Grades: Notre Dame Offense vs. Duke

Grades and analysis of the Notre Dame offense from its 38-7 victory over Duke.

Grades and analysis of the Notre Dame offense from its 38-7 victory over Duke.

OFFENSE

Grade: B+

After struggling for much of the last three games, the Notre Dame offense had a bounce back performance in the win over Duke. Notre Dame used a balanced attack to go after a Duke defense that possesses one of the best front fours on the schedule, and the Blue Devil secondary is pretty good as well.

The numbers for the pass offense were subpar, but this is an example of the numbers not properly reflecting the impact the pass game had on the victory. Notre Dame averaged just 5.7 yards per attempt, which was the third lowest performance of the season, and the 10.1 yards per completion was the offense’s fourth lowest output of the season.

Notre Dame’s pass offense was especially effective on third-down, with quarterback Ian Book completing 9-14 third-down passes, and seven of those completions went for first downs or touchdowns. Notre Dame was aided a bit by Duke penalties, with three incompletions being negated by a Duke offside penalty. The first offsides led to Notre Dame’s first touchdown, which came on the very next play.

What truly fueled the Notre Dame offense was the ground attack, which used a mix of inside-outside runs to keep Duke off balance. The Irish also threw some run game wrinkles at Duke that we have not seen much of this season, and that helped to keep the talented Duke defensive line off balance.

Notre Dame finished the game with 288 rushing yards, its second-highest total of the season. It was the most rushing yards Duke allowed all season. In fact, it was 83 yards more than Duke’s previous season-high, and it was 143 yards more than Alabama rushed for against Duke back in September.

Notre Dame rushed for 6.86 yards per rush against a Duke defense that had not given up more than 4.76 yards per carry all season. The 6.86 yards per rush was also the best output of the season for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame was perfect in the red zone, and five of its six red zone trips ended with touchdowns.

INDIVIDUAL GRADES

QB #12 Ian Book - Grade: B — 181 pass yards, 139 rush yards, 4 TD’s — It has been a season-long struggle for Book, but he was in good form during the win over Duke. Book earned player of the game honors due to his outstanding performance in the run game, which consisted of designed runs and well-time scrambles.

Book got off to a shaky start, throwing late on the first third-down of the game, which forced a punt. On the next series he started rolling, converting a pair of third-downs with well-timed and decisive throws. Book threw a pair of quality back-shoulder balls on the drive and finished it off with a strong read and good timing to hit Chris Finke on an In cut for a touchdown.

Book’s third-and-10 conversion on that drive was emblematic of his improved performance.

Instead of bailing out, Book stepped into the pocket and fit a ball confidently into a tight window. This is the kind of play he has been unwilling to make this season, but against Duke he had multiple throws like this.

Book made a strong pre-snap read on his second touchdown pass to Chase Claypool, reading blitz and then getting the ball out before the pressure could show up. Book had a number of off-target downfield throws, and not seeing the pressure that led to his interception dragged down his grade.

The senior quarterback executed the quarterback run game quite well in the victory, which led to a career-high with 139 rushing yards. Book was quite good in the red zone and was highly effective on third-down.

RB #6 Tony Jones Jr. - Grade: C+ — 7 carries, 14 yards / 2 catches, 12 yards — Jones was a bit rusty in the run game in his first game back after missing the Virginia Tech win with a rib injury. He rushed a couple of reads and tried to make big plays instead of attacking the hole and getting what he could get on two other runs. He converted a fourth-down, was strong as a pass catcher and had a quality performance as a pass blocker.

RB #8 Jafar Armstrong - Grade: C — 3 carries, 13 yards / 2 catches, 8 yards — Armstrong had a solid performance, not making any big mistakes but also not making any plays. He was not overly decisive between the tackles and his timing as a runner still isn’t where it needs to be.

RB #34 Jahmir Smith - Grade: B- — 8 carries, 58 yards — Smith’s first carry resulted in a career-long gain of 40 yards. He showed good pad level and ran with authority on the run, and he also showed a bit more initial patience than we’ve seen from him for much of the year. He missed a chance for a touchdown later in the game when he stumbled behind the line on a red zone run. Smith was solid in pass protection.

RB #20 C’Bo Flemister - Grade: B — 5 carries, 25 yards, 1 TD — Flemister only played 13 snaps, but the sophomore certainly made the most of those plays. On his first carry, Flemister perfectly read the counter blocking, pushing outside, allowed his blocks to set up and then burst vertical for a 10-yard gain. He ran with authority, ran with good pad level and combined patience with explosiveness effectively.

WR #83 Chase Claypool - Grade: B+ — 5 catches, 97 yards, 1 TD — Claypool was a beast in the pass game in the win over Duke. Claypool made his presence felt early, getting an excellent release on a back-shoulder that went for 30 yards and then dominating a Duke corner off the line to get wide open for a slant route touchdown on the next series. When given a chance, Claypool was able to either outplay Duke defenders for the ball or drawing a pass interference penalty.

