Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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38 NOV. 12, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED What Worked Halftime Adjustments Fuel Victory: What truly impacted the game was the adjustments the Irish staff made at halftime and the execution of the players thereafter. To handle the aggressive play of the Northwestern defense and the pre-snap movement the defense was showing, Notre Dame came out fast in the sec- ond half and pushed the tempo. That forced Northwestern to get into more basic looks, which made it easier for junior quar- terback Ian Book to know where to throw the ball. With Northwestern focusing so much attention on stopping the Notre Dame ground attack, offensive coordinator Chip Long responded by creating some big plays. He used downhill run actions to get Northwestern squeezed inside, which created open- ings on the outside. Book's first four completions of the third quarter were quick perim- eter throws that didn't travel very far past the line — or didn't even get past the line — but those tosses went for 48 yards. On Notre Dame's next possession, the Irish were backed up at their own 2-yard line. Long went with a three- tight-end formation, which again forced Northwestern to come inside. He then called back-to-back deep shots, and the second was completed for a 31-yard gain to give the Irish some breathing room. The drive ended with a 47-yard seam throw to sophomore Michael Young on a pass concept that took ad- vantage of the Northwestern safeties. Money Down Success: Third and fourth down are the "money downs" for an offense. Notre Dame went just 5 of 14 (35.7 percent) on third down, but those numbers don't do justice to how good the Irish were on the money downs. On several third-down snaps, the Irish offense was clearly in a four- down situation, which means as long as the offense gained positive yards on third down it would go for it on fourth down. Notre Dame converted all three of its fourth-down attempts, including two in the first half. A nine-yard run and a seven-yard run by Book on a pair of third-downs put the offense in position to attempt both fourth downs. A slant route completion to senior slot receiver Chris Finke and a six-yard gain from Tony Jones Jr. went for first downs. After picking up just one yard on its first third-down attempt of the third quarter, Notre Dame converted on fourth-and-one on a pass to senior wide receiver Miles Boykin. Notre Dame's next third down ended with a 20-yard touchdown from Book to Boykin, and its next was a 14-yard completion to junior wide receiver Chase Claypool that extended the drive and set up a 47-yard touch- down pass on the following play. Notre Dame converted a pair of third downs on its final full offensive drive, including the back-breaking 23-yard touchdown run from Book on third-and-four. It was a great play call from Long, who put three receivers to the right and then motioned tight end Cole Kmet to the right. Northwestern overreacted to the run action to the right, which allowed Book to pull the ball and get outside to the left and raced for an easy score to put the game away. What Didn't Work Pressure Bothers Offense Early: After Notre Dame took its second drive of the game 79 yards on 14 plays, the North- western defense adjusted, and those changes bothered the Irish for the next quarter and a half. The Wildcats were very ag- gressive with their line and line- backers, shooting downhill at the first sign of the run, which largely negated the Irish ground a t t a c k . N o r t h w e s t e r n a l s o brought its safeties down into the box before the snap or had them hustle down into the box as soon as the ball was snapped. Notre Dame was able to make some throws down the field against these looks, but the run game struggled (20 carries for 55 yards in the first half) and Book was rattled early. He completed just 7 of 15 throws in the first half and almost threw a late second-quarter interception that would have given the Wildcats the football deep in Irish territory. For- tunately for Notre Dame, Claypool broke up the pass. Special Teams Woes Continue: Notre Dame has had far too many poor special teams plays this season, and there was another costly mistake in the win over Northwestern. With the Irish leading 24-14 in the fourth quarter, the offense stalled and was forced to punt in its own ter- ritory. Right before the snap, North- western brought a player down on the edge, and Notre Dame safety Alohi Gilman didn't adjust and was out of position when the ball was snapped. That misalignment allowed North- western corner Cameron Ruiz to get deep into the backfield and block the kick to give Northwestern the ball at the Notre Dame 17-yard line. It scored five plays later to make it 24-21. ✦ Northwestern Game: What Worked And What Didn't CLOSER LOOK BRYAN DRISKELL Bryan Driskell has been a football analyst for Blue & Gold Illustrated since April 2015. He can be reached at bdriskell@blueandgold.com. Notre Dame's halftime adjustments helped junior quarterback Ian Book complete 15 of 19 passes for 236 yards — including 20- and 47-yard touchdowns — in the second half. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL