6 Thoughts on a Thursday

On the first College Gameday of the season, Kirk Herbstreit was referring to Jeremiyah Love when talking about Notre Dame, but said the incorrect name.

It was a forgivable mistake at the time. It was week zero for everyone and to be fair to Herbstreit, Love wasn’t someone that many people outside of Notre Dame fans would have known much about.

Like a lot of people who don’t cover the program on a day to day basis, Herbstreit had confidence in the familiar names like Riley Leonard, Howard Cross, Benjamin Morrison, and Xavier Watts. Players like Love, Christian Gray, and Adon Shuler were mostly unknown to him and just about everyone else before watching the Irish take on Texas A&M.

Well, they all know now.

By the end of the game he and Chris Fowler were touting Notre Dame’s elite secondary and praising young playmakers like Love and Jadarian Price. National analysts are highlighting the physicality of linebackers like Drayk Bowen and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa. These individuals and others showed on the biggest stage that Notre Dame isn’t just set up to do well with this season because of the stars who returned after last season.

The Irish have talented pieces who are going to be around for a while. As Matt Freeman noted in his story on Tuesday, this has all been a product of what Marcus Freeman, Chad Bowden, and the staff as a whole have done over the last three years in recruiting.

77 percent of Notre Dame’s rushing yards came from Love and Leonard. 91 percent of the program's receiving yards came from players signed over the last three seasons, while 61 percent of the tackles came from the same group.

All of the snaps on the offensive line were from players who signed when Freeman was the head coach as well. After the game I wrote how this is his team and I meant it in a way that they are all-in with him. The way he leads the program and his personality is part of the culture. But also, quite literally, this is his team in that even the guys who signed when Brian Kelly was the coach are players he’s had a relationship with since 2021 when he was Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator.

While there are always examples of players taking longer to develop and then becoming great as upperclassmen, the fact that we saw so many of these young players already display an ability to make plays against that level of an opponent is a prime example of what the program has been building towards under Freeman.

It’s easy to point to Notre Dame’s Blue-chip ratio (the percentage of 4 and 5-stars signed over four year period) climbing from 55% in Brian Kelly’s last season to 67% this season or that the Irish have 13 more blue-chips on their current roster compared to three years ago and declare that they’ve done a great job of increasing the raw talent throughout the program. It’s another thing to see that talent shine on the field and to put everyone on notice about the athletes they have now and will have over the next few years as well.

They have evaluated prospects very well and have prioritized the right type of players who not only fit into the culture of the program, but can continue to carry that culture because being driven to improve is already part of who they were before they got to Notre Dame. It’s never easy to replace quality players who move on to the NFL. It works out well when the next guys will likely end up joining them in the league in a few years.

We tend to overreact to a result in week one. It’s a little different when you’re playing a real opponent on the road in week one, though.

I think this was a great introduction to a lot of guys who are going to make plays for Notre Dame this season and also a reminder that what’s being built with this roster isn’t just hype.

2. Talent without development means nothing. There’s no greater example of that than what Clemson hasn’t been able to do on offense.

They have landed numerous receivers with elite potential after Tee Higgins, Justyn Ross, and Amari Rodgers have left the program. They’ve signed top quarterbacks, paid big money to hire Garrett Riley as their offensive coordinator, and played six offensive linemen against Georgia, four of whom have been multi-year starters.

They did all of that, but running back Phil Mafah is the only one who looked like he could play at a level that was good enough against Georgia.

Almost everyone is going to struggle against Georgia’s defense, but that’s not really the point. The point is that Clemson used to be Georgia (or close to it) and now they’re not.

That defense is still plenty nasty and they did their part in keeping Clemson in the game. The offense just isn’t close to being good enough to compete with the best programs in the country.

Even people who don’t follow college football are piling on Dabo Swinney because of his stubbornness with the transfer portal. To not use it all to help fill some holes on your roster remains incredibly misguided.

Dabo doesn’t want to mess with the culture of his program, but he wouldn’t if he was able to add the right guys. What Notre Dame has done with the transfers they’ve added in recent years should show him that it is possible.

Not adding transfers is and will continue to be a problem for him. It’s also not the biggest issue for Clemson.

It’s really all about how he and the staff on offense haven’t done a good enough job coaching and developing those kids. Not every recruit is going to hit, but when this many big time prospects end up not living up to expectations, there’s clearly something greater going on.

It’s gotten to the point where there is way too much focus on him not taking transfers and not enough on the fact that they’ve gone three straight seasons where only one receiver barely cracked 600 yards.

3. Florida State’s Mike Norvell proved that you could build a College Football Playoff caliber roster by relying heavily on the transfer portal. They had 10 players selected in the NFL Draft back in the spring and nine of them were transfers. That group was the backbone of a team that went 13-0 and won the ACC.

He built up that team over time, though. Most of those transfers had spent multiple years in the program. They kept adding pieces year by year. They were going to have to replace all of those impact transfers with new ones and hope they had as high of a hit rate, which clearly hasn’t happened for them.

Before the season one of their biggest questions  was how would they replace all of that skill talent they lost on offense. 

At this point, they haven’t. Quarterback DJ Uigalelei looked like a poor fit for Norvell’s offense and has proven to be. The transfers they have brought in at receiver have combined for a robust 20 yards after the catch on 10 receptions. Alabama transfer Roydel Williams is averaging 3.3 yards per carry behind an experienced offensive line with a long of 10 yards.

