Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526921
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 28, 2024 23 NOTRE DAME PASSING OFFENSE: B+ A B+ passing game is enough when the running game is A+. More on that in a minute, but more on senior quarterback Riley Leonard right now. His yards per attempt average was subpar again at 6.2, but he was actually taking shots down the field — a drastic departure from essentially refusing to do so in the first three weeks of the season. Leonard only hit on the 38-yard touchdown pass to graduate student wide receiver Beaux Collins, his first passing score as the Irish signal-caller, but he drew multiple pass interference penalties against the RedHawks by getting vertical with the football. Nine different Notre Dame players caught at least one pass, and it would have been 10 if sopho- more KK Smith didn't drop a pretty pass from junior backup Steve Angeli. Nobody will be wowed by 154 yards through the air, but the Irish's passing game — after a severely lackluster first quarter — was effective enough against Miami (Ohio). NOTRE DAME RUSHING OFFENSE: A+ Two-hundred and 70 yards on 36 carries. Seven and a half yards per pop. That'll do. This section has to start with Leonard, not soph- omore Jeremiyah Love or junior Jadarian Price. It's only fair. As great as those two tailbacks are, Leonard was spectacular once again in rushing for a career-high 143 yards on just 12 carries. He scored his fifth and sixth rushing touchdowns of the season, including the second from 50 yards out. When he's on his A+ game as a runner, he only needs to be a B passer for the Irish to be good on offense. He was below a B at times through the air, and Irish fans in attendance let him know about it, but they made sure to cheer when he was running by defenders. Love ran 11 times for 60 yards and Price car- ried 6 times for 39 yards, meanwhile. Seventeen touches, 5.8 yards per touch. Can't ask for much more than that. NOTRE DAME PASSING DEFENSE: A+ Miami went into the game as the worst rushing offense in the FBS, and it was evident early the RedHawks were going to try to throw their way around that. Quarterback Brett Gabbert threw the ball a whopping 35 times. He could only muster 119 yards for beyond meager average of 3.4 yards per attempt. He was intercepted twice and did not throw any touchdown passes. The Irish's stout secondary held standout pass catcher Cade McDonald to 4 catches for 52 yards on 8 targets. He went into the game having caught 16 passes for 240 yards in Miami's first two games of the season. That's who this Notre Dame defense is against the pass. Be prepared to have a below-average afternoon when you've gotta go up against it. NOTRE DAME RUSHING DEFENSE: C Miami averaged 5.8 yards per rush when you removed the Fighting Irish's 4 sacks. Four different RedHawks players recorded a run of at least 10 yards, including the quarterback. When the game was tied 0-0 and especially when Miami was up by a field goal, it felt like the Northern Illinois game all over again. The RedHawks were pushing the Irish around up front and getting chunk yards. They ran for 110 yards, including 30 yards lost by sacks, after only mustering 64 against Northwestern and Cincinnati combined. It wasn't a complete failure because the Irish stiffened up in the second half and only gave up 35 rushing yards after halftime, but they could have certainly done more over the course of 60 minutes in this phase. SPECIAL TEAMS: B Where do we begin? Notre Dame lost a fumble on a punt return be- cause Jordan Faison couldn't catch the ball with Jaden Mickey in his face. The Irish also botched a field goal because of a bad snap. But freshman Bryce Young canceled that out with a blocked field goal, and James Rendell had the best game of his young career in averaging 47.2 yards per punt. A little bit of everything, good and bad. Comes out to a B. COACHING: C+ For a long while, it was happening again. The very thing Notre Dame could not have happen was indeed happening again. It felt like the Irish simply didn't show up until sometime in the sec- ond quarter. Credit to the coaches for finally getting some- thing out of their guys, but this can't be anything in the range of a B for the way Notre Dame began the game. Snoozing. Sleepwalking. Can't happen. ✦ REPORT CARD BY TYLER HORKA Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love had another strong game, running for 60 yards and 1 touch- down on 11 carries against Miami (Ohio). PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER