Game Observations: Notre Dame Offense Dominates North Carolina

Notre Dame finally saw the offense we expected to see all season in the team's 45-32 victory over North Carolina. It wasn't a perfect day, but it was an overall outstanding performance that fueled a much-needed road victory. Here's my analysis of the offense from the win.

*** Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees called one of the best games of his three year career. His balance between run and pass was excellent, Notre Dame used a heavy dose of different personnel groupings, and personnel, and he kept the actual calls more scaled down. But the different looks allowed Notre Dame to run the package in a variety of ways and they dominated the North Carolina defense.

*** Notre Dame's run game was diverse, and they attacked the defense out of their heavy tight end packages and also had good success out of the two back and the three receiver alignments. The Irish mixed up inside zone, counter and the stretch extremely well.

*** Rees also did a great job using motions to not only get players the ball but to keep North Carolina from getting a read on what they were doing. We also saw Rees do things with his play-calling to set up other opportunities, or to counter how UNC was going at his offense. For example, Notre Dame's first big play was a 39-yard gain on a wheel route to running back Logan Diggs. Diggs went in motion on the play and then wheeled up the sideline, where he got free. Later, Notre Dame used that exact same motion but called an inside zone run. UNC ran with the motion, which opened up a huge inside run lane for Audric Estime for a 29-yard gain.

*** Notre Dame also used its play-action and motions to consistently get leverage into the flats and with the stretch runs. A numbers of Drew Pyne's 15 first half completions were quick little slide routes or out cuts, but they were from a variety of alignments and movements. The bootleg throwback for a third quarter touchdown was the counter to all the bootleg flat throws we saw in the first half, and it was an excellent call.

*** My biggest beef of the game from a play-calling standpoint was the 4th-and-1 quarterback sneak with the 195-pound quarterback, with the 230-pound running back standing behind him.

*** Quarterback Drew Pyne had his first two non shovel passes batted down but he settled into a groove after that. Rees gave him a number of early "get into a groove" throws and that's what he did. In the first half he missed a few deep shots, but he threw a great seam ball to Lorenzo Styles for a touchdown to give the Irish its first lead of the game. This came after he showed great poised staying in the pocket to beat a blitz to get the ball out to Michael Mayer on a crossing route for a score to tie the game. His big early miss was a short throw to Mayer on what should have been a late touchdown on a wide open throw.

*** The Irish signal caller was aggressive in the game, throwing the ball over the top (even with some misses) and he threw an excellent backside seam route to Mayer in the second half. There are some things Pyne can clean up, but overall he was decisive, accurate and aggressive. Pyne also used his legs multiple times, including a nifty spin move and scramble to pick up a third-and-long.

*** Notre Dame's offensive line got off to a sluggish start, but once they got rolling they dominated the UNC front, even when going against a box in which they were out-numbered. As the game wore on Notre Dame's line was able to push UNC so far off the ball the backs would just wait and follow them, and then crease the line.

*** The left side was good for most of the game, but a big part of the big jump in success - beyond the quality of competition - was the improved play of the left side of the line. Right tackle Blake Fisher and Josh Lugg both played their best games of the season, and center Zeke Correll continues to battle and get better. It was the best all-around line performance we've seen in a couple of seasons. In the fourth quarter North Carolina loaded the box and knew that Notre Dame was going to run and they still couldn't stop the ground attack.

*** I thought the pass protection was outstanding the whole game, from both an offensive line standpoint, and Rees did a good job mixing up the pocket at times.

*** Notre Dame's backs were outstanding in the game, although the late fumble was really, really rough and kept the Irish from getting more points and truly putting this game away. Other than that the backs were quite good, and the manner in which the coaches mixed them up from a looks and carries standpoint was impressive. Chris Tyree was the early lead back with a healthy mix of Logan Diggs in the run and pass game. Audric Estime got a couple of touches early, but he was the guy the offense rode in the second half to put the game away.

*** Estime's fumble was a 12-point swing, and that's can't happen, but it was an effort mistake. That same effort allowed him to punish a UNC defender early in the game to spring Pyne loose for a scramble conversion on third-and-long.

*** Tyree showed impressive patience and toughness in the game. His cuts were precise and he maximized yardage. He even turned a play where two defenders came free into a 5-yard gain by making a quick cut and then out-running them to the outside for good yards.

*** Notre Dame's backs combined for 264 rushing yards on 42 carries, and added 7 catches for 89 more yards. They combined for 4 touchdowns. That's 353 combined yards from the backs.

*** Notre Dame's receivers competed in the game, especially in the run game. They did their jobs from a catch standpoint and they blocked well, and at times they got good separation, especially Lorenzo Styles. By and large the wideouts struggled to get separation that wasn't scheme driven.

*** Junior tight end Michael Mayer was outstanding in this game. He took advantage of North Carolina's lack of discipline at linebacker to get wide open, but when he needed to win with routes he did so. Even when he was covered, on the few occasions that happened, Pyne threw it high and let Mayer go get, and the All-American tight end did just that.

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