Instant Reaction: Notre Dame 49 - Temple 16

Let's be honest: It would have been tough to ask for more out of Notre Dame than their performance today.

Beating a team that badly that was talking big before the game is what they were supposed to do. Even if Temple had won 10 games in back to back seasons, this was a different Temple team with a lot of new faces. The Irish took advantage of that and raced ahead of the somewhat shell-shocked Owls and never looked back.

Notre Dame out-gained Temple 606 to 330 in total yards. They also put up 8.2 yards per play against Temple's 4.6. The highest the Owls gave up last season was 6.6.

It was a beat down. Not a perfect performance by any means, like most first games of the season, but a beat down none the less.

Let's get into the things that really stood out.

- I mentioned in my 6 Thoughts this week that the Irish offensive line had to dominate and dominate they did. 422 yards on the ground kind of says it all.

Against a team that is supposed to have a culture of toughness and be stingy against the run, the Irish took it to them. It's no surprise that the Irish ran the ball well behind the left side. It should not have been surprising either that Sam Mustipher and Alex Bars look much improved as well. It really showed with Bars, who I felt had an outstanding game based on the first watch.

Josh Adams and Dexter Williams made a big splash with long runs today, but certainly a big part of that were huge holes made by the offensive line. Williams in particular could have been mistaken for Emmitt Smith running through the line untouched for many yards on several carries.

Pass protection was solid as well, with the one exception being the right tackle spot. Both Robert Hainsey and Tommy Kraemer played there and neither distinguished themselves enough in my opinion. Let's hope they see improvement next week because UGA has a different level of edge players compared to Temple.

- I know he'd like to have that pick back where he locked in on Equanimeous St. Brown and he certainly had some moments in the pocket where you could tell he was a first time starter. Aside from that, it was a pretty stellar debut for Brandon Wimbush.

Notre Dame has not had an athlete like him at quarterback in recent years and that is saying something considering they've had some good runners that could escape the rush. Wimbush has true running back skills in the open field, though. He's got to learn to be smarter in getting down and also could have thrown the football away one time while escaping in the red zone, but you don't want to stifle how electric he can be.

106 yards rushing almost seems like it's low for how many times he made defenders miss.

He's still got some work to do as a passer when it comes to consistency. He made a couple of poor decisions and can get a lot better. Still, he also made throws like one on the run to EQ for a big gain down the sideline and a bullet to Nic Weishar for a touchdown that showed how special he can be.

If you weren't all in on him before, it would be surprising if you aren't now. Everyone can see that the sky is the limit for him.

- This is what a healthy Josh Adams looks like at the beginning of the season.

- I would think that Dexter Williams earned himself some more carries next week. He can break open a game with his burst.

I wouldn't count on him taking too many snaps away from Tony Jones Jr., though. He did so many little things well like pick up the blitz and block for Wimbush on quarterback power. He never had the holes Williams had when he ran the ball.

It just confirmed what we already knew. The Irish have three really good running backs.

- Things are still murky at receiver outside of EQ. It's clear he is a number one and if they went to him more, he could have easily had a monster day. He's a stud and when they need to throw against some of these other teams they'll face, there is not doubt he will be the go-to guy.

We just didn't see enough from anyone else to be excited about anything. I think Cam Smith showed something, but he was hurt by some poor blocking on some screens as well.

- Alize Mack was someone who was specifically guilty of that. It wasn't a good return game for him. Drops and missed blocks really stood out.

He has great ability. Maybe some of it was nerves in his first game back. I'm not sure what the case was, but he was not very good in today's game. They need him to be better.

- On the positive side of things, that's the best Durham Smythe and Nic Weishar have looked at Notre Dame in my opinion. They both had big time contested catches today and if they can continue that, it will add a much-needed element in the intermediate passing game.

If the receivers don't step up more, then it will be on the tight ends to continue to elevate and produce when called upon.

- Other than a couple of instances, I thought Chip Long called a fantastic game. He used tempo nicely at times.

