Instant Reaction | Notre Dame 49 Army 14
The message Marcus Freeman relayed before the game was that Notre Dame had to play violent. They needed to be the more violent team against a team that had been undefeated and was the more physical team in every one of those wins.
The Notre Dame players took that message to heart. From the jump, Notre Dame was the more violent football team and imposed their will against Army.
The Irish dominated up front on both sides of the football. They punished quarterback Bryson Daily again and again as a runner. There was certainly no quit in Army and they showed that with a 4th down and goal stop when it was still a one score football game.
It was all downhill from there, though, with Notre Dame proving how much better than they are. Much like the Navy game, Army found out what it was like to play a program that is at a different level than the one they’re on.
- The jump from playing zero opponents who were ranked in the top-90 of F+ (combined FEI and SP+) was way too big for Army to handle. Notre Dame’s roster has more future NFL players on its roster than the combined rosters of all of Army’s nine previous opponents.
They didn’t have to tackle backs like Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price until this game. They didn’t have to block players like Rylie Mills.
- Army’s defense had only allowed one run of 20+ yards all season. Notre Dame had three in this game, including a 68-yard touchdown from Love and a 58-yard touchdown from Aneyas Williams.
Army was also tied for first in the country in 10+ yard runs allowed with 23. They only allowed 2.6 per game. Notre Dame had 10 runs of 10+.
Everyone knows how talented Notre Dame’s backs are, but the bulk of the credit needs to go to the offensive line. It wasn’t a great game for them against Virginia and their response was exceptional. They bullied Army’s defense in the run game and Riley Leonard was barely touched when he dropped back. Leonard was cooking when throwing the football as well, averaging 11.4 yards per attempt.
Mike Denbrock set him and everyone else up for success against an Army defense that has mastered bending, but not breaking. They broke in this game.
- Daily came into this game with him pretty much doing nothing wrong for the entire season. He had the highest yards per attempt in the country out of any quarterback with 50+ attempts. He was averaging over six yards per carry and had the third highest rushing EPA (expected points added) out of any player in the country. 59.9% of his runs this season have been considered successful in that they either gained half of the yards to gain for a first down or more.
His rushing EPA in this game was -2.28. His success rate before garbage time was well under 40%. Notre Dame punished him repeatedly whenever he carried the football, which was far too many times considering that the Irish were blowing them out in the fourth quarter and Army was still running him.
It was a rough night for Daily and therefore a very rough night for the Army offense.
- Winning on 3rd and 4th down was going to be critical in this game. Army’s offense was first in the nation in 3rd/4th down success rate.
Against Notre Dame’s starting defense, Army went 2 of 14 on 3rd and 4th down.
- Notre Dame stemming their defensive line so frequently really seemed to mess with Army because they are often waiting to see the front to check into the right play. When Notre Dame kept shifting, often a couple of times before the snap, Army was out of sorts.
That might have been part of the reason why Notre Dame won up front so much with the defensive line. Then again, Mills shed a double team and pulled a 220 pound human being down with one arm on one play. It may just be that the Irish D-line just whooped them, period.
- It’s difficult to single out performances right after the game because it feels like the entire group is fully in on the idea of team glory or individual stats. There are too many great plays made by individuals that deserve to be mentioned, but the work of defensive ends Junior Tuihalamaka and Josh Burnham as well as the play from Christian Gray, Adon Shuler, and Jaiden Ausberry jumped out to me because I thought they were all difference-makers.
- There was so much good from the offense and defense that missing field goals didn’t matter, but to say that it’s not concerning for Notre Dame is ignoring reality.
Mitch Jeter might be back kicking, but he’s obviously not healthy or confident at this point if they’re still putting a limit on his range and he hasn’t returned to kicking off. The blocked field goal wasn’t on him, but that can’t be comforting either for Notre Dame.
There were a lot of positives from special teams again with Bryce Young’s blocked punt at the top of the list. No one can feel confident about Notre Dame’s field goal situation at the moment, though. It continues to be a problem.
- Everyone starts the season controlling their own destiny, but it immediately changes with any loss. Teams hope to keep winning, but they also hope for others to lose as well so they can be in the best position possible to make the College Football Playoff.
It took nine straight wins to get here, but Notre Dame has control of their destiny back. Win one more game and they are in the CFP. There is no doubt about that.
There may be some doubt about where they are seeded, but things keep getting better with those scenarios as other teams keep losing. Indiana dropped their first game, Colorado appears to have taken themselves out of the race for the Big 12, and three two-loss SEC teams added a third loss to their records.
I couldn’t say it’s a lock that Notre Dame will get a home playoff game if they win next week, but it sure seems like it will be. Teams keep losing to teams they’re not supposed to. Teams like Penn State do just enough to win like they did today against Minnesota. Even Georgia plays UMASS as a massive favorite and somehow that game was still a game in the 3rd quarter.
All Notre Dame has done is keep winning and doing it decisively. They are playing teams they are supposed to beat and doing more than just beating them. They are beating them to the point where it becomes cruel to keep their starting quarterback in the game to keep taking punishment.
The Irish are playing as well as any team in the country right now and it’s been like that for weeks. That’s a good feeling to have going into a rivalry game against USC with Notre Dame controlling its own destiny.
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