Had some time to relax this afternoon, so I rewatched the USC game. For those interested, here were some of my takeaways of the ND offense.
1. Chris Finke played a hell of a game. He's become more confident every week and he's a security blanket for Ian Book on third down. He's really hard to cover out of the slot because it's near impossible to jam him there. He does a nice just on route adjustment. He doesn't run a ton of precision routes, rather, they target him on a lot concepts where he has the freedom to create space from his defender. Not all kids have a enough feel for the game to do that on the fly, but Finke does and it's his greatest attribute. That route IQ is one of those intangible things I often talk about that "stars" won't and can't measure.
2. Dexter Williams was a weapon out of the backfield in the passing game and that makes ND's offense so much more dangerous against pressure packages. Williams wasn't always a good pass catcher and it's still not natural for him, but he's become reliable and we already knew how dangerous he could be in space. I expect to see a healthy amount of him running routes out of the backfield in the playoff game. You have to like Dexter Williams in space vs most linebackers in the country. It hard to really rate how he ran the ball because so often he had 2 or 3 guys tackling him either at the mesh point, or 2-3 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
3. The offensive line continues to concern me. USC did a nice job of blitzing and playing the run on the way to the quarterback. Pittsburgh used a very similar tactic. USC blitzed the hell out of their WILL linebacker in the first half. I felt like the offensive line was on its heels all night, especially in the run game. USC was attacking up field and the line was "catching" rather than drive blocking. The line of scrimmage was being reset in the wrong direction, on nearly every running down. A good job my Pendergast, but really bad on Notre Dame's end. They tried to counter by leaving their tight ends attached and in the H-Back role, but they weren't winning up field either. USC was able to collapse on the mesh point numerous times and they forced ND's backs to bounce plays East and West and created a number of tackles for loss. Tommy Kraemer was back to lunging and he lost his feet a number of times. Hainsey and Eichenberg were getting beat outside on running plays designed to the edge. That can't happen. Those guys have to get hooked inside. I continue to be suspicious about Jeff Quinn's coaching. I'm just not seeing a whole lot of improvement there in terms of fundamentals. Hopefully they go back to basics this month. They absolutely will need their running game to be decently productive in a bowl game. If they play like they did against USC, against a much better Clemson defensive line (worlds better), they're going to get whipped.
4. Ian Book had some highs and lows. He was much better against pressure later in the game when Chip Long made the adjustment to free release the running backs against pressures. It gave Ian a nice, easy blitz beater as the USC linebackers could not get over fast enough to cover Williams, in particular. I loved the toughness and leadership that Book showed in taking on the USC corner on 3rd down when he scrambled out of the pocket and ran for it. I've been critical at times of Book for not doing that in some key situations. He showed growth in understanding the situation, how many yards he needed and he attacked the defender rather than allowing himself to be defenseless. If you have to take a hit, that's the way to do it. I also continue to be happy with his ability to throw in breaking throws and slant routes with a high degree of accuracy. He generally puts those balls right on the money and he obviously throws are really catchable ball. His timing is great on them as well. He doesn't throw them late like some quarterbacks do. That keeps his wide receivers confident that they have time to catch the ball and react to oncoming traffic. There is nothing worse than a guy who leads his wide receivers into traffic and gets them killed. Book is outstanding in that regard.
I was disappointed with his downfield accuracy all night, with the exception of the beautiful ball to Finke for a touchdown. That was a pretty throw. He actually throws deep crossing routes and corner routes pretty well. I think the angle helps him. What he really struggles with is accuracy on straight line deep routes and throwing to wide open receivers. The overthrow of a wide open Finke on the double move was inexcusable for a QB at that level and Brian Kelly was right to be obviously angry on the sidelines about that miss, especially considering he missed the exact same wide open pass out of a similar concept against Virginia Tech, with Finke wide open. Against a playoff team you only get 1 or 2 chances like that where they blow coverage, or you fool their coverage, you have to capitalize.
I don't understand why Book kept throwing 1 on 1 against USC's best player, Iman Marshall. I hesitate to blame Book entirely for going back to that matchup again and again, because maybe Chip Long actually called it. If you are going to throw that Go Route (He attempted it 5 times)you have to put the ball accurately downfield. 4 of the 5 were too far to give Boykin a chance to outjump Marshall for the ball. The other was a good throw (an underthrow) that Marshall made a great play on to wrestle it away from Boykin. Regardless, attacking that matchup made no sense. All year teams have abused the opposite corner, Langley and stayed away from Marshall. Claypool to the field was a much better 1 on 1 matchup, even with the safety rolled over top a couple times. Langley is a liability at corner and ND didn't do enough, through play calling and through Book's decision making, to exploit it.
