Photo by Rick Kimball/ISD
Notre Dame Football
Instant Reaction: Notre Dame 33 - UNC 10
October 7, 2017
6,798
When you run the football and play good defense, you’re going to win the game almost every time. Notre Dame didn’t play great on the offensive side of the ball with a backup quarterback, but they ran the ball for 341 yards and held North Carolina to less than 4 yards per play.
That alone meant UNC had to play pretty flawless in other areas to win the game and they definitely did not. A 23 point win on the road against an FBS opponent is significant no matter what the circumstances.
There is no doubt the Irish will have to play, and especially coach, better on offense to win some key upcoming games. But 5-1 and winning by running the football and playing good defense is a pretty good way to go into the bye.
- Ian Book handled himself well for a first start. He made some throws that he shouldn’t have and needed to let the ball go sooner than he did on a couple of plays, but his day was a solid one overall minus that red zone interception.
He wasn’t helped by the play-calling today. Throwing the ball 31 times and throwing the ball so much in the first half didn’t make much sense to me. That doesn’t include some called passes where he elected to run the football.
Some of the play-action and especially the boot calls were great, but there were so many instances where it was obvious that Notre Dame could take control of the game by running the ball and they kept slinging it.
That’s obviously on Chip Long. He ended the game the right way. It just could have been that way much sooner in my opinion.
On a rainy day with a backup quarterback, he needed to call the game differently than he did during stretches of the game.
- I don’t even know what to say about that 4th and 2 quarterback sneak call. Not much you can say other than it was bad awareness by Long of not knowing how far away they were from the first down line.
I had no problem with going for it on 4th down, but that specific call was a bad one.
- This was the first game Notre Dame’s offense did not play well in the red zone. Some of that was play-calling as well, but this was where not having Brandon Wimbush was felt the most. He adds that element of making a play by himself when nothing is there and that option wasn’t available today.
- Equanimeous St. Brown left the game on one possession and I think he might be playing hurt. I know he isn’t getting a ton of help from the quarterback position, but he does not look like himself out there right now.
Being injured would explain a lot. Hopefully the bye week helps him get back healthy and on track.
- Alex Bars leaving the game is a concern and Hunter Bivin is not at the same level Bars currently is, but the line again had a dominating day. They gave Book a ton of time to make throws. When he scrambled, the majority of those plays were because he didn’t see anyone open.
Quenton Nelson doesn’t get mentioned enough by me because he is expected to dominate and he keeps on doing it. He is so freaking good and is a massive reason why Notre Dame was able to run for over 300 yards again.
- Have yourself a day, Deon McIntosh!
He did not run like this before. This is closer to the McIntosh I saw in high school where he ran bigger than his size and was finishing runs. He was truck sticking defenders in the 4th quarter and running with authority.
I think it’s a good thing that Josh Adams got in there and got his long run in and they didn’t have to use him much in the second half. He was apparently dehydrated, but clearly wasn’t needed with the way McIntosh ran.
- I felt bad for the UNC defense. Those kids played hard and are missing some important players. They gave up 487, but that didn’t reflect how well they played for most of the game. They deserve better than to be on the other side of that offense.
- Wow, that UNC offense. That was...something?
All credit to Notre Dame’s defensive line, but that O-line is beat up and mentally beat down. The Irish certainly took advantage of it. They only had two sacks, but they hit Surratt eleven times.
It honestly seemed like more than that. Jerry Tillery continued his outstanding play and ate up the interior three all game long.
- I know two of them were handed right to them on a platter, but the sophomore defensive ends made more plays in this game. Daelin Hayes had the sack where he was unblocked, but also drew a holding call. Khalid Kareem scooped up that fumble in the red zone to get involved again.
Julian Okwara pulled off one of the most impressive plays I’ve seen from a Notre Dame defensive lineman in a long time when he deflected the ball to himself for an interception. What’s crazy about that play is that I saw Okwara make the exact same tip to himself interception in a drill during camp. It was a turnover/disruption circuit and it’s something we saw Notre Dame work on a lot since Mike Elko arrived.
It’s really paying off as we saw with Okwara’s interception and Drue Tranquill’s strip in the fourth quarter.
- Five of the eleven quarterback hits today came from Hayes and Okwara.
- The coverage was outstanding today as well. Some of it had to do with Chazz Surratt not exactly throwing lasers to his receivers, but the defensive backs had six pass breakups. There were all over UNC’s receivers today.
I concede that UNC was missing players at receiver, but the Irish defensive backs did what they were supposed to do. They dominated the receivers that did play.
- Nyles Morgan’s injury has me wondering if he has been playing hurt for awhile too because he keeps on missing opportunities to make big plays. That one sack where he couldn’t finish the play on Surratt after he came in clean was something that has happened a bit too often.
He missed a couple of more tackles where other defenders had to come in and clean up as well. He’s not playing bad overall, but not playing at the level where he could be.
The bye should hopefully help him as well as long as his injury isn’t a significant one.
- 5-1 with one of the best rushing offenses in the nation and a greatly improved defense? I think just about every Notre Dame fan would take that in a heartbeat.