His releases against Duke’s press coverage was good throughout the night, and his route running allowed him to get good separation. The senior drew a pair of pass interference penalties in the win, and after he started well it forced Duke to spend a lot more attention on him, which opened up his teammates and softened up the run defense.

Claypool’s run blocking technique got sloppy at times in the game, which allowed the Duke defenders to get away from him.

WR #10 Chris Finke - Grade: A- — 5 catches, 49 yards, 2 TD’s — This was clearly the best game of the season for Finke, who looked like the 2018 version of himself in the victory. Finke did an excellent job finding soft spots in the zone, he attacked the football and he was a first down machine. Four of his five catches went for a first down or a touchdown, and each of those four grabs came on third down. He had a gain of about 77 yards brought back by a holding penalty.

Finke’s route running was a bit inconsistent against man coverage, but against the zone he was highly effective. Finke was a bit up-and-down at times in the run game, but overall he was highly impactful in the victory. Finke also drew a pass interference penalty.

WR #88 Javon McKinley - Grade: B- — McKinley got an A for his run blocking, but his releases at the line in the pass game and his route running dragged his grade down. He had an excellent crack block on Smith’s 40-yard run and had a great downfield hustle block on Finke’s 77-yard gain. Those were just two of several strong blocks for McKinley in the win.

TE #84 Cole Kmet - Grade: C- — 2 catches, 9 yards — It was a rough night for Kmet, who made little impact in the pass game and struggled in the run game. Kmet had a chance to make a big play early but dropped a back-shoulder throw. Kmet’s route running was a bit sloppy and he got little separation.

His technique wasn’t much better in the run game. Kmet took a poor angle and wasn’t overly aggressive on an early outside zone run and for much of the night he failed to finish blocks.

TE #24 Tommy Tremble - Grade: C — The talented sophomore dropped a chance to make a big play on the sideline, which was the only time he was targeted in the win. His run blocking in the win was solid.

TE #89 Brock Wright - Grade: B+ — Wright got zero targets in the pass game, but that didn’t keep him from making an impact in the win. It started on Smith’s 40-yard run when Wright hustled from the back side and was able to get downfield, where he opened up room for Smith to add at least an extra 10-15 yards on the run.

Wright had an excellent lead block on Flemister’s touchdown run.

LT #74 Liam Eichenberg - Grade: B — Eichenberg had another quality performance on the backside of the offensive line. My knock on Eichenberg was that early on he had multiple misses in the run game because he didn’t take good angles on down blocks. He settled in after those early mistakes and played good football. Eichenberg got good movement in the run game and he combined with left guard Aaron Banks to have a number of strong combo blocks.

Eichenberg was dominant against Duke’s edge rushers. He got out of his stance well, played with good angles in the pass game and used his length and power to stone the Blue Devils edge rushers.

LG #69 Aaron Banks - Grade: C+ — Banks was a bit up-and-down in the win, continuing a season-long trend in that regard. He whiffed on an early nose tackle slant which resulted in Book getting hit. On the next play he allowed another pressure because of his sloppy footwork, but he was saved by an offside by the defense. When Banks kept his base he was quite effective, but there were too many snaps where he caught defenders instead of firing off the snap and driving them off the ball.

C #55 Jarrett Patterson - Grade: B — Patterson had a performance that is in contention with his best of the season. He had an excellent reach block on Smith’s 40-yard run and his athleticism was a weapon all game long. He missed a reach later on an outside zone and he mis-played a couple of inside stunts, but Patterson also got very good movement in the run game and his pass pro was highly effective. Patterson’s ability to anchor up the middle helped Book get comfortable thanks to a clean pocket in front.

A snap infraction penalty and the occasional misplay against Duke’s inside stunts dragged his grade down a bit, but Patterson showed a lot of progress in the win.

RG #57 Trevor Ruhland - Grade: D — Ruhland had a brutal night against Duke. He was assignment sound, but the veteran had a hard time holding up against the Blue Devil linemen, who drove Ruhland into the backfield for much of the night. His inability to hold his own at the point of attack threw off a number of run snaps, and he wasn’t as effective getting his eyes upfield and finding the right man to block on counter snaps.

Ruhland whiffed on a blitz pick up on the second series of the game that resulted in a hit on Book, he got beat badly on a second quarter pass snap that resulted in Book again getting hit (which resulted in an interception) and his holding penalty negated Finke’s 77-yard touchdown.

RT #75 Joshua Lugg - Grade: B- — Lugg had three noticeably bad snaps, including a missed assignment on a 3rd-and-2 snap that resulted in a run stuff, but when he was assignment sound he was quite effective. Lugg did a good job keeping his pads low and getting movement in the run game.

The width he got with this drive block widened the run lane and created a big crease for Smith. Lugg had a strong down block on Flemister’s touchdown run as well. Lugg lost one pass rush outside, but other than that he was effective in protection, using his length and power to stone the Duke edge rushers.

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