Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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30 SEPT. 30, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED CLOSER LOOK BRYAN DRISKELL H ere are four observations from Notre Dame's hard- fought 23-17 defeat at Georgia. 1. Early Game Plan Was Strong For Irish Offense: Notre Dame came out aggres- sively against Georgia, and of- fensive coordinator Chip Long had a good plan for what the Bulldogs wanted to do against the Irish offense. Georgia was keyed in early on senior wide receiver Chase Claypool, and it used its cover- age structure to bracket Clay- pool and limit the downfield throws. It then used its front seven to attack the Irish line in hopes of shutting down the ground attack. Long and senior quarterback Ian Book attacked the middle of the field and the zone between the front and the safeties effectively. On the opening possession, Book hit junior tight end Cole Kmet on back-to-back crossing routes to move the chains. On the second drive, Book connected on an angle route to running back Tony Jones Jr. behind the linebackers, result- ing in a 12-yard gain on third-and-14. Book and Claypool hooked up for a 15-yard gain on a crossing route to convert a third-and-nine. On Notre Dame's second-quarter field goal drive, Book found Kmet up the seam over the linebackers and in front of the safeties to get the Irish offense go- ing. It was arguably the best pass of the season for the Irish signal-caller. 2. Third Quarter Adjustments Turn The Tide: Georgia made adjustments at halftime, and its defense came out locked in on the short routes, daring Notre Dame to run or throw the ball deep. The defense did a much better job disguising its coverages to throw Book off, and it used its linebackers to play inside of Kmet and its safeties to attack him downhill. Book locked in on Kmet far too often in the third quarter, missing op- portunities to get the ball down the field against the Bulldogs. Book went just 2-of-6 passing for seven yards in the third quarter and threw two second-half interceptions, and the Irish went from leading 10-7 at the half to trailing 23-10 in the fourth quarter. The Notre Dame offense bounced back and marched down the field for a touchdown, with Book, Kmet and Claypool once again heating up, but ultimately it was too little, too late. That third-quarter shift completely changed the momentum of the game. 3 . M i s t a k e s P r o v e d C o s t l y Throughout: Notre Dame had many opportunities to win this game, but the offense made too many mistakes at pivotal times to earn a win over a top-10 opponent on the road. Notre Dame was called for 12 pen- alties in the contest, and many of them were costly. A false start and an unnecessary roughness penalty on left tackle Liam Eichenberg negated some positive early gains. Notre Dame had two third-down false starts that made it difficult to move the chains. The Irish defense forced a deep Georgia punt in the first quarter, and the Bulldogs punter kicked it short, with the offense taking over at the Georgia 40-yard line. A false start by right tackle Robert Hainsey helped put the Irish in a bad third-and-14 spot, but a 14-yard pass from Book to Jones set up a fourth-and-two. Sophomore center Jarrett Patter- son snapped the ball early and Book couldn't corral it, had to chase the ball down and ultimately threw an incomplete pass. Fifth-year senior wide re- ceiver Chris Finke had a ball go off his shoulder pads into the arms of a Georgia safety, and later he ran a third-down route short of the sticks and then dropped the ball. 4. Defense Played Champi- onship Caliber Football: Much of the pregame talk, at least from a national perspective, was how out-matched the Irish defense would be in this game. That turned out to be incred- ibly inaccurate, and the Irish de- fenders were the primary reason why Notre Dame had a chance to win this game at the end. Defensive coordinator Clark Lea realized his squad was out-manned from a size standpoint, but he also knew his defense is athletic, so he used the group to attack all game long. The Irish front used its quickness to pen- etrate, and it prevented Georgia from being able to consistently get a push up front. Notre Dame's linebackers spearheaded the defense with an ag- gressive and well-executed game. Georgia finished the game with just 152 rushing yards and 4.6 yards per rush, well below its season aver- ages of 286.7 and 7.6. That game plan would work only if the perimeter players could make plays and tackle well, which is what happened for much of the game. The speed of rover Jeremiah Owusu- Koramoah and the Irish safeties lim- ited Georgia's perimeter attack and played a role in the Bulldogs aver- aging just 9.4 yards per completion despite quarterback Jake Fromm con- necting on 76.9 percent of his passes. The Irish secondary was good in coverage for much of the night, and when Georgia did make plays in the pass game it required remarkably well thrown balls and outstanding catches. ✦ Inside Notre Dame's 23-17 Defeat At Georgia Bryan Driskell has been a football analyst for Blue & Gold Illustrated since April 2015. He can be reached at bdriskell@blueandgold.com. Junior Drew White (No. 40) and the rest of the linebackers spear- headed an aggressive and well-executed game for the Irish defense. PHOTO BY KEN WARD/WPG