Midweek Musings: Explosive Pass Attack Must Be More Efficient

Thoughts on Notre Dame football, Irish recruiting and college football

Thoughts on Notre Dame football, Irish recruiting and college football.

EXPLOSIVE PASS GAME NEEDS MORE EFFICIENCY

Notre Dame's pass offense has been wildly erratic this season, and it needs to get more consistently effective. When it is on the pass game is dominant, but when it is off it becomes an aspect of the offense that results in too many third-and-long situations.

The best part of the pass game has been its big play nature. Notre Dame already has 17 pass plays this season that have gone for at least 20 yards, 8 that have gone for at least 30 yards and four that have gone for at least 40 yards.

At this time a season ago the offense had just 7 plays of at least 20 yards in the pass game. Notre Dame didn't get to 17 until it played Clemson last November in what was the team's 7th game.

Notre Dame is on pace for 51 pass plays of at least 20 yards in the regular season, which is a very strong number. The big plays are coming from all over. The longest play of the season is a 62-yard catch and score from wide receiver Avery Davis, but the next three biggest gains came from non receivers. That would be 55-yard catch and runs from Chris Tyree (Toledo) and Kyren Williams (Florida State) and a 41-yard score from Michael Mayer (Florida State).

The number of big plays has decreased in recent games as teams get a read on the Irish schemes and due to the failures of the Notre Dame offensive line. OC Tommy Rees will need to find ways to get that back into his offense.

He'll also need to find more ways to create a more efficient pass game. Despite all its big plays the Irish pass offense is averaging just 8.2 yards per attempt. That number was much higher after the first two games (9.6), but the offense went for just 7.0 and 6.5 the last two games while completing just 52.2% of their passes.

Poor pass protection, a quarterback that is clearly starting to be impacted by the many blows he's taken this season behind that poor offensive line, a vertically based pass offense that can't get going due to the poor pass protection, and a lack of much of a quick passing game or screen game are some of the reasons why the offense has become so inefficient in recent games.

Moving forward the pass pro will have to improve and Jack Coan (or whoever else plays quarterback) will have to do a better job getting the ball out in the face of the pressures. Those are two keys to creating a more efficient pass attack.

There are other areas where the efficiency can improve while also adding more explosiveness. A more creative screen game would be part of that, but more specifically the offense must find ways to get Braden Lenzy and Tyree more touches in space as part of the pass game.

Against an outstanding Cincinnati defense the need for efficiency in the pass game, especially on early downs, is an absolute must.

BIG RECRUITING WEEKEND COMING UP

We always knew the weekend of the USC would be a huge recruiting weekend, but the matchup against Cincinnati is getting to that point as well, especially with the 2023 class.

Carnell Tate, WR - Getting this star receiver on campus is huge, and hopefully the Irish offense will be on top of its game in a way that impresses this extremely gifted pass catcher. I would go on and on and on about how good Tate is and how important he is to this class, but you already know that. He defines must-get.

Jalen Brown, WR - The dream scenario for Notre Dame in the 2023 class is to pair Tate and Brown together. Tate is a bigger receiver that brings some volume and big play ability, while Brown would be the closest thing we've seen to a Will Fuller skillset come to Notre Dame.

Sonny Styles, LB/S - A five-star recruit, Styles is making yet another trip to South Bend for this matchup against the Bearcats. The Ohio native is a must get for the Irish. Styles knows what he needs to know about Notre Dame, now it's about closing.

Drayk Bowen, LB - There is also a dream 1-2 punch at linebacker in the 2023 class, and it is Styles and Bowen, who are without question the top two targets on the board for Notre Dame at LB in the 2023 class. Bowen is going to be harder to land than many think thanks to his affinity for southern programs, but the more the Irish can get him on campus the better.

Malik Muhammad, CB - One of the top 2023 cornerbacks on the board is Muhammad, a legit Top 50-70 caliber recruit. He is slated to attend this weekend, and if he does it would make it the second time he's visited Notre Dame on his own dime, which speaks volumes. Landing Muhammad will be very hard, but doing so would be a huge coup for the Irish staff.

