Notre Dame’s offense had mixed reviews coming out of the Miami game.
The good news is that Notre Dame appears to have a quarterback to build around, and the receivers made plays when given the opportunity.
Concerns center around nearly every other aspect of the Irish offense, including playcalling and distributing touches to Jeremiyah Love, the most explosive player in college football.
Notre Dame’s RPO game is also a hot topic. CJ Carr proved he could make quick decisions and often made the right ones. It was a numbers game for the Irish RPO game against Miami. If there weren’t favorable numbers in the box or a single high safety, Carr got the ball to the perimeter.
Carr’s lone interception was the right decision from a numbers perspective, but with a cornerback in press coverage, he needed to hand the ball off. That’s a young quarterback making a bad decision and it turned into a fluke play.
As a coach, you have to live with it. Carr is going to have those learning moments, but in week two, Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman now need Carr to take steps forward.
“I think there are RPOs that you're reading a defender,” explained Freeman. “If they're putting an eighth man in the box, we've got to throw it out to really take advantage of the numbers. But then there's sometimes that it's a little bit gray, and we've got to be very clear with our quarterbacks.”
That gray area was a point of emphasis during the bye week. Is Carr going to make the correct decision every time? No, that’s life and the game. But it’s also on Mike Denbrock to simplify the game for his young quarterback and make sure Love is getting a chance to impact the game.
“If it's gray, what do we want them to do?” Freeman said. “Do we want them to hand it off? Do we want them to throw it? We were very intentional about trying to put the ball in J. Love's hands or making him the primary target. There are times that we've got to take out the read and be able to say, hey, this is what we want to do, hand the ball off here. Or hey, let's continue to throw it out if they're going to bring the extra guy in the box.
“We know we want to focalize our offense around J. Love. He's a special player. But at the same point, we've got to make sure that we're taking advantage of what each defense is trying to do to us.”
Notre Dame’s staff also has to trust Carr to throw the ball down the field. It doesn’t have to be super aggressive, but the Michigan legacy showed he could make good decisions.
It’s on Denbrock to also create favorable matchups and easy reads. If there is an opportunity to isolate Jaden Greathouse or Will Pauling on a slot fade, do it. If you can get Malachi Fields in a 50-50 ball situation, do it.
“I think we were very intentional about trying to protect the first-time starter early in the game,” explained Freeman. “I was vocal about giving him easy reads, easy throws. Let's not just tell him to bomb the ball down the field every play, because he'll do that if we allow him to. CJ will throw the ball down the field every single play.”
Carr completed both his passes over 20 yards against Miami and went 2-of-4 on passes 10-19 yards down the field.
Freeman also wants the run game to improve so there can be more opportunities to take shots downfield.
“He showed he's ready, he's capable,” stated Freeman. “As the game went on, we were able to take some more shots. I still am a firm believer shots are a response to being able to have positive run plays. We have to be able to run the football. But we feel CJ can execute the entire game plan, the entire playbook. He's a special player.”
The Notre Dame rushing attack left much to be desired in week one. Notre Dame averaged just 3.3 yards per carry against the Hurricanes and that has to improve.
Texas A&M’s rush defense enters Saturday’s game No. 83 in the country, giving up 140.5 rushing yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry following games against UTSA and Utah State.
Notre Dame’s offensive line has been challenged and Freeman wants his group to play downhill against the Aggies.
“I thought overall they played well,” Freeman stated. “The standard is to play higher. We know that. At times, I thought we did get a little bit lateral in terms of how we want to play - how we want our offensive line to play.
“I'm as confident in that group as anybody in our team. They'll be fine.”
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