The interception in the end zone was not a good decision. Moving from left to right, trying to put that into a small window. I'm not going to be too hard on Book about that. He was trying to make a play and got outside of himself. As a former quarterback, I was guilty of doing the same thing a number of times. He'll watch it on film and kick himself for it. Hopefully he learns from it. The play was very similar to the interception he tossed vs LSU in the Bowl Game last year when Greedy Williams picked him off. The only significant difference was that play was to the right side of the field rather than the left.
Overall, the offense was just ok. A step back from what I thought was a decent, but unspectacular effort against Syracuse. Kelly noted after the game that they've had trouble finishing the past 2 weeks. The same was true in the Pittsburgh game. They're struggling to beat packages that bring a lot of pressure. Coaches are seeing that Book will shred you if you play off coverage and rush 4 and 5 all day. He's great inside 12 yards. What USC and Pittsburgh did was say "Your receivers aren't fast enough to blow by our corners in tighter coverage and your quarterback struggles to throw downfield, so we're going to close the short throwing windows down as much as possible and force Book to throw down field". That game plan has been extremely successful (relative to the offensive age of college football we live in, where scoring less than 30 points is a low production). Over the next month Kelly and Long have to come up with some creative plays to beat the pressure they'll face in the Bowl Game. They're most likely going to need 30+ points to be beat Clemson.
Something I looked at just for fun to see how ND compared with their playoff competition relative to consistent scoring. Here's what I came up with.
Alabama: 9 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including 8 times in which they've scored 50+ points and 2 times in which they've scored 60 points. They scored fewer than 30 points twice.
Clemson: 7 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including 4 times in which they've scored 50+ points, including a 60+ point game and a 70+point game. They scored fewer than 30 points 3 times.
Georgia: 7 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including one game in which they scored 60+ points. They scored fewer than 30 points once.
Oklahoma: 10 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including 5 times in which they scored 50+ points and twice in which they scored 60+ points. They scored fewer than 30 points once.
Ohio State: 7 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including 2 times in which they scored 50+ points, 1 time in which they scored 60+ points and 1 time in which they scored 70+ points. They scored fewer than 30 points 3 times.
1. Chris Finke played a hell of a game. He's become more confident every week and he's a security blanket for Ian Book on third down. He's really hard to cover out of the slot because it's near impossible to jam him there. He does a nice just on route adjustment. He doesn't run a ton of precision routes, rather, they target him on a lot concepts where he has the freedom to create space from his defender. Not all kids have a enough feel for the game to do that on the fly, but Finke does and it's his greatest attribute. That route IQ is one of those intangible things I often talk about that "stars" won't and can't measure.
2. Dexter Williams was a weapon out of the backfield in the passing game and that makes ND's offense so much more dangerous against pressure packages. Williams wasn't always a good pass catcher and it's still not natural for him, but he's become reliable and we already knew how dangerous he could be in space. I expect to see a healthy amount of him running routes out of the backfield in the playoff game. You have to like Dexter Williams in space vs most linebackers in the country. It hard to really rate how he ran the ball because so often he had 2 or 3 guys tackling him either at the mesh point, or 2-3 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
3. The offensive line continues to concern me. USC did a nice job of blitzing and playing the run on the way to the quarterback. Pittsburgh used a very similar tactic. USC blitzed the hell out of their WILL linebacker in the first half. I felt like the offensive line was on its heels all night, especially in the run game. USC was attacking up field and the line was "catching" rather than drive blocking. The line of scrimmage was being reset in the wrong direction, on nearly every running down. A good job my Pendergast, but really bad on Notre Dame's end. They tried to counter by leaving their tight ends attached and in the H-Back role, but they weren't winning up field either. USC was able to collapse on the mesh point numerous times and they forced ND's backs to bounce plays East and West and created a number of tackles for loss. Tommy Kraemer was back to lunging and he lost his feet a number of times. Hainsey and Eichenberg were getting beat outside on running plays designed to the edge. That can't happen. Those guys have to get hooked inside. I continue to be suspicious about Jeff Quinn's coaching. I'm just not seeing a whole lot of improvement there in terms of fundamentals. Hopefully they go back to basics this month. They absolutely will need their running game to be decently productive in a bowl game. If they play like they did against USC, against a much better Clemson defensive line (worlds better), they're going to get whipped.
