Game Observations For The Notre Dame Offense From The 41-24 Win Over Syracuse

Analysis of the Notre Dame offense from the 41-24 Fighting Irish win over Syracuse

Notre Dame went on the road and dominated #16 Syracuse, earning a 41-24 victory that wasn't as close as the final score. Here are my thoughts and analysis of the offense from the game.

*** The first half game plan from Tommy Rees was quite good. Notre Dame did a very good job mixing up the personnel groupings, and they actually started the game in 22 with Audric Estime lined up at full back. We saw them go 11, 12, 13 and 21 personnel in the first half. We saw the Irish mix it up from play to play in the first 30 minutes, and it was clear they had specific wideouts for certain packages.

*** We saw a lot less of that in the second half, which was primarily a use of 12 and 13 personnel with very tight boxes, and much of the design and play-calling creativity was gone, which allowed Syracuse to get back into the game. Syracuse dared Notre Dame to throw it deep, and the Irish rarely did it. There were openings, but too many misses, late throws and just not being willing to let it rip sapped the pass offense of much of its chances at success.

*** Notre Dame's offensive success was more about just being way better than Syracuse, and way bigger. It was an impressive performance by the Irish line and skill players.

*** For example, on the third quarter deep shot to Tobias Merriweather that was broken up, Merriweather was open over the top initially but quarterback Drew Pyne was late with the throw and then under threw it, which allowed Syracuse to recover. Notre Dame held on to win this game, but if they can't figure this out it will be hard to beat some of the better teams.

*** Now for the good news, Notre Dame absolutely dominated Syracuse up front, and did so in both halves. Harry Hiestand's offensive line was outstanding in this contest. They got great movement, their double teams were well timed and despite constantly playing against loaded boxes they were able to run the football effectively the entire game. This was true even without the needed inside-out play calling diversity that would make this ground game even better. One thing that was done well from a play-calling standpoint, at least in the first half, was using Logan Diggs more on zones and Estime on Duo runs, as both schemes better fit those specific players.

*** Center Zeke Correll seemed to play a very good game. He handled the short, quick nose tackle effectively and when matched up against bigger defenders he got a very good push. On one snap, Correll got beat off the ball and was initially knocked back, but he set his feet, recovered and drove the defender back. Right guard Josh Lugg has arguably his best game of the season, if not career. He was sound and got a very good push in the run game outside of one snap where he was beat inside. The tackles were very good in pass protection.

Syracuse knew what Notre Dame was going to do all game long, they just couldn't stop it because the Irish line absolutely dominated them in the trenches for 60 minutes. Literally in the second half Notre Dame just went 12 and 13 personnel, condensed the field, allowed Syracuse to load the box and they still ran it all over them. It was an incredibly impressive performance from the line and back.

*** Notre Dame's backs all ran with authority and made very good read. They were patient when they needed to be, decisive when they needed to be and they were physical the whole game. The Irish backs maximized yards extremely well in this game. Logan Diggs was the horse in the first half, and his combination of patience and toughness was outstanding. He didn't rush for as many yards in this game, but this was his best game of the season. Estime bounced back from his fumbling woes and ran with great purpose and decisiveness. Estime also showed much better balance as a runner against Syracuse, which allowed him to play with more patience.

*** Estime finished with 123 yards on 20 carries, Diggs finished with 85 yards on 20 carries and Chris Tyree added 23 yards on eight carries. That's 231 yards for the Irish backs.

*** Sophomore receiver Deion Colzie had his best career game. He did a good job selling go routes on both of his comeback catches, which allowed him to get separation. He also showed good hustle getting over on a bootleg to get into Pyne's field of vision. Syracuse did a good job jumping the bootleg slide to the tight end, forcing Pyne to look to the second level, and he immediately saw Colzie and hit him for a big chunk play.

*** Pyne had another rough outing. He made a few throws, and he was money on the last drive of the first half to give the Irish some distance (21-7), but outside of that he had a rough game. He missed two throws on easy screen passes that would have gone for really good gains. He missed Jayden Thomas twice on third down for plays that would have been conversions, and Thomas was open both times. He also locked in on Michael Mayer on a seam throw that got tipped for an interception. Just too many late reads, missed reads and off target throws. It really stunted the offense, which could have easily scored 50+ points in this game. 

Definitely a positive step for the Irish offense, but still too many missed opportunities, sloppy play and overall lack of creativity to really bury teams. 

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