Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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30 SEPT. 16, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED CLOSER LOOK BRYAN DRISKELL H ere are four obser- vations from Notre Dame's hard-fought 35-17 win at Louisville on Labor Day. O ff e n s i v e L i n e I m - provements Show Up Im- mediately — The Notre Dame ground game got off to a strong start to the 2019 season, racking up 230 yards (5.5 yards per carry) in the opener against the Cardinals. If sacks are re- moved, the Irish rushing attack went for 242 yards and 6.1 yards per carry. Notre Dame struggled with misdirection and pe- rimeter runs in 2018 due to ineffective movement blocks by the linemen. Against Louisville, that was the primary strength of the Irish rush game. Notre Dame ripped off a number of big runs on counter plays, which are calls in which linemen must quickly pull outside and block in space. It was obvious early on that Notre Dame's 2019 line is quicker and more effective on movement blocks than we saw a year ago. Senior running back Tony Jones Jr. took full advan- tage, showing patience behind the line, letting the blocks set up and then quickly getting vertical when the holes opened up. Notre Dame was also physical at the point of attack, getting a strong push throughout the game and forcing Lou- isville to load the box in order to slow them down, which opened up big play opportunities in the pass game. Ian Book Must Be More Decisive — The senior quarterback was not at his best in the victory, completing just 14 of 23 throws (60.9 percent) for 193 yards with one score. Book had two fumbles, missed a number of open receivers and seemed unwilling to let the ball loose down the field for much of the game. The timing of the pass game was off all night, with Book failing to fit some tight open throws that would have resulted in chain-moving plays at the very least. Book was not sharp mentally in the overall operation, making multiple mistakes in the run game and fail- ing to see at least two blitzes when he should have gotten rid of the ball quickly. When Book did see those pressures he was able to quickly get the ball out over the middle of the field, and the result was a number of positive gains. Mental And Technique Mistakes Plagued The Defense — There were times when the Notre Dame defense was outstanding and down- right dominant against the Cardinals. There were also times when the unit was just not disciplined enough to shut down the Louisville offense. From a technique standpoint, the Irish defense — mainly the lineback- ers — either over-pursued or under- pursued, depending on the play, and the result was multiple big gains. For example, Louisville's first touchdown was set up by a stretch play that went for 15 yards and put the offense inside the 10-yard line. On the play, the defense was set up to make the stop near the line, but fifth- year senior linebacker Asmar Bilal did not get over the top of the blocks, which allowed the run to get outside. On other snaps the defense would over-pursue and lose contain, open- ing up cut back lanes for big plays. If executed properly those particular snaps would have been short gains, and on a couple of snaps they would have resulted in tackles for loss by the Irish defense. Three mental mistakes were especially frustrat- ing, with senior ends and captains Khalid Kareem and Julian Okwara jump- ing offside on third down, turning third-and-longs into more manageable situations, and both third- downs were ultimately converted. D e f e n s i v e c o o rd i n a - tor Clark Lea will need to spend the next two weeks getting his unit to tackle much better as well. Defense Was Far More Aggressive — Despite the mistakes, the defense dis- played many positives in the win. One aspect that stood out was how much more aggressive it was from a scheme and play-calling standpoint. Notre Dame blitzed its linebacker far more than last season. The result of that aggressiveness was the Irish registering 11 tackles for loss, which tied for the most in a single game since Lea joined the staff. If the defense would have tackled better, this number would have been at least 15 stops behind the line of scrimmage. F i r s t - t i m e s t a r t e r s J e re m i a h Owusu-Koramoah and Drew White each recorded a pair of tackles for loss, and eight different players were credited with a stop behind the line. Notre Dame's defensive tackles were also more aggressive, especially on early run downs. Juniors Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Kurt Hinish, and sophomore Jayson Ademilola, were in the backfield on multiple oc- casions in this game. The secondary played a bit tighter in an attempt to complement the ag- gressiveness up front, which factored into why Louisville completed just 12 of 28 passes, and quarterback Jawon Pass was sacked four times. That approach also paved the way for three turnovers and five passes broken up. ✦ Inside Notre Dame's Victory At Louisville Bryan Driskell has been a football analyst for Blue & Gold Illustrated since April 2015. He can be reached at bdriskell@blueandgold.com. Sophomore rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah recorded nine total stops and two tackles for loss in his first career start for the Fighting Irish. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER