Instant Reaction | Notre Dame 22 Vanderbilt 17

It was much closer than Brian Kelly would have liked, but the defense held (figuratively and literally) on the final drive and the running game came alive to earn a hard fought win over Vanderbilt.

The effort was infinitely better than last week, but there are still several areas the Irish need to improve to deal with some ranked teams coming up on their schedule and a solid Wake Forest squad on the road next week.

I liked a lot of what I saw from Notre Dame today. There was also a fair share of stuff I did not like.

Let’s get to both...

- I liked the way Notre Dame came out on offense. The mix of perimeter run game to start was exactly what was needed. Chip Long used misdirection to open up some lanes too and the the offensive line was light years better at the point of attack.

Vandy gave up pretty much nothing on the ground before this game. The Irish averaged 5.1 yards per carry and had 255 total. This was more of what Notre Dame should be as a rushing attack. A lot of quarterback runs. A lot of instances where the Long mixed up the calls to balance. That part was nice to see.

- Tony Jones was fantastic today. I loved the way he ran and the way he read things as opposed to last week. He added in two big catches on wheel routes as well. The Irish had three plays of 20 yards or longer from scrimmage in this game. All came from Jones.

- One thing I didn’t like was that Long went away from targeting the backs. Maybe it was because a lack of confidence with Brandon Wimbush on some of those throw, but the ND backs had an advantage over Vandy’s outside linebackers all day long. Vandy is going to get exposed by this later on by other teams in their schedule.

- The lack of big plays on offense is the biggest issue I see from Notre Dame. If they don’t scheme up a big play, they don’t have anyone at the skill positions who looks like they can create one. If they don’t figure this out, it’s going to be an issue this whole season.

Jones provided some spark today, but no one would confuse him with being explosive. They need to find explosive plays somewhere or else they put too much pressure on the group overall to grind out long drives.

- Maybe Michael Young can provide a spark in that area? That kick return was huge Notre Dame could use that speed on offense. They need answers in that department. At least it looks like they found an answer as a kick returner.

- The one thing we have seen from Jafar Armstrong so far is that he isn’t a tackle breaker. That’s not that uncommon for converted wide receivers. CJ Prosise was just an exception because his feet allowed him to slip out of tackles.

Armstrong still needs a lot of work in pass protection too. He had a big whiff in the first quarter that almost resulted in a sack.

- Wimbush was really sharp to start this game. It was a night and day difference with his feel for escaping the pocket. If not for a couple of drops by Chris Finke and Chase Claypool, his day would have looked better. He ran the ball like the Wimbush we’ve seen him be too.

Those screens, though? It is what it is. He had a good day throwing those against Michigan. I think it’s likely going to be off and on with those the whole season.

- It was a nice story to have Ian Book come in the game and hand off for touchdowns in the first two weeks, but this game really highlighted how perplexing that decision is.

Wimbush ran for a touchdown in this game. He scored 14 of them last year. The Irish were really good in the red zone largely because of what he could do as a runner.

Why go away from that? I don’t understand it, much like I didn’t understand the call on that two point play with Book throwing the fade (horrible OPI call on Claypool, but that’s a different story).

If you’re going for two, why is Wimbush not in the game?

- Vandy’s edge rushers really got after the quarterback the last couple of weeks. What a difference in protection this week by the Notre Dame O-line. They barely sniffed Wimbush on the day. He only got hit four times.

This was a much better front seven than the one the Irish faced last week. Jeff Quinn and the group as a whole deserve a ton of credit.

- Joejuan Williams versus Miles Boykin. Huge advantage to Williams in that matchup. He’s good.

- Kyle Shurmur was outstanding in this game. I couldn’t have been more impressed with his decision making and ball placement. He had very few regrettable throws.

The reason Notre Dame only finished with one sack had everything to do with him. He avoided sacks by getting rid of the football on time or even throwing it early just to get zero instead of a loss. The pressure by the D-line could have been better at times, but with a less experience quarterback the Irish would have got to him much more frequently.

- Notre Dame used Julian Love at nickel some today and inserted Donte Vaughn in his place at boundary corner. It will be interesting to see if they continue to do that with him and Houston Griffith sharing it going forward (I did not see Nick Coleman out on the field today).

Vaughn had the completely unnecessary hold on the 4th down which would have ended the game. It’s tough because he didn’t play a lot, but when you are in the game and that happens, that’s what will be remembered unfortunately.

- The biggest issue for the Irish on offense was on play-action. There were way too many guys running open and Shurmur just picked them apart on those. I’m going to go back and chart what he did on play-action when I watch it back.

It seemed like that’s where tight end Jared Pinkney did so much of his work. He just ate up the Irish today for 111 yards on 5 catches.

- It sounds funny to say that Love played outstanding when Shurmur threw for so many yards, but he was really good today. He has no picks on the season, but is playing at a very high level right now.

- The Irish were strong against the run, but gave up far too many big plays through the air. Five different receivers had catches of 20 yards or longer for Vandy. Some of that is Shurmur being good. Some of that looked like assignment errors.

- The defense might not have been sharp at all times, but they got the final stop when they had to and that strip by Alohi Gilman ended up being the difference in the ball game. It was massive and so was the effort by Troy Pride to hold the receiver from getting in and Love to hustle and get the ball. This game could have looked so much different if that play didn’t happen.

if the Irish offense was better in the red zone, it would have as well. I think the Irish found a bit of their identity on that side of the ball today, but probably need to go back to their old offensive identity with Wimbush and the running game.