Luke Montgomery, DT - Notre Dame likes the Ohio native on defense while other schools are trying to convince him he's a blocker. This would be a second chance for the Irish to continue convincing him he's a defensive player, and one who should be playing at Notre Dame.

Kaden Feagin, RB/ATH - A 6-3, 220-pound freaky athlete that could play both running back and linebacker, Feagin is quickly becoming a must-get for the Irish staff, who he impressed this summer with an on-campus workout that ended with him getting a scholarship offer.

There will be several 2022 Notre Dame commits also on campus, which won't hurt with this group one bit. Expected visitors are linebackers Jaylon Sneed, Josh Burnham and Nolan Ziegler among others.

WEEK 5 PLAYOFF IMPACT

This has been a wild, chaotic and entertaining start to the college football season. This weekend isn't even the halfway point, but the College Football Playoff implications are strong! 

We've already seen traditional powers all but knocked out, like 2-2 Clemson, who has basically no chance at the playoff after suffering a second loss last weekend. ACC fans now have to pin their hopes on programs like Wake Forest and Boston College. The Eagles play at #25 Clemson this weekend, and despite being 4-0 they are not ranked. A win over the Tigers is unlikely, but if they pull it off they would jump up the rankings.

There are four highly ranked undefeated SEC teams, and all four square off this weekend. #8 Arkansas plays at #2 Georgia in a game that will have huge implications for both teams. If the Razorbacks win it gives them a third win in five games over a program that was highly ranked either before or during the season. For the Bulldogs it's another strong resume builder.

#1 Alabama also hosts #12 Ole Miss, a team with enough offense to make some believe the Rebels can pull off the upset. Ole Miss has beaten Alabama twice during the decade long run of dominance from the Tide, and in another game the Rebels had the Tide down 24-3 before losing. Can Lane Kiffin become the first former assistant to knock off Nick Saban?

#6 Oklahoma has struggled against FBS opponents this season and they play at Kansas State this weekend. The Sooners lost the last time they traveled to Manhattan, and a loss against this time would make a playoff run quite challenging.

#10 Florida is now playing single elimination football, and their trip to 4-0 Kentucky this weekend is big. #21 Baylor and #19 Oklahoma State are both undefeated but getting very little love from the pollsters. The winner of this matchup in Stillwater likely will get a ranking and perception boost.

#14 Michigan is looking to continue its season climb with a road trip to Wisconsin, who fell out of the rankings this week after losing to Notre Dame by a 41-13 score. Michigan hasn't beaten an opponent with a strong reputation, and beating the Badgers in Madison is no small task, but that's what they need to do build a strong resume.

And of course there's the matchup between #9 Notre Dame and #7 Cincinnati. The Bearcats are the best hope for the Group of 5 thanks to their road games against Power 5 opponents. They already beat Indiana (38-24), and a win over Notre Dame would be a HUGE resume builder. All the people tearing down Notre Dame would actually start hyping up the Irish in an attempt to make the win by Cincinnati look good. If Notre Dame beats Cincinnati you can expect another round of, "Well, they weren't really that good" from those same folks.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Seems like former Notre Dame All-American linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is off to a strong start in the NFL.

#Browns Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah earned a 93.9 overall grade yesterday, the highest single-game grade for any LB (minimum 20 snaps) since Week 17 of 2019.

He also leads all 2021 NFL LBs in overall grade (90.1), pending Week 3 review. pic.twitter.com/PsaHZzGbTi

— Sam Penix (@Sam_Penix) September 27, 2021

FILM OF THE WEEK

The matchup of the Notre Dame offense against the Cincinnati defense is arguably the biggest of this weekends game. Here's our breakdown on all aspects of that matchup.

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Irish Breakdown Content

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Notre Dame 2022 Commits Big Board: Defense

Notre Dame 2022 Scholarship Offers

Notre Dame 2022 Class Big Board
Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board

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