Grades For The Notre Dame Offense vs. Georgia Tech

It's time to hand out grades for the Notre Dame offense from the win over Georgia Tech

Notre Dame earned a 31-13 victory over Georgia Tech, which improved the Fighting Irish to 6-0 on the season. Before we move onto Clemson, let’s take a look at the grades for the Notre Dame offense.

COACHING - C+

The game plan had some things I liked and other aspects that I believe are limiting to the offense.

To begin with, let’s look at what I liked. We saw some nuance with the screen/reverse game, and it proved productive. Notre Dame hit a well-timed/well-called swing screen that went for 20 yards, a look screen that went for 16 yards and a reverse that went for 21 yards.

The reverse call gets extra points for me. On the previous play, Notre Dame faked a reverse to running back Chris Tyree, and the backside of the defense did not move towards Tyree at all. Rees wisely immediately went to the reverse on the very next play, and it went for a big gain and set the Irish up for a touchdown.

Notre Dame’s third-down play, calls and execution were top notch. I liked the different ways that Rees got Tyree involved in the game plan, I would just like to see the volume turned up a notch.

Concerns from the game was the methodical nature of the offense, which involved the lack of tempo from the game but also the slow developing nature of the offense. This is especially true of the pass game, which was unnecessarily conservative. Notre Dame threw just eight passes that traveled longer than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage.

The red zone offense was good when they built around the run (which includes play-action and bootlegs), and not when they focused on dropping back and throwing.

QUARTEBACK — C+

Senior quarterback Ian Book had a solid, safe performance, but that is a big reason why his grade is a C+. Simply put, having a solid, safe performance against a defense that had given up an average of 56.7 points per game, 580.0 yards per game and 7.1 yards per play in losses to Clemson (73-7), UCF (49-21) and Boston College (48-27) is not a “very good” performance, as head coach Brian Kelly stated following the game.

Yes, Book protected the ball and didn’t turn it over, but at some point you need to be able to make more plays. Book did a solid job moving the chains with his legs, like he has done most of the season, but he didn’t build on the aggressiveness we saw against Pittsburgh. In fact, I’d argue he regressed.

Book was inaccurate throwing the ball down the field and once again was unwilling to really attack and challenge the defense. One example would be not being willing to throw a seam route to Lawrence Keys III in the fourth quarter when the route was there. Instead, Book checked it down to the tight end and the Irish were forced to punt.

RUNNING BACK — C

This was a rough day for the Irish running backs. What I liked about the game was how hard they ran. Kyren Williams and C’Bo Flemister both ran very hard, and Flemister was especially impressive with his grinding style in the second half. Flemister is just not very big, which only makes it even more impressive to see how much power and fire he runs with.

The issue, however, is there were just too many mistakes. Too many missed reads were an issue, and the timing of the run game wasn’t as good. Notre Dame was able to churn out good yards because of how bad Georgia Tech is at stopping the run, but this was a sloppy overall performance.

Pass blocking was an issue in the game as well. Williams continues to be far too inconsistent in pass protection. Flemister was a bit better, and he had one step up to take on a rusher that a tight end whiffed on, which kept the defender from drilling Book for a sack.

Tyree didn’t get many touches, but he was impressive in his limited snaps.

WIDE RECEIVER — B

The Irish wideouts performed well with what they were asked to do in the game. There were opportunities for them to make even more plays than they did, but the ball just didn’t come their way.

Senior Javon McKinley had a quality performance, leading the offense with five catches for 93 yards. McKinley made plays in many ways. His first catch was a crossing route that converted a 3rd-and-9, his second catch was a diving grab on an in cut. McKinley also had another good after-the-catch play.

Fifth-year senior Ben Skowronek caught just one pass for eight yards, but he was solid in the game. He got jammed off the line and ridden out of bounds on a RPO go route, but he had other quality moments where he was more open, but the ball never came his way.

Veteran Avery Davis caught a career high passes that went for just 29 yards, but that was due to him having a catch that went for negative yards. The loss wasn’t on Davis, there was an unblocked edge player that hit Davis almost as soon as he got the football. Davis had a clutch third-down reception and had another YAC play on a screen. He’s turning into a quality complementary piece in the Irish offense.

I was surprised we didn’t see more of junior Joe Wilkins Jr. after he hauled in a touchdown on the first drive of the game.

Not getting freshmen Jordan Johnson and Xavier Watts a single snap, and not using Lawrence Keys III more was yet another missed opportunity to develop three of the most talented pass catchers on the roster. It’s not something that impacts the grade of the wideouts, but it did drag down the coaching grade.

TIGHT END — B-

This was the most sloppy tight end performance of the season. The unit combined for five catches, but they went for just 37 yards. There were also a few too many blocking mistakes. Freshman Michael Mayer had good moments in the run game, but he also got beat inside on the backside of runs and is still as inconsistent as you’d expect a freshman to be.

Senior Brock Wright was solid, catching an 11-yard pass and blocking relatively well, but he gave up a pressure that resulted in Book getting sacked.

Tommy Tremble caught just one pass for 11 yards, and he was overthrown on what could have been a touchdown in the second quarter. Outside of that, Tremble was primarily used as a blocker yet again. After hauling in eight passes for 104 yards in the first two games, Tremble has caught just one pass per game for a combined 22 yards in the four games since.

It’s not as much about Tremble not playing well as it is the staff using him mostly as a blocker and on short routes, which is head scratching when you consider his athleticism and pass catching potential.

OFFENSIVE LINE — C+

This was a relatively disappointing performance by the Irish offensive line, at least a unit. There was far too much catching in this game, primarily up the middle, and the unit had some problems handling the twists from the Georgia Tech front. It was an unimpressive performance against an inferior front seven.

The standout of the group was right tackle Robert Hainsey, who I named as the top player on offense from the victory. Hainsey was solid in pass protection, but he was outstanding in the run game. His ability to get a wide push on the stretch plays opened up a number of run lanes, and he was physical on drive and base blocks. This was without question Hainsey’s best performance of the season.

I felt left tackle Liam Eichenberg was good when I watched the game live, but his grade wasn’t as high after breaking down the film. Eichenberg was solid, but he wasn’t as dominant and consistent as he has been all season, and he didn’t play up to his normal high standard as a pass blocker or in the run game.

Left guard Aaron Banks was a bit up-and-down as well. He had some quality blocks, but he got beat inside too much and wasn’t as effective getting getting around on takeover blocks. His pass blocking was stout outside of two snaps.

Center Jarrett Patterson was erratic with his footwork, and the result was him getting beat up the field on far too many snaps, something we’ve seen a bit too much of in the last two games.

Right guard Tommy Kraemer just didn’t look right physically. He was coming off his best game of the season against Pittsburgh, but he looked stiff and tight in this game, almost as if his body wasn’t right. It wasn’t stiff in that he is physically stiff, but more of how a guy battling some kind of injury looks, and it hurt his footwork and ability to bend. The result was Kraemer having a hard time getting around on reach blocks, and it hurt him in pass protection.

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