Photo by Matt Cashore, USA Today
Film Room: Missed Opportunities Plague The Notre Dame Offense
Notre Dame returned its starting quarterback, four starting offensive linemen, two of its top three wideouts and one of the nation's most talented tight ends. The one question mark - running back - saw the emergence of Tony Jones Jr. during the first half of the season.
But despite all of that returning experience and talent, the Notre Dame offense has been a disappointment through the first eight games of the season. We have seen a regression at quarterback and an offensive line that continues to play below its talent level.
If you take out games against lowly New Mexico and abysmal Bowling Green - the No. 102 and No. 120 scoring defenses in the country - the Irish offense is averaging just 24.2 points per game against its six Power 5 opponents. Against the three teams it faced that ranked in the Top 50 in scoring defense, Notre Dame averaged just 19.7 points per game and has yet to top 30 offensive points in a game.
Against Virginia Tech we saw the season-long struggles come to a head. The Hokies have arguably the worst defense Notre Dame will face this season, yet the Irish managed to score just 21 points. Its 4.91 yards per play was the fewest the Hokies have allowed all season against a Power 5 opponent.
Missed opportunity after missed opportunity - mostly at the quarterback position - dragged down the offense against the Hokies, and it's been that way all season.
PRESNAP MISTAKES
There are multiple areas where the offense has struggled, and one is too many pre-snap mistakes. Notre Dame has been flagged for far too many false starts, but an even bigger issue has been the pre-snap read mistakes in the pass game.
Here's one example from Saturday's contest. Notre Dame faced a third-and-6 on the opening drive, and a poor pre-snap read resulted in a throwaway.
Notre Dame called a simple "all-hitch" concept where all four pass catchers are running a simple hitch route beyond the first-down sticks.
The Irish used a motion to get into a 2x2 alignment. The quarterback's pre-snap read should be to look for which side gives him the best numbers and/or leverage advantage. As the above graph shows, the field (right) read should have been the easy decision. Virginia Tech has four players that could impact the play. The inside backer (#4) to the left has a closer drop angle to the hitch if the standup edge player (#3) comes on a pressure.
To the right, the quarterback has a better numbers and leverage advantage. At the snap he should read inside-out, and if the defender over Chris Finke (#2) comes up and takes the hitch away, he has Javon McKinley running a one-on-one fade (press coverage means you convert the hitch to a fade).
Both options give the offense a much better opportunity for success than trying to throw into the short part of the field where you don't have leverage and you are out-numbered.
The way the coverage happened, Finke is likely open for a hitch first down. There's a chance if Book looks to his right immediately the defense gets out to that hitch, and if that happened the one-on-one to McKinley down the field should have been the read.
It was a missed opportunity that happened before the ball was even snapped. This happens too much.
POST-SNAP READ MISTAKES
There are also far too many post-snap mistakes that keep Notre Dame from not only moving the chains, which we saw above, but also missing out on possible big play opportunities. Here's a third-and-9 snap that stalled yet another drive and caused another three-and-out.
Earlier in the game, quarterback Ian Book hit Chase Claypool on a wheel route for a 30-yard gain. Notre Dame went back to that concept on this third-down snap, but the formation was a bit different. The call has Finke running a post route and Claypool running a wheel, with tight end Cole Kmet running a quick out.
If this read is taught the way it should, Book should be looking downfield. At the snap, the defender over Kmet drops deep down the middle of the field. At that point Book should be looking to either throw it over top of the safety to Finke or to Claypool on the wheel. The way the defense rolled the read should go to Claypool, as the defender over Claypool was working flat at the snap and would not have been able to run with Claypool on the wheel.
In fact, the safety was further away from Claypool on this wheel route than he was earlier when Book completed the pass for 30 yards. This was a pre-snap mistake that kept Notre Dame from having a chance to move the chains with a big gain.
It's not known if the pass downfield would have been completed, but the throw he made - and made quickly - gave the offense no chance to move the chains. It would have required Kmet to make a Herculean effort on the play. It was a safe throw, but one that forced another punt.
It's not just the drop back pass game where mistakes like this are being made. Notre Dame had a counter run play that was part of a RPO concept, and if the correct read is made the Irish had a chance for a huge play.
This is a counter run play where Book is supposed to read the backside end, who is circled on the right side of the offensive line. There is also no deep safety help.
This is a first-and-10 snap, and as you can see, Virginia Tech is loading the box and daring Notre Dame to try and throw deep. There are 11 defenders within seven yards of the line of scrimmage, both outside corners are playing press and the body language of the two inside safeties clearly run oriented.
At the snap, the defensive end crashed hard off the backside and blew up the run. That immediately should have told Book to pull the ball and start working outside. At that point he would have read that McKinley had executed a perfect fake and was open for a possible big gain.
McKinley is supposed to block initially and then shed the defender and release vertically, which he does. If Book makes the proper decision he has McKinley running down the sideline with no safety help and a cornerback trailing by at least five or six yards.
Book's first interception was another poor read in which he threw blind to the sideline instead of reading the play properly and dumping it off to the back. Instead of a possible first down, or at the very least a short field goal chance, Book threw the ball into the chest of a Virginia Tech defender. It's just not a mistake a quarterback with 18 career starts should be making.
PURE MISSES
Arguably the biggest problem is the far too frequent snaps where the read is correct but the execution is just poor. We saw one example on Book's second interception. He makes the right read, but instead of snapping the ball off deep for a touchdown, he slows down his arm, aims the football and it it under-thrown, allowing the defender to intercept the pass.
That marked two interceptions inside the opposition 20-yard line. Notre Dame also had a fumble near the goal line that was returned 98 yards for a defensive touchdown because of poor blocking by the line and poor ball security by the back.
Here's another example where poor execution results in points being left on the field.
This was a throw Book made two plays before his interception. It was a great play call that got one of Notre Dame's best players (Kmet) isolated against one of Virginia Tech's worst cover players.
This should be an easy throw and catch for a touchdown, and if Book can make this throw the interception never happens.
Here's another example. Once again, the play call gets Kmet isolated against a safety for what should have been an easy touchdown. Look at the separation Kmet gets on this route. This is a throw quarterbacks on good football teams should make with ease, and we saw this throw missed twice on Saturday.
This proved costly, as the drive ended with a missed field goal. So instead of getting a go-ahead fourth quarter touchdown, the offense comes away with no points.
Here's yet another example:
Once again, the play call gets a player open, this time speedster Braden Lenzy. There are two mistakes on the play. One is the right guard allowing a bit too much penetration, but the reality is it shouldn't have forced this kind of poor throw.
This was on the same drive as the Kmet miss, and the same drive in which a defensive penalty negated Book's third interception. The play call gets Lenzy wide open, and just a decent throw that doesn't force Lenzy to fall to the ground to make the catch gets Notre Dame's most explosive athlete in space. At that point Lenzy would have to make one defender miss to have a chance to score.
Maybe he does score, maybe he doesn't, but what we do know is poor technique and the unwillingness to snap the ball off confidently resulted in a possible big play going for just 19 yards.
Book has been a primary culprit, but he's hardly alone. The inconsistent play of the offensive line continues to be a problem for Notre Dame. When the unit has been good (USC, Virginia) it has been really, really good. But far too often this season, the unit's lack of good technique and the inability to pick up line games has stalled the offense.
Here's an example of how a pressure negated a possible big gain.
Notre Dame is running a Power Read play-action pass, with LG Aaron Banks coming over to take on an edge player, which he does, albeit late. RT Joshua Lugg gets beat outside and that pressure results in Book being forced to scramble. The Irish QB did a great job keeping his eyes downfield on this snap, and he threw the ball to his right to Avery Davis on a checkdown, turning a negative play into a positive.
The issue is Notre Dame had two chances for big plays on this snap. Lenzy is running a one-on-one post route, and underneath that route is RB Jafar Armstrong running a delayed seam route. If Book didn't like the post route he could have thrown into an open window to Armstrong, who was about to run by the linebacker.
Instead, the play is kept down by a protection mistake.
There are plays to be made for Notre Dame, and I could have made a similar film room break down after every game. Every team in every game will have misses, but what we've seen from Notre Dame this season is it happening far too frequently.
If the Irish can put a complete game together and if Book can finally start making better decisions and start making more plays the offense can take off and explode over the next four games. If this kind of play continues, the Irish offense will continue to struggle, which will make winning out quite a challenge.
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