Their offense stinks.

The defense isn’t the reason they are losing, but they certainly aren’t playing anywhere close to how they did in 2023 when they finished 11th in DF+ (combined FEI and SP+ ranking) and 15th havoc rate. In the first two games this season their havoc rate is at a putrid 9.2%.

A lot of people seem to be in a hurry to hand Notre Dame a playoff spot because of their schedule this season and FSU’s start isn’t helping anyone trying to argue against it. That’s supposed to be one of Notre Dame’s toughest games and at the very least they aren’t going to be the top-10 team some projected them to be.

However, I’d be careful to write them off completely as a threat. I would be shocked if they don’t improve dramatically on offense and I believe they’ll have someone else playing quarterback by the time they visit South Bend. And Norvell’s track record on offense is too good to think they won’t improve on this tire fire of a start.

He’s had an offense that has finished in the top-25 in OF+ in six of his eight seasons as a head coach. Although they might not approach that this year, I can’t see them not getting better. Norvell had his back up against the wall in 2022 when they lost three games in a row and it looked like he might not make it to 2023.

He then won 19 straight.

To me it would be more surprising if they don’t get things figured out to some degree.

4. Texas A&M had zero plays of 20+ yards against Notre Dame’s defense.

6-6 Noah Thomas was supposed to be a mismatch in the slot and was being talked about like their WR1. He had one catch on four targets for 10 yards. Freshman Terry Bussey and his 10.66 100m speed was supposed to be an ace up their sleeve. They gave him the ball once on a jet sweep that was blown up by Jaylen Sneed and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa.

We’ll see who ends up being the game wreckers for A&M this season, but those two were at the top of the list of players Notre Dame’s defense had to be aware of. Not only did they and everyone else not produce any explosive plays, but they barely produced anything.

The guys who were supposed to help them win didn’t deliver and one of the biggest reasons is that Notre Dame was prepared for them. That should be surprising to no one. The most explosive players on opposing offenses have had very little success against Al Golden’s defense since the beginning of last season.

As Golden explained when meeting with the media this week, it’s about winning the game. Winning the game means allowing the fewest points. It’s not a coincidence that the four defenses (Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame) who had the least amount of explosive passing plays allowed in 2023 finished in the top-four in points per drive as well.

The two best players on Northern Illinois’ offense are capable of creating explosive plays. WR Trayvon Rudolph has three receptions of 70+ yards in his career and scored on a 60-yard speed sweep in week one.

RB Antario Brown finished tied for first in the country in runs of 40+ yards last season (seven). It makes sense that these two would be the players Golden and the staff would be primarily focused stopping on Saturday.

”It’s about points, it’s about eliminating explosives. What causes you to lose? Who and what causes you to lose? No. 3 (NIU WR-Trayvon Rudolph) can cause you to lose on that team. The running backs (Antario Brown) can cause you to lose.”

There’s an old school way of thinking with football that stopping the run should be the primary objective for any defense. That’s simply not the case in today’s game because offenses are now more driven than ever to create explosive plays, mostly through the passing game. It’s taken over much like the three-pointer has in basketball.

Stopping the run is important. Notre Dame held A&M to fourth lowest yards per carry out of any game Collin Klein has called plays, so they did a pretty good job of that. But stopping the run at the cost of giving something up over the top is how a team can games.

5. When Notre Dame’s defense comes out and has that type of game to start the season, there really isn’t much to complain about. I guess having only one sack can be nitpicked, but I expect those sack number to go way up in the coming weeks.

That was more of a reflection of Conner Weigman getting rid of the football quickly than a lack of a pass rush. He was pressured on 41.7% of his dropbacks and in addition to the two interceptions he threw, he put the ball up for grabs on a number of other passes.

Jordan Botelho was credited with five pressures and a 50% win rate on true pass sets against A&M. If he keeps playing like that, he’ll lead the way with the pass rush. I expect many others to get involved against an offensive line that is experienced, but isn’t great in obvious passing situations.

Starting tackles Evan Malcore and Evan Buss were below average in protection and are going to struggle against Notre Dame’s edge rushers. I have to think that Notre Dame will get the benefit of the doubt at home on a holding call like this one against Rylie Mills as well. And with a long arm like this, it will be a matter of time before Boubacar Traore breaks out.

6. Notre Dame’s offense had to play a certain way against Texas A&M against that defensive line and with it being on the road. Things will evolve with the offense over time, though, and that starts this week against NIU’s defense.

It’s a group that is returning plenty of experience and while they didn’t create many negative plays last season (123rd in havoc rate), they didn’t allow many explosive plays either. They finished top-10 in the country in plays of 20+ yards allowed in the passing game and from scrimmage. We’re going to see a lot less quick game and screens this week.

They blitz far less frequently than Mike Elko’s defense. They might not have allowed too many long passing plays last season with this secondary, but Mike Denbrock will have Riley Leonard take some shots down the field. The receivers will be targeted more than 16 times.

Things will look different week to week, but we’re also going to see the offense grow as the offensive line grows. It’s also going to be interesting once Mitchell Evans is able to be fully integrated back into the offense and how that is going to change the way teams have to defend them.

There’s still a lot to learn about what Notre Dame’s offense can and will be this season. How they finished the Texas A&M game should give them some confidence. Let’s see what they do with it on Saturday.

Men's Under Armour Heather Gray Notre Dame Fighting Irish Sideline Blitzing Trucker Adjustable Hat