Grades: Notre Dame Offense vs. Clemson

Time to hand out grades for the Notre Dame offense from its performance against Clemson

Notre Dame earned a hard-fought victory over Clemson on Saturday night, besting the then No. 1 ranked Tigers 47-40 in overtime. All three phases of the game contributed to the victory. We wrap up our coverage of the Clemson game with our grades, beginning with the offense.

COACHING — B-

The offensive staff, led by offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, had an excellent game plan early. It was balanced, the Irish attacked downfield with the pass game and they leaned heavily on the run game. Notre Dame’s third-down pass offense was also outstanding by design and calls once again. This is arguably the best aspect of the Notre Dame offense this season.

Clemson started to execute a higher number of run stunts on early downs in the second and third quarters, and it caused the offensive staff to all but abandon the run game. After rushing for 144 yards on over 20 carries in the first half, Notre Dame had just nine called runs in the second half. It’s not a coincidence that Notre Dame only scored three points in the first 28 minutes of the second half.

In overtime we saw a return to the balance, to a degree, and it played a role in the success.

I thought the red zone game plan and play calling in this game. We saw more high-low concepts and crossing routes, and when they got closer to the goal line we saw more running power football. The red zone issues in this game were more about execution than the typical red zone play calls, but I would still like to see a few alterations to the red zone pass game with play-actions, boots and a throwback or two.

QUARTERBACK — B

There are two ways to evaluate and grade quarterback Ian Book, and both contributed to this grade of a B. The first is to look at things like big plays, toughness, clutch plays, production and poise. In that area Book graded out extremely well, earning an A or A- in each category. Then there are things like grading out his read progressions, decision making and protecting the football. In those areas his grade was lower, and the average of them all gives him a B.

But make no mistake, the B is mainly brought down by the crucial fumble he had in the third quarter that wiped points off the board and a few reads I would have liked to see better results from. There were several reads early he just didn’t get to, but the reason he was so effective in the game despite me wanting to see him make better reads is when he did throw the ball, he did so with tremendous confidence and conviction, which led to him being quite accurate.

An example, on a 3rd-and-4 late in the first quarter, I felt Book didn’t make the proper read on a drag route to Tommy Tremble, but he threw it with good timing, he threw it with conviction and he completed a relatively well defended play that picked up a first down. As a coach I would correct him on the read and then praise him for the throw, that’s how it goes with grading.

The only late throw I remember that could have been picked was on the final drive of regulation, but even then it would have required a great play by the defense to pick it off.

Book’s toughness and poise was evident throughout the game. When he and the offense took the field for the final drive of regulation there was a much different look among them than what we saw last September against Georgia. There was confidence in the group, and on the very first snap you saw this unit was ready to go.

Book stay poised in the pocket against a Clemson blitz, kept his eyes downfield and then came down on the crossing route. The offense showed urgency the rest of the drive, but they didn’t rush, there was no panic, and that begins with the quarterback.

Book’s willingness to attack down the field is where he got the highest marks in this game, and without that aggressiveness I don’t know if Notre Dame wins this game. You could say the same thing about his scrambling when things broke down.

RUNNING BACK — A

Sophomore running back Kyren Williams played an outstanding game for Notre Dame, and it went beyond his 140 rushing yards on 23 carries (6.1 YPC). Williams had a tone setting game both as a runner and blocker.

He got things started right with a 65-yard touchdown run. The Irish offensive line did a great job blocking the play up and the difference between a 10-yard gain and a 65-yard touchdown was Williams making Clemson safety Nolan Turner miss in space.

When there was room to run Williams found it, and he showed good patience and decisiveness in the game. He was especially effective in the red zone, where he showed initial patience to see where the hole would open up, and then the decisiveness and physicality to hammer the line and maximize his yards. His one noticeable mistake in the run game was during the second overtime when he tried to bounce outside when the end clearly had him in his sights, and the result was an extra loss of yards on the play.

My biggest knocks on Williams this season has been his penchant for fumbles and his inconsistent pass blocking that sometimes bordered on just not being good at it. Against Clemson, however, Williams was an excellent blocker in both the run game and especially the pass game.

There were multiple snaps in this game where Williams stepped up and took on the Clemson blitzers all game long. He took more punishment as a pass blocker and run blocker than he did as a runner, but he battled just as hard as a blocker than he did as a runner. There were three plays where Book made big plays with his arm that were a direct result of Williams stepping up and taking on a blitzer, and that included the 53-yard pass on the game-tying drive in the fourth quarter.

Williams also delivered punishment as a lead blocker on the quarterback outside zone runs the Irish were running.

WIDE RECEIVER — B+

Like the quarterback grade, this grade was brought down by mistakes. Veteran Ben Skowronek had a drive killing penalty in the second quarter that almost knocked Notre Dame out of field goal range. He also had a crucial 4th-and-7 drop in the fourth quarter that you just have to make.

Outside of that the wide receivers stepped up in a big way and produced in the throwing game and were once again outstanding in the run game. We’ve see instances all season where a receiver would step up in a game, but we have not seen this kind of a spread out big-play production this season. When the unit needed to step up in the biggest moment they did.

