Notre Dame Showing Third-Down Improvement So Far In 2020

It's still early, but Notre Dame has shown improvement on third-down compared to the 2019 offense.

I was more than a bit skeptical of the Tommy Rees as offensive coordinator hire. It felt like just another case of Brian Kelly hiring one of his guys instead of someone more qualified. While the Rees experiment is still in its infancy, the offense has taken one major step forward on third-down conversions.

Improving on 3rd Down

Notre Dame ranked 33rd (2017) and 32nd (2017) in third-down conversions in the first two years of Chip Long's tenure in South Bend, but the Irish offense wasn't great on third-down in 2019. Notre Dame only converted just 40% of its third-down opportunities in 2019, which ranked 60th nationally. The 2020 offense current ranks 20th with a 50% conversion rate.

It would be easy to explain away the improvement based on the opponents the Fighting Irish have played to this point. Notre Dame converted 57% of its third-downs against South Florida, a defense that ranked 120th nationally in 2019 at getting off the field on third-down.

Duke, however, is a different story. The Blue Devils ranked 43rd in third-down defense in 2019, and it held Boston College and Virginia to just 34.8% on third-down in the two weeks after playing Notre Dame. The Irish offense went 7-16 on third-down against the Blue Devils, good for 43%. 

You can see those numbers a bit more clearly here:

• Notre Dame third-down conversion against Duke - 7-16 (44%)
• Boston College third-down conversion against Duke - 4-12 (33%)
• Virginia third-down conversion against Duke - 6-17 (35%)

Duke currently ranks 28th in third-down defense (out of 72 teams that have played at least one game). It should be noted that Notre Dame went 9-17 against Duke on third-down last season, but the Blue Devils were banged up at that point in the season.

Notre Dame isn't converting third-downs at an exceptional rate just yet, but it is showing improvement. When you consider some of the inefficiency we saw in the opener against Duke, the success on third-down is a positive, as it shows the Irish had a strong plan, and with better execution will come better results. 

The season is still early on but that should only play into their favor. As they get more game reps and Rees grows more comfortable as a play-caller, his numbers should improve. 

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