Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 30, 2021 21 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: B+ It wasn't prolific. It wasn't flashy. But it worked. Notre Dame passed for 213 yards and a touch- down on 30 attempts. Graduate student Jack Coan completed 20 of 28 passes (71.4 percent) for 189 yards with one score and one interception. True freshman Tyler Buchner went 2-of-2 passing for 24 yards. The wide receivers definitely could have gotten more involved. Junior running back Kyren Williams led the team with six receptions for 42 yards. Se- nior wideouts Kevin Austin Jr. and Braden Lenzy plus graduate student slot receiver Avery Davis combined for seven. Sophomore tight end Michael Mayer returned to action with five catches for 54 yards, but he only had one catch in the second half. NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: B+ Again, the Notre Dame rushing offense was the definition of doing its job. Williams ran for 138 yards on 25 attempts. He scored two touchdowns. It was a blast from the past to see Notre Dame confident enough in its offense line to give Wil- liams the ball that many times. As dynamic as Buchner is as a runner, it also said a lot about the state of Notre Dame's running game that he was only called on to carry the ball three times for 11 yards. One of those carries was a three-yard touchdown. As the offensive line continues to improve and Notre Dame continues to face defenses that aren't as stout up front as some of those the Irish had to go up against in the first half of the season, successful games like the one against Virginia Tech and this one against USC could become the norm. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: B Bend, don't break. USC junior quarterback Kedon Slovis threw for 299 yards, but he didn't have a passing touchdown. He also threw an interception — and a rather costly one at that. Take away junior wide receiver Drake London and the Notre Dame passing defense probably would have merited an A or better. London caught 15 passes for 171 yards, with 87 of those yards coming after the catch. He made some contested catches. He made Notre Dame defenders miss tackles in space. But again — he didn't score. The Notre Dame defense wouldn't let him, and that's called sticking to a game plan. The Irish knew London was going to put up some numbers. But the Irish also knew there was a way to not let London beat them, and they succeeded in proving that point. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: B- Notre Dame could have been better against USC senior running back Keaontay Ingram, who ran 24 times for 138 yards and a touchdown. Slovis was credited with four rushing attempts, three of which were sacks. Sophomore running back Darwin Barlow had four carries for 15 yards and a touchdown. That was the extent of the USC rush- ing game — 32 team carries for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Four of Ingram's carries went for 10 or more yards. His longest run of the night was a 22-yard pickup late in the third quarter. Ingram certainly wore the Notre Dame defense down to a degree. Had USC not been trailing from the first quarter on, he could have played more of a factor in the outcome of the game. That's playing the "what if" game, though. For the most part, Notre Dame did enough to prevent him from taking over. NOTRE DAME SPECIAL TEAMS: B As always, this is the toughest unit to assign a grade. Notre Dame did not register a punt return. Styles returned one kick for 14 yards. Junior Jay Bramblett punted one time for 52 yards. Gradu- ate student kicker Jonathan Doerer went 1 of 2 on field goal attempts, making from 21 yards and missing from 36. Outside of the missed field goal, Notre Dame special teams didn't do anything to lose the Irish the game. It didn't do anything to win the game either. Sophomore running back Chris Tyree's kick return touchdown against Wisconsin continues to stand out as the Irish's best and most defining moment on special teams — outside of Doerer's two game-win- ning field goals, of course. The more Notre Dame continues to play conservatively on special teams, the more those three plays continue to stick out. NOTRE DAME COACHING: A Notre Dame's passing offense was impressively efficient and fast, especially in the first half. That was a product of the Irish spending the bye week working on ways to adapt the offense to best suit Coan's strengths. Kelly joked that he felt dumb he hadn't sat down with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees to do that earlier in the season. That's not to say they didn't touch on that topic at all. Of course they did. But during the bye, they spent a whole week on devising routes, formations and plays that would allow Coan to get the ball out quickly and comfort- able. He started the game 10-of-13 passing for 79 yards with a touchdown in the first quarter. He only took one sack. It was a clean game for Coan outside of the interception. Defensively, Notre Dame let USC get the ball to London quite a bit, but it didn't matter in the end. Liken that to the Muhammad Ali "rope-a-dope." Keep going to London, but that's not going to win the ballgame. And it didn't. This was a Grade A coaching job for Notre Dame. REPORT CARD BY TYLER HORKA Graduate student quarterback Jack Coan was an efficient 20-of-28 passing (71.4 percent) for 189 yards with one touchdown and one interception in Notre Dame's more up-tempo offense. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER