Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1302940
26 OCT. 31, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Thoughts, musings and observations from Notre Dame's 45-3 win at Pittsburgh 1. Winning One-On-Ones Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly highlighted the importance of downfield plays during the week, because Pitt's defense bottles up running games and plays a lot of man coverage. Junior wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr.'s season- ending foot re-injury revealed Saturday and Notre Dame's struggles to win downfield made that a scarier task. The Irish needed somebody, and fifth-year senior wide receiver Ben Skow- ronek raised his hand. His two touchdown catches totaled 107 yards, and on both he adjusted to haul in a contested throw. His season has quickly turned from wayward to valuable in a span of two games. He demonstrated the down- field ability he showed in three years at Northwestern. 2. Ian Book's Productive Day Fifth-year senior quarterback Ian Book's 53.3 percent completion rate isn't eye-popping, but it was offset in part by the explosive gains Notre Dame found in the air all day. Receivers had room to run after the catch. Shot plays were available. Book averaged 19.5 yards per completion and had six throws of at least 20 yards, though only one traveled more than 20 yards downfield. A couple more completed shots would have been good to see, but Notre Dame's pass catchers are skilled runners, too. That can't be discounted as a source of yards. 3. Tough Running If nothing else, Pitt's run defense performed as advertised. Notre Dame had two runs of 10-plus yards, and both were on Book scrambles. All told, Notre Dame ended the game with 120 sack-adjusted rush yards on 2.5 yards per carry. But it stayed away from negative plays. Pitt, which came in averaging nearly five sacks and 11 tackles for loss per game, forced seven nega- tive plays while Notre Dame's starters were in the game. Notre Dame converted all six of its third-and-short situations. 4. Handling Jordan Addison Just like last week, Notre Dame had to handle a slippery slot receiver who can rack up yards after the catch. This time, it was Pitt freshman Jordan Addison, who sees a hearty share of short targets. From the start, Notre Dame keyed on him with double teams or by putting sophomore safety Kyle Hamilton on him. Addison finished with three catches for 40 yards. His 33-yard reception came when he was in single coverage against fifth-year senior cornerback Nick McCloud. Hamilton and freshman cornerback Clarence Lewis allowed him nothing, save for a borderline pass interference call on Hamilton. 5. '14' Personnel Success Four tight ends is exclusively a goal-line package, but it has been as reliable. Sophomore running back Kyren Williams' second-quarter touchdown run was the seventh play in which Notre Dame had used the "14" personnel this year, and the fifth touchdown. Notre Dame went to 14 again on its first drive of the second half and passed out of it for the first time this year. The result was a Book near-interception. 6. Pitt's First-Down Futility Want to know a great way to make life harder when playing a tough defense? Try playing in second-and-long every time. Pitt's absent run game and bumpy passing operation generated seven yards on 12 first-down plays in the first half. The third quarter was more of the same: six plays, zero yards with an inter- ception and fumble among them. 7. Smart Timeout Kelly's clock management evoked some grumbles earlier this year, but his late first-half timeout set up Notre Dame's fourth touchdown. He took it before fourth down to give Notre Dame a chance to attack the punt attempt and try to set up a score, rather than call it a play earlier and give the offense around 20 seconds to go 50 or so yards for a field goal try. Realistically, the best chance at points before the half was a blocked kick. Sure enough, sophomore defensive end Isaiah Foskey blocked the punt and recovered it for a touchdown, putting Notre Dame up 28-3. 8. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah's Milestone The senior rover's first career interception is one illustration of his progres- sion from buried to indispensable. Even in his breakout season last year, he wasn't a third-down and sub-package mainstay. Now, he's barely off the field, and his abilities in coverage as a slot defender, pass rusher and in run defense make him playable in any situation. His intercep- tion came when covering a wide receiver. 9. Involving Michael Mayer Without Austin, Notre Dame is down one of its most athletic and dynamic receivers from a unit not stocked with them. Those two words describe another offensive player, but he's a freshman tight end. And he becomes even more important with Austin's potential removed from the equation. Notre Dame threw at Mayer eight times, two more than any other player. He ended with five catches for 73 yards and a touchdown. He's a gifted receiver, runner and catcher in traffic. 10. Braden Lenzy's Bad Injury Luck The junior wide receiver pulled up after a downfield route in the fourth quarter with what looked like another hamstring injury. Kelly said afterward the scar tissue from his original hamstring issue earlier this year has been an unrelenting bother. It's fair to question why Lenzy was in a 42-point game running a deep route with six minutes left, but this is becoming a lost season for him with how per- sistent his injuries have been. 10 INITIAL THOUGHTS BY PATRICK ENGEL The Fighting Irish defense shut down Pitt's rushing attack (just 44 yards on 20 attempts), putting the Panthers into a lot of long down-and-distance situations. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS