Key Takeaways From The Notre Dame Offense vs Ohio State

Breaking down the important observations of the Fighting Irish offense from its loss to Ohio State

Notre Dame dropped its season opener to Ohio State, and the inability of the offense to take advantage of a strong defensive performance was a driving force behind that. Here are my key takeaways from the Fighting Irish offense.

Another Big Game Offensive Disappointment

There is no doubt that 10 points and just 253 yards of offense isn’t good enough to beat a good team. The issues were all around. Notre Dame couldn’t run the ball with any kind of consistency, the pass game was largely ineffectively outside of a few plays and the Irish didn’t play good situational football, going just 3-13 on third down and failing to convert its first red zone trip into a touchdown.

This has been the story at Notre Dame for a very long time. Outside of the disastrous Brian Van Gorder era the defense has largely played good enough in big moments to win big games, and this has been especially true in the previous five seasons, and it was true against Ohio State. The offense, however, has failed to execute in those big games, and unfortunately, that was true again last night. I don’t doubt the toughness of the unit and they competed, but they simply didn’t get it done at a coaching or player level.

We have been here before.

Notre Dame scored 19 and 16 points in losses to Georgia in the last five seasons, it scored 10 points in the ACC title game loss to Clemson, it scored three points in a Cotton Bowl loss to Clemson, it scored 14 points against Alabama in the Rose Bowl, it scored 13 points in a home loss to Cincinnati last season, it scored just eight points in a road loss to Miami in 2017, and last night the Irish managed just 10 points in the loss to Ohio State.

If Notre Dame is going to get over the hump the offense simply cannot continue failing to move the ball and score in big games. It’s just one game, and the Irish will have seven more games to tune up for the November 5th matchup against Clemson, whose defense is expected to be even better than Ohio State’s. I’m going to have faith in the offensive staff to make the necessary changes after last night’s debacle, but the next time they get into a game like this we need to see this unit finally perform in a big game.

Do that in November and I’ll feel the program is turning a corner. Don’t make the improvements and fail to show up next time and it’s going to be just more of the same. Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees needs to get this unit to execute better, play with more fire and he and the staff need to do a better job finding ways to use the weapons at their disposal, something we did not see last night against the Buckeyes.

Tyler Buchner Showed Flashes

Sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner was a bit up and down in his first career start, which came against a big time opponent. There are certainly areas where Buchner can and will improve, but he also showed flashes as a passer.

Buchner completed eight of his first nine passes for 128 yards, hitting a RPO to Lorenzo Styles that went for 54 yards. He made a great check on a 3rd-and-2 in the first half that went for 31 yards to Matt Salerno. He was off target with a seam throw to Kevin Bauman on the next play, but he read it well and put it where Bauman still had a chance to make a play. Buchner also completed some tough balls into tight spaces.

The issue, however, is he went just 2-7 in the second half, which was a problem in many ways that don't have anything to do with Buchner.

The Irish signal caller didn’t get much help from his line, who often left him without time to throw in key situations. Buchner also had a couple of missed reads, but by and large it was a positive first performance that he can certainly build upon.

I want to see the staff allow him to take more shots and use him a bit more effectively as a runner, and also get him out of the pocket more by design. Work is needed, but Buchner showed why there is so much excitement about his ability to lead the offense, at least for me.

I get why they didn't want to do it in the opener, but the staff needs to immediately take off the hand cuffs and let this kid play.

Offensive Line, Run Game Has Work To Do

The biggest disappointment in last night’s game was the play of the Notre Dame offensive line. It was clear the Irish staff thought this unit was good enough to build its game plan around, but the execution simply wasn’t there. I don’t question the unit’s toughness or compete level, but its execution and finish was rough for much of the game.

In the run game, the interior of the line failed to get much of a push against an Ohio State defense that was brutally bad against the run in big games last season. There was too much feet stopping and the line didn’t effectively get to the second level for much of the night. Far too often blockers would lose a defender late and the timing on the combo blocks left much to be desired.

Notre Dame’s pass protection wasn’t much better, as the interior of the line failed to pick up the Ohio State inside pressures for much of the game. Ohio State brought delay backer fires and ran simple cross stunts into the A and B gaps with their backers, and far too often the Irish linemen failed to see it and pick it up. Center Zeke Correll had an especially tough time recognizing and picking up these pressures.

Part of the issue, to me, was the inability to handle the overwhelming numbers, which is as much about the play-calling as it was the execution from the linemen. All of the above issues existed, but Ohio State also loaded the box for much of the game and dared Notre Dame to beat them outside and down the field, and Notre Dame rarely attempted to do so. That allowed Ohio State to comfortably stay in looks that kept the numbers advantage against the run game.

That combination proved costly.

Need To Be More Aggressive

After the game head coach Marcus Freeman spoke about wanting to be more aggressive, but also discussed the desire to shorten the game, run the ball and eat up clock.

There's merit to that strategy, but simply put you aren't going to beat Ohio State that way and we discussed that many times last week on Irish Breakdown shows. In order to beat a team like Ohio State you have to be willing to be more aggressive offensively.

Notre Dame simply was not aggressive enough to win this game, and if that doesn't change moving forward we'll continue to see these same type of big game results from the offense.

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