I loved how he was going for the jugular late in the game with the deep shot to EQ and the play-action to Smythe that would have been big plays if Wimbush was more accurate. I also loved when he kept coming back to the left side on the drive where Jones scored his first career touchdown.

I didn't like the second series when he went three straight passes after an Adams rushing 1st down or the play-call on 4th and 2 where he went to iso from the I-formation to try and convert. I think that call was more about establishing an identity for the long run, though, which should pay off later on.

It would be fair to say that he is going to be stick on the sideline for at least the Georgia game.

- As for the defense, let me first talk about what I didn't like.

I thought the corners didn't do a good job getting off blocks.

I was not impressed with the play of Nyles Morgan and Greer Martini today. Both missed chances to make plays when they had opportunities.

I think the defensive tackles, overall, are still a work in progress and did not do well on one second quarter drive where they were getting moved off the ball.

That's about it. It's tough to complain about anything else in this game. The good far outweighed the bad on defense. 3 sack, 11 TFLs, 3 pass breakups and a forced fumble. They also held Temple to under 100 yards rushing.

I think most us would take those numbers any day of the week.

- Julian Love was terrific on special teams and solid overall, but he was targeted much more than Nick Watkins. Not sure if that was on purpose, but that's the way it went.

On the one second half touchdown by Temple he did a poor job of fighting to get outside on that bubble screen. It might have looked like Devin Studstill took a bad angle, but that was on Love. If he does his job then Studstill is coming up to making a play near the line of scrimmage.

- I'm just glad Shaun Crawford is back and healthy.

- I thought the play by the ends was really good. Daelin Hayes probably flashed the most and he was certainly exciting to watch, but Jay Hayes was just as good. That 4th down play in the 4th quarter was probably his best play of the game. He drove the tackle into the backfield and was the reason the back had to cut it up with Martini and Daelin there to make the stop.

Andrew Trumbetti had by far his best game as well. He is getting off the ball so much quicker than he has ever done before. Previously I felt he was a liability against the run. Now it looks like it may be a strength.

I liked what I saw from Khalid Kareem as a pass rusher and Julian Okwara obviously got off on the right foot with his sack. It was a nice speed to power bull rush.

- Jerry Tillery had 4 tackles and none for loss. Not an eye-popping stat line, to be sure.

I don't care about that, though. I noticed him a lot, in a good way, in the middle of the defense. I also noticed when he wasn't out there. He was playing inspired and saved a touchdown on a hustle play down the field in the second half as well.

They need that Jerry Tillery to show up every week. If he does, then there is a lot more hope for this defense than some suggested before fall camp.

- I know he had an offsides penalty, but I loved what I saw from Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa out there. He chipped in a tackle for loss and really did a great job firing off the football. Hopefully this is just a taste of things to come for him.

- What a difference it makes when Drue Tranquill is playing a position that suits him. Other than the first play where he didn't stay home on the bootleg, he did a tremendous job at Rover.

He was just meant to play closer to the line of scrimmage and now he's been put in a position to take advantage of what he is good at. He did a great job of playing physical and at recognizing what was coming his way.

- It wasn't just the sack he had to stop a drive in the 3rd quarter that stood out to me. I thought Te'Von Coney was the best linebacker on the field. He just knows how to find the football.

I'll go back and watch it again, but I have a hard time believing that Martini is going to remain the guy who plays in key situations if Coney plays like that every week.

- I think the best thing you can say about this Mike Elko defense compared to the BVG ones in the past is that when things started to go bad, they always seemed to respond on the next series.

There were times where it could have been easy to have a "Here we go again" type of attitude about some mistakes, but it never stuck. They also came out playing extremely well to start the half when the offense was stalled.

It's one game and the big test comes next week against Georgia. But I don't know if the Irish could have asked for more from this first week. They overcame some adversity and dominated for long stretches. I think they can feel pretty good about that performance and where things are headed with the changes that have been made. It was a really nice start to 2017.