This team isn’t as talented as the one that won 10 games in 2015, but that doesn’t mean this version of the Irish can’t win 10 games. They’ve set themselves up to do so if they keep improving over the second half of the season against a tough back half of the schedule.
That alone meant UNC had to play pretty flawless in other areas to win the game and they definitely did not. A 23 point win on the road against an FBS opponent is significant no matter what the circumstances.
There is no doubt the Irish will have to play, and especially coach, better on offense to win some key upcoming games. But 5-1 and winning by running the football and playing good defense is a pretty good way to go into the bye.
- Ian Book handled himself well for a first start. He made some throws that he shouldn’t have and needed to let the ball go sooner than he did on a couple of plays, but his day was a solid one overall minus that red zone interception.
He wasn’t helped by the play-calling today. Throwing the ball 31 times and throwing the ball so much in the first half didn’t make much sense to me. That doesn’t include some called passes where he elected to run the football.
Some of the play-action and especially the boot calls were great, but there were so many instances where it was obvious that Notre Dame could take control of the game by running the ball and they kept slinging it.
That’s obviously on Chip Long. He ended the game the right way. It just could have been that way much sooner in my opinion.
On a rainy day with a backup quarterback, he needed to call the game differently than he did during stretches of the game.
- I don’t even know what to say about that 4th and 2 quarterback sneak call. Not much you can say other than it was bad awareness by Long of not knowing how far away they were from the first down line.
I had no problem with going for it on 4th down, but that specific call was a bad one.
- This was the first game Notre Dame’s offense did not play well in the red zone. Some of that was play-calling as well, but this was where not having Brandon Wimbush was felt the most. He adds that element of making a play by himself when nothing is there and that option wasn’t available today.
- Equanimeous St. Brown left the game on one possession and I think he might be playing hurt. I know he isn’t getting a ton of help from the quarterback position, but he does not look like himself out there right now.
Being injured would explain a lot. Hopefully the bye week helps him get back healthy and on track.
- Alex Bars leaving the game is a concern and Hunter Bivin is not at the same level Bars currently is, but the line again had a dominating day. They gave Book a ton of time to make throws. When he scrambled, the majority of those plays were because he didn’t see anyone open.
Quenton Nelson doesn’t get mentioned enough by me because he is expected to dominate and he keeps on doing it. He is so freaking good and is a massive reason why Notre Dame was able to run for over 300 yards again.
- Have yourself a day, Deon McIntosh!
He did not run like this before. This is closer to the McIntosh I saw in high school where he ran bigger than his size and was finishing runs. He was truck sticking defenders in the 4th quarter and running with authority.
I think it’s a good thing that Josh Adams got in there and got his long run in and they didn’t have to use him much in the second half. He was apparently dehydrated, but clearly wasn’t needed with the way McIntosh ran.
- I felt bad for the UNC defense. Those kids played hard and are missing some important players. They gave up 487, but that didn’t reflect how well they played for most of the game. They deserve better than to be on the other side of that offense.
- Wow, that UNC offense. That was...something?
All credit to Notre Dame’s defensive line, but that O-line is beat up and mentally beat down. The Irish certainly took advantage of it. They only had two sacks, but they hit Surratt eleven times.
It honestly seemed like more than that. Jerry Tillery continued his outstanding play and ate up the interior three all game long.
- I know two of them were handed right to them on a platter, but the sophomore defensive ends made more plays in this game. Daelin Hayes had the sack where he was unblocked, but also drew a holding call. Khalid Kareem scooped up that fumble in the red zone to get involved again.
Julian Okwara pulled off one of the most impressive plays I’ve seen from a Notre Dame defensive lineman in a long time when he deflected the ball to himself for an interception. What’s crazy about that play is that I saw Okwara make the exact same tip to himself interception in a drill during camp. It was a turnover/disruption circuit and it’s something we saw Notre Dame work on a lot since Mike Elko arrived.
It’s really paying off as we saw with Okwara’s interception and Drue Tranquill’s strip in the fourth quarter.
- Five of the eleven quarterback hits today came from Hayes and Okwara.
- The coverage was outstanding today as well. Some of it had to do with Chazz Surratt not exactly throwing lasers to his receivers, but the defensive backs had six pass breakups. There were all over UNC’s receivers today.
I concede that UNC was missing players at receiver, but the Irish defensive backs did what they were supposed to do. They dominated the receivers that did play.
- Nyles Morgan’s injury has me wondering if he has been playing hurt for awhile too because he keeps on missing opportunities to make big plays. That one sack where he couldn’t finish the play on Surratt after he came in clean was something that has happened a bit too often.
He missed a couple of more tackles where other defenders had to come in and clean up as well. He’s not playing bad overall, but not playing at the level where he could be.
The bye should hopefully help him as well as long as his injury isn’t a significant one.
- 5-1 with one of the best rushing offenses in the nation and a greatly improved defense? I think just about every Notre Dame fan would take that in a heartbeat.
This team isn’t as talented as the one that won 10 games in 2015, but that doesn’t mean this version of the Irish can’t win 10 games. They’ve set themselves up to do so if they keep improving over the second half of the season against a tough back half of the schedule.
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