Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1411895
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 25, 2021 25 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: B+ Notre Dame was a few missed throws to senior wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. away from turning a B+ into an A+. Austin, who went into the game with more receptions than any other Notre Dame wide receiver, did not have a single catch. Coan missed him three times when he was wide open, and he dropped another one of his crucial targets. Sophomore tight end Michael Mayer, who had by far the most catches (16) of any Notre Dame player going into the game, only had one catch for five yards. And yet, Notre Dame still passed for 223 yards and two touchdowns thanks to graduate stu- dent wide receiver Avery Davis and junior running back Kyren Williams. That duo had 167 combined receiving yards and a touchdown apiece. Even when Notre Dame's top two targets couldn't get going, Notre Dame found a way to stay successful through the air. NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: C- The Irish were a 51-yard touchdown carry from Williams away from turning in another dismal day on the ground. The Irish had 34 carries for 120 yards as a team. Take away Williams' long score, and they would have had 33 carries for 69 yards. Even without the touchdown, though, Williams would have nearly averaged five yards per carry. Only two of his 12 rushes went for no gain or a loss of yards. Seven of them went for five or more yards. That's progress. Williams was only averaging 3.5 yards per carry going into the game. Sophomore running back Chris Tyree was aver- aging 3.1 yards per carry going into it, and he had another tough day in toting the ball 11 times for 29 yards. Freshman quarterback Tyler Buchner had three carries for 24 yards before a hamstring issue forced him to stay sidelined for the second half. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: B- The first half was surely much better than the second. Notre Dame allowed 82 passing yards in the first half and 209 in the second. Still, the Irish were able to chase Purdue starting quarterback Jack Plummer from the game. Plummer entered playing some of the best foot- ball of his career with 558 passing yards, a 73.8 completion percentage, six touchdowns and zero interceptions through two games this season. He completed 25 of 36 (69.4 percent) throws for 187 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions against Notre Dame. Not terrible, but not good enough from keeping him from being replaced by backup Aidan O'Connell, who entered the game in the fourth quarter and went 11-of-18 passing for 104 yards with two interceptions. Notre Dame held Purdue to 5.4 yards per at- tempt and 8.1 yards per completion. Notre Dame only allowed four passing plays of 15-plus yards. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: A Like with the passing and rushing offense, the Notre Dame rushing defense was one play away from a different grade. Had the Irish not given up a 31-yard run to freshman running back King Doe- rue on a drive that ultimately ended in a Purdue touchdown, then the rushing defense would have surely merited an A+. We'll leave it at a modest A. The Irish swarmed King on most of his other carries; he ran for 45 yards on 10 carries. Junior running back Dylan Downing had 14 yards on eight carries. As a team, Purdue ran for 57 yards on 25 attempts. Notre Dame will take a defensive average of 2.3 yards per carry no matter who the opponent is. Purdue didn't come in with a highly touted rush- ing offense, but the Notre Dame rushing defense certainly did its job. You couldn't ask for much more — minus Doerue's long rush. NOTRE DAME SPECIAL TEAMS: B There hasn't a whole lot to dissect with the Notre Dame special teams unit so far this season. But that's not necessarily a bad thing when you consider coordinator Brian Polian's "do no harm" philosophy. The Irish's kick coverage teams were solid, limit- ing Purdue to 6.8 yards per return on punts and just 16.7 on kickoffs. Tyree didn't return a single kickoff, but Williams breathed a little life into the Irish punt return unit with a 23-yard return in the fourth quar- ter that set up his game-sealing touchdown run. Graduate student kicker Jonathan Doerer made 2 of 3 field goals, connecting from 28 and 30 yards while missing from 45. Junior punter Jay Bramblett punted seven times for an average of 42.6 yards per kick. He had a long of 52 yards and had two punts downed inside the 20, including one at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter when it was still a one-score game. REPORT CARD BY TYLER HORKA Graduate student defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa, who finished with a career-high five tackles (1.5 for loss, 0.5 sacks), was part of a strong defensive effort that limited Purdue to 57 rushing yards on 25 attempts. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER