Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 NOV. 7, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Instant observations and numbers from Notre Dame's 31-13 win over Georgia Tech 1. Game Script There's a theme emerging. Notre Dame starts with a long, methodical drive and scores, forces a stop and slowly marches down the field again. It's hard to fall behind in that case, because the opponent doesn't have the ball often in the first quarter. Notre Dame ran 22 plays in the opening 15 minutes to Georgia Tech's six. The plan was dented by sophomore running back Kyren Williams' fumble, though. In the last three games, Notre Dame has out-snapped its opponents 69 to 23 in the first quarter. In that span, the Irish have 155 rush yards on 36 carries, excluding sacks. 2. Measuring The Defense If you want numbers to measure the success of Notre Dame's defense, count- ing stats may not be the best way to do it. The main defenders for the Irish just aren't on the field all that often. Notre Dame's last three opponents have not exceeded 30 first-half plays or 60 total plays. Instead, emphasize percentages more than counting stats, like the havoc rate (percentage of plays with a sack, tackle for loss, forced fumble, fumble recovery, interception or pass broken up) over 20 percent for the sixth straight game. A havoc rate in the 20s for an entire season is usually good enough to rank top-10 nationally. 3. Two-Back Sets Notre Dame ran four plays with two running backs in the game, by unofficial count. The Irish used a two-back set seven times in the first five games. Maybe it's just a wrinkle specific to facing Georgia Tech's defense, but it was an effec- tive way to get freshman running back Chris Tyree on the field more often. With wide receiver Braden Lenzy out, Tyree is Notre Dame's main pure speed threat. Speaking of Lenzy, Tyree's 21-yard run on a jet sweep in the second quarter is essentially the same play Notre Dame has run for Lenzy to get his speed in space. That space is created in part with misdirection. Two pullers and a fake to Williams went one way before Book handed off to Tyree going the other direction. 4. Daelin Hayes' Outburst Brian Kelly called Hayes' two-sack day (with a third that was overturned) and his emergence "singularly more important than anything we did today." Hayes, the fifth-year senior starter at vyper defensive end, had not recorded a sack through the first five games. Vyper is a critical position for generating pressure, and Kelly's enthusiasm for Hayes' productivity illustrates it. Hayes was active, fast and decisive. He finished with the two sacks, five tackles and a quarterback hurry. He was a backfield mainstay. He also forced fumbles on both of his sacks. Notre Dame will need more games with consis- tent disruption from him. 5. Passing Numbers Notre Dame fifth-year senior quarterback Ian Book was efficient and accu- rate. His 7.67 yards per attempt against Georgia Tech is in line with his career 7.8 mark. But a week without many downfield throws gives the number a low-ceiling feel. Notre Dame had one completion on a throw at least 20 yards downfield, though a Joe Wilkins Jr. drop negated a chance for another. The lack of downfield throws is due in part to the game script and Notre Dame's run-game strength. Georgia Tech's porous run defense was a friendly situation for the powerful Irish ground game. If there's anything missing that would have further inflated confidence going into the Clemson game, though, it's a couple more explosive passing plays. 6. Javon McKinley Again When Kelly referred to McKinley as a "beast" after his 107-yard day against Florida State, it felt like a way of telling McKinley he's good enough to do that more often. After two quieter games, McKinley caught all five of his targets for 93 yards against Georgia Tech. That's three times in four games an Irish receiver has topped 90 yards. It's still not a team strength, but there's some more consistency from the group. 7. Kyren Williams' Fumble Notre Dame's steadiest offensive player isn't going anywhere, but Williams has fumbled three times through six games, losing two of them. It's the one nitpick with his season so far. His second-quarter fumble was returned 93 yards for Georgia Tech's first touchdown. It came in the red zone, making it a plausible 14-point swing. 8. Third-Down Success Notre Dame just keeps picking up yards when they matter most. The Irish were 10 of 15 (66.7 percent) on third down against Georgia Tech and have converted 62.0 percent of their third downs in the last three games. The short-yardage situations are near-automatic conversions. In that three- game stretch, Notre Dame is 16 of 18 ( 88.9 percent) on third downs with four or fewer yards to go. The only two misses were garbage-time goal-line carries. 9. Red-Zone Defense Notre Dame's last three opponents have a combined three trips to the red zone. Georgia Tech got there once before a garbage-time touchdown drive and instantly lost 12 yards on its next three plays. On the season, Notre Dame has allowed five touchdowns in 11 red-zone situations. The 11 attempts may be even more impressive. Opponents aren't even getting there. 10. Targeting Notre Dame's first targeting call of the year went against sophomore line- backer Marist Liufau when he hit Georgia Tech running back Jahmyr Gibbs on a third-quarter reception. He was ejected and is out for the first half against Clemson. Liufau was the No. 2 Buck linebacker behind Shayne Simon. Sophomore Jack Kiser saw more work in his place. 10 INITIAL THOUGHTS BY PATRICK ENGEL Out of 70 offensive plays, Notre Dame ran the ball 44 times and threw 26 passes against Georgia Tech, consistent with its season averages. Georgia native C'Bo Flemister finished with 15 carries for 58 yards and one touchdown. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS