Game Observations: Notre Dame Offense vs. Florida State
Notre Dame earned a sloppy but impressive 42-26 victory over Florida State. It wasn’t always pretty, but the Irish did what they had to do after two weeks off.
Here is my instant analysis of the Notre Dame offense from the win:
*** Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees made good use of the off time, and the Irish run game saw some wrinkles. For the first time all season we saw Notre Dame a good dose of quarterback runs, and it didn’t start on the final drive of the half. I also liked that he threw a bomb to Kevin Austin on his first snap of the game, but I would have liked to see him go back to Austin again much sooner.
*** When Notre Dame started to establish the counter play, Rees showed maturity by continuing to run it over and over, and Florida State had no answer for it. The result was a 46-yard counter scoring run by Kyren Williams and later a 45-yard counter scoring run by Chris Tyree.
*** I thought Notre Dame’s first-half ending scoring drive was relatively poorly executed and managed, and the Irish caught some breaks thanks to a personal foul by Florida State and the fact the Irish have way better players. I did, however, love the play-call for the touchdown. Notre Dame used a trips bunch formation, which Florida State had blitzed earlier in the game. Rees used the two tight ends to run off the call side linebackers, and he had Braden Lenzy run a quick cross right behind the blitz, and he came wide open for the score.
*** Quarterback Ian Book had a solid performance against the Seminoles, and at times he was excellent. He made good red zone decisions, taking easy crossing routes to Michael Mayer for his first score of the game and later beating the blitz to hit Lenzy on another crossing route for a score. Book made good decisions as a runner, and as we’ve seen in past years when he gets going as a runner it tends to loosen him up as a passer. Rees getting Book more involved as a runner was another strong coaching decision.
*** His go route throw to Javon McKinley for 36 yards was perfectly placed, and later in that same drive he threw a dart to Mayer in between two defenders.
*** Book showed moxey in the second half. After Florida State took its opening drive down the field for a score, Book responded with a touchdown drive of his own. He hit McKinley for a 38-yard gain on the drive. On that snap, Florida State showed a Cover 0 blitz and there was no safety help. Book knew he had the one-on-one with McKinley so he hit the top of his drop and let it rip, giving McKinley a chance to make a play, and McKinley did just that. A play later, Book’s initial read was covered so he took off, but instead of just running he kept his eyes downfield and saw Avery Davis coming across the field, and Book hit him for a 13-yard gain.
*** Those were two areas where Book had struggled in the first two games and much of last season, so it was good to see him show those traits in a crucial moment that took away Florida State’s momentum.
*** Book had a great third-down blitz read early in the game and hit Joe Wilkins Jr. on a crossing route. Wilkins needs to catch the ball, but Book threw it way too hard. He also lacked touch on the deep ball miss to Lenzy in the second quarter. There were some downfield missed opportunities for Book, but overall his first half reads were solid. I just liked the fact that he attacked downfield and finally gave his receivers chances to make plays, and they rewarded him.
*** There’s certainly room for improvement, but this was by far Book’s best game of the season. Book finished 16-25 for 201 yards and also added 58 yards on the ground. He combined for three scores.
*** The night got off to a rough start for junior running back Kyren Williams, who fumbled on his first touch of the game, and it resulted in a Florida State field goal. He made up for it on his next carry, making a defender miss in the backfield on his way to a 65-yard gain, which set up a Notre Dame touchdown.
*** Williams had a strong overall night. At times he got too impatient with his reads, but he also had a number of excellent runs where he got behind the blocks and ripped off big gains. Williams had to make multiple defenders miss in the backfield, and his vision and elusiveness paid off in a big way.
*** We saw Williams do that all night long. I’m looking forward to counting the number of missed tackles he generated in this game. It has been a long time since we’ve seen a Notre Dame running back make this many defenders miss. The line did their job and Williams handled the man he was responsible for, and he racked up a lot of yards in the win. Williams ran with authority throughout the game.
*** The fumble and a drop of a slide route on third down were the black eyes on what was otherwise a brilliant night for Williams. Williams finished the game with 185 yards on 19 carries, the second 100-yard game of the season for the sophomore back.
*** We didn’t see much of freshman running back Chris Tyree, but when he did play he certainly made his presence felt. In his first action of the night, Tyree ripped off three runs for 64 yards, capping the drive off with a beautiful 45-yard scoring run. Tyree ran with authority, showed good patience and maximized his opportunities in the game. He finished with 11 carries for 103 yards, the first 100-yard game of his career.
*** Williams and Tyree combined for 288 yards and three touchdowns on 30 carries, good for a 9.6 yards per carry average.
*** Senior wide receiver Javon McKinley had a breakout game for the Irish. He played with much more urgency in this game, and his ability to win at the line allowed him to win down the field. He hauled in five passes for 107 yards, and he could have had even more but Book missed him down field on a scramble where McKinley was wide open. McKinley also blocked extremely well in the game.
*** The rest of the Irish receivers were solid but unspectacular in the game. Getting Braden Lenzy more involved was a plus for the Irish. Lenzy had just 29 yards on three catches, but he’s getting back into form.
*** Freshman tight end Michael Mayer had a strong performance. His first catch went for an 8-yard touchdown to put the Irish up 7-3. Later in the first half, he smoked a Florida State defender on a nod-and-go route that went for 17-yards, which set up another Irish touchdown. Mayer also blocked well, including a strong edge block on a scoring run from Book.
*** The Notre Dame offensive line had its way with the Florida State defensive line, for the most part. There were some misses here and there, and I’ll break those down more in the grades on Monday, but overall the line dominated. The best part was the unit as a whole played extremely well. They were physical, they got a vertical push, they stayed on blocks and their combo blocks were strong all game.
*** There were several instances when a safety or linebacker would insert down into the run game, and he would be unblocked. The backs did a great job making those defenders miss, and that was their job, as the line was not supposed to account for those players in those situations. The linemen doing such a great job of getting movement and staying locked on blocks allowed the backs to then rip off big gains after they made that initial defender miss.
*** Center Jarrett Patterson played a strong game from what I could tell in the press box. I was impressed with how well he handled 332-pound nose tackle Robert Cooper. On back-to-back runs that went for 58 yards (including the 45-yard run from Tyree), Patterson whipped Cooper off the ball, using his athleticism and leverage to handle Cooper’s size.
*** Left guard Aaron Banks was moved to left tackle when starter Liam Eichenberg was lost for much of the second quarter with an eye injury. Banks held his own outside, and he played strong football inside at guard. Senior Dillan Gibbons stepped in at guard when Eichenberg went out, and he got knocked down on his first snap, but he settled in and played well after that. He had a strong combo block on the touchdown run by Tyree. He also had a strong log block on another touchdown run.
*** Right tackle Robert Hainsey was solid in pass pro all night and had a number of strong down blocks that drove FSU defenders off the ball. Eichenberg had two misses on the edge in pass pro and failed to get a reach on the goal line fourth down failure, but other than that he was physical and effective in the run game. Right guard Tommy Kraemer was solid in the game. He stopped his feet a few times and got beat, and his movement was inconsistent, but he stayed locked on for the most part and he was effective when pulling.
*** Notre Dame rushed for 353 yards in the game and averaged 8.4 yards per carry. The offense finished with 554 total yards and averaged 8.3 yards per play.
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