4. Ian Book had some highs and lows. He was much better against pressure later in the game when Chip Long made the adjustment to free release the running backs against pressures. It gave Ian a nice, easy blitz beater as the USC linebackers could not get over fast enough to cover Williams, in particular. I loved the toughness and leadership that Book showed in taking on the USC corner on 3rd down when he scrambled out of the pocket and ran for it. I've been critical at times of Book for not doing that in some key situations. He showed growth in understanding the situation, how many yards he needed and he attacked the defender rather than allowing himself to be defenseless. If you have to take a hit, that's the way to do it. I also continue to be happy with his ability to throw in breaking throws and slant routes with a high degree of accuracy. He generally puts those balls right on the money and he obviously throws are really catchable ball. His timing is great on them as well. He doesn't throw them late like some quarterbacks do. That keeps his wide receivers confident that they have time to catch the ball and react to oncoming traffic. There is nothing worse than a guy who leads his wide receivers into traffic and gets them killed. Book is outstanding in that regard.
I was disappointed with his downfield accuracy all night, with the exception of the beautiful ball to Finke for a touchdown. That was a pretty throw. He actually throws deep crossing routes and corner routes pretty well. I think the angle helps him. What he really struggles with is accuracy on straight line deep routes and throwing to wide open receivers. The overthrow of a wide open Finke on the double move was inexcusable for a QB at that level and Brian Kelly was right to be obviously angry on the sidelines about that miss, especially considering he missed the exact same wide open pass out of a similar concept against Virginia Tech, with Finke wide open. Against a playoff team you only get 1 or 2 chances like that where they blow coverage, or you fool their coverage, you have to capitalize.
I don't understand why Book kept throwing 1 on 1 against USC's best player, Iman Marshall. I hesitate to blame Book entirely for going back to that matchup again and again, because maybe Chip Long actually called it. If you are going to throw that Go Route (He attempted it 5 times)you have to put the ball accurately downfield. 4 of the 5 were too far to give Boykin a chance to outjump Marshall for the ball. The other was a good throw (an underthrow) that Marshall made a great play on to wrestle it away from Boykin. Regardless, attacking that matchup made no sense. All year teams have abused the opposite corner, Langley and stayed away from Marshall. Claypool to the field was a much better 1 on 1 matchup, even with the safety rolled over top a couple times. Langley is a liability at corner and ND didn't do enough, through play calling and through Book's decision making, to exploit it.
The interception in the end zone was not a good decision. Moving from left to right, trying to put that into a small window. I'm not going to be too hard on Book about that. He was trying to make a play and got outside of himself. As a former quarterback, I was guilty of doing the same thing a number of times. He'll watch it on film and kick himself for it. Hopefully he learns from it. The play was very similar to the interception he tossed vs LSU in the Bowl Game last year when Greedy Williams picked him off. The only significant difference was that play was to the right side of the field rather than the left.
Overall, the offense was just ok. A step back from what I thought was a decent, but unspectacular effort against Syracuse. Kelly noted after the game that they've had trouble finishing the past 2 weeks. The same was true in the Pittsburgh game. They're struggling to beat packages that bring a lot of pressure. Coaches are seeing that Book will shred you if you play off coverage and rush 4 and 5 all day. He's great inside 12 yards. What USC and Pittsburgh did was say "Your receivers aren't fast enough to blow by our corners in tighter coverage and your quarterback struggles to throw downfield, so we're going to close the short throwing windows down as much as possible and force Book to throw down field". That game plan has been extremely successful (relative to the offensive age of college football we live in, where scoring less than 30 points is a low production). Over the next month Kelly and Long have to come up with some creative plays to beat the pressure they'll face in the Bowl Game. They're most likely going to need 30+ points to be beat Clemson.
Something I looked at just for fun to see how ND compared with their playoff competition relative to consistent scoring. Here's what I came up with.
Alabama: 9 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including 8 times in which they've scored 50+ points and 2 times in which they've scored 60 points. They scored fewer than 30 points twice.
Clemson: 7 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including 4 times in which they've scored 50+ points, including a 60+ point game and a 70+point game. They scored fewer than 30 points 3 times.
Georgia: 7 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including one game in which they scored 60+ points. They scored fewer than 30 points once.
Oklahoma: 10 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including 5 times in which they scored 50+ points and twice in which they scored 60+ points. They scored fewer than 30 points once.
Ohio State: 7 times this season they've scored 40+ points, including 2 times in which they scored 50+ points, 1 time in which they scored 60+ points and 1 time in which they scored 70+ points. They scored fewer than 30 points 3 times.
