
It Was Over When- Crawford (again making a huge play) sacked the QB for an 8 yd loss on 3rd down. GT then goes for the FG and misses. ND marches down the field and scores a TD to make it 31-7. Game over. Thank you Shaun! BTW, he also had a great fumble recovery that was called back.
Ogundeji- He made one of the plays of the day taking down the runner near the line of scrimmage in the 3rd Q. He lept across his body like a cat, took down the runner, and prevented a big gain.
Tyree- It’s been said that C’Bo likes the contact and that’s true, but I was really impressed with Tyree in the 2nd Q when he ran for a 21 yard gain (on the jet sweep that actually worked) instead of going out of bounds he lowered his shoulders, stayed in bounds, and drove for a few more yards to the GT 2. Williams punched it in a play later to make it 14-7.
Geek Stats- GT was held to 88 yard rushing. By comparison, they rushed for 161 yards against FSU, 227 against UCF, 275 against Syracuse, 192 against Louisville, 106 against BC, and the aforementioned 123 against Clemson. The point here is the run defense has been pretty good.
On Side Kick- Terrible reaction by Williams. He’s a great talent and had a great game, but that one play mishandling to on side kick was a major gaffe.
McLeod- Got burned a couple of time , most notably to start the 2nd Q for 40 yards to the ND 22. He got bailed out by the Hayes sack and Amosa recovery so it wasn’t critical, but he has some work to do.
Avery Davis- It’s always something with this guy. Nothing huge. Nothing spectacular. It’s just always a solid contribution to the game. If I were smarter than I am, I would have written something like @Patrick Engel 's excellent piece on Davis. https://notredame.rivals.com/news/a...t-home-and-notre-dame-is-better-because-of-it
Hayes- 5 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 TFLS. He was a beast all day even when he didn’t record a stat. In the 1st Q he had the runner in the backfield but whiffed on the tackle but slowed the guy down so much that Amosa came in and made the TFL. These are the types of plays, the layered defense, that we haven’t seen here before. As I mentioned above, his sack in the 3rd Q and the subsequent recovery by Amosa was a momentum killer for GT.
I Didn’t Realize- The GT TD in the 4th Q was the 1st 4th Q TD ND has given up all year.
McKinley- Maybe this was the start of something big for him. He really looked the part of the big-time receiver that BK says he is. 5 catches for 93 yds led both teams in both categories. Not gaudy stats, but it was the way he got them that stood out. Good routes, good speed and good hands, to be sure. But it was the fight he showed after contact that I saw that really impressed me. He battled for that couple of extra yards after contact on every catch. It was the best game I’ve seen from him all year.
Liufau- What was he thinking? Terrible penalty and now he’s out for the 1st half of the Clemson game.
Hamilton- @undirish3 appropriately called him “The Blanket” last week and he continued to show why against GT. He led ND with 6vtackles to include 2 TFLs and I can’t remember a completion in his direction. The play that stands out to me was on the GT 2 point conversion attempt he blew up the play and tossed the runner to the ground like he was a child. Very impressive.
Post Game Post-of-the-Game-
Now Is the Time for BK- He can get his signature victory here and against a top-flight opponent with the complete team that he’s finally built. Get it done, BK.
Stephon Tuitt- Congratulations on being the AFC Defensive Player of the Week. When I think of that 2011 recruiting class on defense I thought they’d all be like that and I enjoyed what a great player Tuitt was here. I can only imagine how much better off Aaron Lynch would have been, personally and professionally to have stuck it out here.
The Matchup- Clemson is the #1 team in the country, but I don’t fear them one bit. ND has every bit as good a team as the Tigers and I believe they’ll come out on top on Saturday. Book it! Too long to post here, but @thomasna has a splendid gameplan that he lays out here: https://notredame.forums.rivals.com/threads/how-to-attack-venables-defense.159461/
Enjoy the game. Have a great week. Stay safe. Stay healthy.
Opening Drive- 15 plays in 8:44 with 6 pass completions (Geek Stat- Book didn’t throw and incomplete pass until 00:48 of the 1st Q). The State of Georgia hasn’t seen a drive that concentrated, meticulous, and sustained since Sherman’s march to the sea. Ok, maybe a bit of hyperbole there but, as so many ND games start off, it was a solid opening drive capped off by Joe Wilkins Jr. catching the TD in stride. I love Wilkins (more on him later and I loved that catch).
The Encore- As is often the case with BK’s teams, the successive drives aren’t always as spectacular. In this case, the 2nd drive was proceeding swimmingly with ND moving the ball to the GT 7yd line before Williams fumbled the ball and it was returned 93 yards for a TD. I’ve seen a lot of red zone turnovers returned for TDs in the BK era, but I digress. After the fumble there seemed to be a lot of guys lallygagging toward the ball instead of going after the runner. Not a big deal in the long run but definitely a lowlight in the game.
O-Line- ND cranked out 227 yards on the ground. Funny how we don’t hear how ND can’t run block anymore. Book was sacked 2x in the game for a season total of 11 sacks which is pretty darn good. There have been better players on the o-line in the past 10+ years, but there has never been a unit this good. It almost makes you feel like this guy Quinn knows what he’s doing.
Book- He had a solid, workman-like game this week. A much better game, accuracy-wise going 18-26 (69%) for 199 yards. As a companion to my o-line post above, for the season Book has 51 rushes for 212 yds, 4.2 avg. Book running looks like a young father tiptoeing through a room full of Legos; not pretty but you get out uninjured. I got stuck watching the Giants-Bucs game the other night and saw Daniel Jones throw 2 boneheaded picks and it made me think about Book so I looked back at some of the prior games and this one and noticed that when he’s inaccurate it definitely seems to be on purpose. If his guy can’t get to the ball nobody can. In 4 years he’s thrown 18 INTs, and only 1 this year. As a side note he was mentioned on Boston sports radio as a possible Patriot draft pick at QB. They didn’t go into much detail, but he did come up and I think it was because he makes smart decisions.