Senior Javon McKinley was tremendous in this game, and he had arguably the best game of his career against the best opponent he’s ever faced. McKinley made two huge plays down the field, and neither was an open play. It was him getting the leverage he needed, Book throwing the ball out to him and McKinley making great catches. He came to Notre Dame as a guy who was expected to become a big-time player, and against Clemson he played like that big-time recruit, and it’s not the first time he’s done that this season.

McKinley was absolutely punishing in the run game.

He doesn’t get his number called much, but senior Avery Davis makes plays when he gets those opportunities. I don’t view the “drop” in the end zone as being a drop. That was a well defended play that also had some interfering that wasn’t called. But even still, Davis made up for that missed opportunity. On the final drive of the game he executed a brilliant post route, attacking the leverage of the defender, getting him to turn his hips and then Davis smoked him inside for a 53-yard gain. Davis capped that drive off with a savvy move to get open in the end zone for the game-tying touchdown.

Skowronek had two big miscues, but he played solid football outside of those two mistakes. He battled in the run game, made an important catch in overtime that set up a touchdown and competed on downfield throws.

TIGHT END — B

Rees made Tommy Tremble a big part of the offense early in the game, and the junior made big plays in the first half. He caught two third-down throws in the first quarter to move the chains. If Book would have found him as often as he was open his numbers would have been much, much better.

Tremble was brilliant in the run game, something we’ve come to expect. He’s always extremely physical, and that continued against Clemson, but I felt Tremble played under better control and didn’t have any of the “big misses” that can hurt an overly-aggressive player. His strong all-around performance might not show up in the stat sheet (3 catches, 34 yards), but Tremble was outstanding in this game.

Freshman Michael Mayer’s night got off to a very, very rough start. A false start on the second drive of the game negated a 4th-and-1 play that was about to go for a touchdown. On the very next series, Mayer dropped a ball near the goal line that would have resulted in another touchdown for the offense. Instead of being up 21-7, the Irish were up just 13-7, and Mayer’s mental mistakes were a big part of it.

What you have to love about the rookie tight end is he didn’t allow those big mistakes to get in his head. If you only watched this game from the fourth series on you would have thought he played an excellent game, because that’s exactly what he did after those two big mistakes. Mayer was a force in the pass game yet again, and his ability to make plays after the catch played a big, big role in this victory.

Mayer was a solid blocker in the game. He wasn’t as consistently effective as Tremble and he had some misses, but he had a very important drive out block on the 65-yard touchdown run by Williams.

Senior Brock Wright also had a solid performance in the run game.

OFFENSIVE LINE — B+

Clemson through a lot at the Notre Dame offensive line, and I’m going to assume that position coach Jeff Quinn will have a lot of teaching to do off this game. There were some technique mistakes, assignment mistakes and areas where the line will need to clean some things up.

The unit graded out so well because despite the areas where they need to clean things up, the unit played extremely good football. More important, they played extremely physical football, and they set the tone for this game immediately by blasting Clemson at the point of attack and opening up a huge run lane for Williams.

The way Clemson attacks a defense, lines are often forced to handle a lot of twists, stunts and second level pressures. Clemson doesn’t just shoot gaps straight, they run a lot of line games, and it can be challenging to handle it all, and I believe a part of the reason for all of those games is to keep linemen guessing, which makes it harder to just come off and be physical. Notre Dame did not allow that to happen in this game.

Yes, the line had some misses against the line games, but for the most part they handled them well (you can see that on the touchdown run above), and they never allowed the line games to make them passive. Notre Dame was physical against Clemson all game long, and when they got a chance near the goal line in overtime the bulled Clemson and opened up room for Williams to get into the end zone.

Left tackle Liam Eichenberg was a bit up and down in protection. On a couple too many snaps he lost rushers late around the edge on double moves, and he stopped his feet a bit too much in anticipation of a double move. For the most part, Eichenberg graded out well in the game, and he was especially effective on the edge in the run game. He and left guard Aaron Banks had a number of punishing combo blocks, and Banks had several other punishing blocks inside.

Both Eichenberg and Banks had penalties in the game, although Banks’ penalty was negated by a Clemson personal foul. Had that not happened, however, the holding penalty in overtime would have been devastating for the offense.

Clemson’s pressure package is most challenging for centers, but I thought Jarrett Patterson handled it well. Was he perfect? No, but for the most part he handled the inside twists and linebacker stunts, and when he didn’t get a clean block he still kept a body on a body. What mattered most is he didn’t allow all the games Clemson utilized to make him tentative or to impact his snapping.

Right tackle Robert Hainsey had one pass rush where he got beat around the edge, but outside of that he was outstanding against the Tigers. Hainsey earned my highest marks in this game for both his ability to pick up the Clemson stunts, to handle the talented edge rushers and he got excellent movement in the run game all night long. For the second game in a row a case could be made that he was Notre Dame’s most effective blocker.

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