Best Play I Saw All Day- 4th Q and ND comfortably ahead. Kiser is penetrating into the backfield when Jordan Mason has the ball running to his left. Kiser disengages, runs across the field, crushes Mason at the 2 and prevents a TD. Sure, GT scored on the next play, but the game was comfortably in hand and Kiser still gave an all-out effort to prevent the score. The speed athleticism of his play shocked me.
Things That Passed Me By-
I can’t say I saw this but I’ve been wondering where Simon has been all year. I really expected so much more from him.
Wilkins- The story of his father was previewed a few games back, but here is some additional reading for you on him. If you missed this great piece by @AndrewMentock be sure to catch up on it: https://notredame.rivals.com/news/joe-wilkins-jr-maturing-through-adversity
Defense- It was mentioned in the broadcast that there aren’t a lot of standouts, stat-wise, on the defense but they are a talented group that does an excellent job together. The commentators said it may even be the best defense in college. Now for the reality check:
Again, there have been better players in the past, but this is the best, most complete unit in the BK era.
Post of the Game-
No argument here. Foskey’s sack in the 3rd Q when the game was still somewhat in doubt was a huge play which set up a GT 3rd and 18 and led to a punt. The 2 teams traded possessions before Crawford basically ended it…
It Was Over When- Crawford (again making a huge play) sacked the QB for an 8 yd loss on 3rd down. GT then goes for the FG and misses. ND marches down the field and scores a TD to make it 31-7. Game over. Thank you Shaun! BTW, he also had a great fumble recovery that was called back.
Ogundeji- He made one of the plays of the day taking down the runner near the line of scrimmage in the 3rd Q. He lept across his body like a cat, took down the runner, and prevented a big gain.
Tyree- It’s been said that C’Bo likes the contact and that’s true, but I was really impressed with Tyree in the 2nd Q when he ran for a 21 yard gain (on the jet sweep that actually worked) instead of going out of bounds he lowered his shoulders, stayed in bounds, and drove for a few more yards to the GT 2. Williams punched it in a play later to make it 14-7.
Geek Stats- GT was held to 88 yard rushing. By comparison, they rushed for 161 yards against FSU, 227 against UCF, 275 against Syracuse, 192 against Louisville, 106 against BC, and the aforementioned 123 against Clemson. The point here is the run defense has been pretty good.
On Side Kick- Terrible reaction by Williams. He’s a great talent and had a great game, but that one play mishandling to on side kick was a major gaffe.
McLeod- Got burned a couple of time , most notably to start the 2nd Q for 40 yards to the ND 22. He got bailed out by the Hayes sack and Amosa recovery so it wasn’t critical, but he has some work to do.
Avery Davis- It’s always something with this guy. Nothing huge. Nothing spectacular. It’s just always a solid contribution to the game. If I were smarter than I am, I would have written something like @Patrick Engel 's excellent piece on Davis. https://notredame.rivals.com/news/a...t-home-and-notre-dame-is-better-because-of-it
Hayes- 5 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 TFLS. He was a beast all day even when he didn’t record a stat. In the 1st Q he had the runner in the backfield but whiffed on the tackle but slowed the guy down so much that Amosa came in and made the TFL. These are the types of plays, the layered defense, that we haven’t seen here before. As I mentioned above, his sack in the 3rd Q and the subsequent recovery by Amosa was a momentum killer for GT.
I Didn’t Realize- The GT TD in the 4th Q was the 1st 4th Q TD ND has given up all year.
McKinley- Maybe this was the start of something big for him. He really looked the part of the big-time receiver that BK says he is. 5 catches for 93 yds led both teams in both categories. Not gaudy stats, but it was the way he got them that stood out. Good routes, good speed and good hands, to be sure. But it was the fight he showed after contact that I saw that really impressed me. He battled for that couple of extra yards after contact on every catch. It was the best game I’ve seen from him all year.
Liufau- What was he thinking? Terrible penalty and now he’s out for the 1st half of the Clemson game.
Hamilton- @undirish3 appropriately called him “The Blanket” last week and he continued to show why against GT. He led ND with 6vtackles to include 2 TFLs and I can’t remember a completion in his direction. The play that stands out to me was on the GT 2 point conversion attempt he blew up the play and tossed the runner to the ground like he was a child. Very impressive.
Post Game Post-of-the-Game-
It wasn’t perfect, but as he said, we were in control from the start.
Now Is the Time for BK- He can get his signature victory here and against a top-flight opponent with the complete team that he’s finally built. Get it done, BK.
Stephon Tuitt- Congratulations on being the AFC Defensive Player of the Week. When I think of that 2011 recruiting class on defense I thought they’d all be like that and I enjoyed what a great player Tuitt was here. I can only imagine how much better off Aaron Lynch would have been, personally and professionally to have stuck it out here.
The Matchup- Clemson is the #1 team in the country, but I don’t fear them one bit. ND has every bit as good a team as the Tigers and I believe they’ll come out on top on Saturday. Book it! Too long to post here, but @thomasna has a splendid gameplan that he lays out here: https://notredame.forums.rivals.com/threads/how-to-attack-venables-defense.159461/
Enjoy the game. Have a great week. Stay safe. Stay healthy.
