Grades: Notre Dame Offense vs. Virginia Tech

Grades for the Notre Dame offense from the 21-20 Irish victory over Virginia Tech.

OFFENSE - OVERALL

Grade: C-

Notre Dame made the plays it needed to make in order to win the game, but had the group played better this game never would have been close. Simply put, Virginia Tech is pretty bad on defense, and the Irish offense could not exploit that for a number of reasons. The previous low for points in regulation by a Power 5 opponent against Virginia Tech this season was 31. Notre Dame needed a game-winning final drive to get to 21.

Not since 2-9 North Carolina scored just 19 points against the Hokies last October (a span of ten games) has a Power 5 offense scored that few points against Virginia Tech.

Inefficiency in the pass game, the inability to run the football with any effectiveness and turnovers plagued the offense all game long.

Notre Dame was above average on third-down and was perfect on fourth-down, but the red zone offense was abysmal thanks to a pair of turnovers. There was another turnover where the ball was snapped outside of the red zone that was intercepted at the Hokie 2-yard line.

Running the football seemed to be an afterthought for the Irish, who rushed for just 106 yards and averaged just 2.8 yards per rush. It was Virginia Tech’s second best rush defense performance over its last 11 games against Power 5 teams. Losing right guard Tommy Kraemer the week prior and right tackle Robert Hainsey on the second series certainly hindered the run game, but the inability to get any kind of push from the offensive line is certainly troubling.

Notre Dame’s line spent the vast majority of the game either at the line of scrimmage or getting knocked back, and the game plan seemed content using the run game as a change of pace instead of it being featured. Formationally, the game plan appeared built around the pass game and how best to attack the porous Hokie pass defense.

That’s not a criticism or a praise, it’s just an observation.

I was impressed with the pass game from a conceptual standpoint. There were open receivers downfield all game long, and at the very least when a player wasn’t wide open he was in a very winnable one-on-one situation. If the execution from the quarterback was better the Irish would have easily been over 350 passing yards in the game before the final drive, which wouldn’t have been needed as the game would have already been over.

INDIVIDUAL GRADES

QB #12 Ian Book - Grade: D — Book deserves a great deal of praise for his mental toughness on that final drive. Nothing that will follow should be taken as an attempt to diminish the heart he showed on that final drive. But let’s be honest here, Notre Dame began that drive with 14 points against arguably the worst Power 5 defense it will face all season, and poor execution at the quarterback position was a primary factor why the final drive was even needed.

There were a number of issues for Book in the game, and one that was glaring was the turnovers. His first interception was a blind throw to the flats that should never have been made. Book was looking deep right and needed to see that both the safety and cornerback are deep. When he sees that he has to know Virginia Tech will have a linebacker in the flats, but he threw blind to the flats instead of taking the check down to the back that was right in front of his face. His second interception was the right read, but he slow-armed the throw, aimed it and it was woefully short of Chase Claypool. Instead of a touchdown the ball was intercepted. Book was fortunate that his third interception was called back by a roughing the passer penalty.

Book was highly inaccurate down the field, and that cost the offense yards and points. He rushed a lot of reads and took shorter throws instead of pushing the ball into small - but open - windows. Book also missed Cole Kmet on two end zone throws that should have been touchdowns. The first miss was followed by an interception and the second miss was followed by a missed field goal. If the QB does his job on those three throws this game was a blowout, and I haven’t even brought up the awful throw to Lenzy that limited that play to 19 yards instead of a huge play.

Mistakes like this cannot happen in close games.

Book made multiple poor reads with the RPO’s, pulling at times when he should have handed off and handing off on snaps when he should have pulled. On the counter play where Hainsey was injured, Book needs to pull that ball when he sees the end crashing, getting outside and throw it to Javon McKinley, who was open. I am NOT saying Hainsey’s injury was Book’s fault, because it wasn’t. I’m simply referring to the play so that anyone who wants to go back and watch it knows the play I am referring to.

One part of Book's game that was quite impressive was his production on fourth-down. He went 3-3 on fourth downs and each moved the chains. That kind of clutch performance has always been something we've seen from Book. Not just in this game but also late against USC three weeks ago and last season against Northwestern and Pittsburgh.

RB #8 Jafar Armstrong - Grade: C — Armstrong had a bit of an up-and-down performance, but there were some things to build on from this game. I am not going to knock him for the penalty late in the game because that was simply a bad call in my opinion. His fumble, however, cannot happen. The defender did a great job putting his helmet on the football, but Armstrong needs to have the situational awareness to be a bit more protective of the ball in that situation.

At times Armstrong was a bit rushed on his run tracks and didn’t allow blocks to set up, which is part of him getting back into the flow after missing so much time. What I liked about his performance was Armstrong showed more burst than we saw last week, and he ran with authority. There were a number of runs where Armstrong lowered his shoulder and drove his feet through contact, which allowed him to maximize yards.

On one of those snaps his burst and toughness allowed him to turn a 3rd-and-9 reception behind the line into a first-and-goal. Armstrong was solid in pass protection as well, showing good toughness coming up and cutting the edge. One early cut allowed Book to step into the pocket and run for a first down.

RB #34 Jahmir Smith - Grade: B- — Smith ran with authority and showed a good burst, but on one run there was a timing issue and Smith got outside too quickly on a sweep play. I don’t know if it was Smith rushing his run track or the linemen not getting outside quickly enough, but the result was Smith not being able to plant and cut behind the blockers. Smith continues to improve as a pass blocker.

WR #83 Chase Claypool - Grade: A- — Claypool was the star of the game for Notre Dame, and his dominant play is what allowed the Irish to win this football game, at least from an offensive standpoint.

Very few of Claypool’s catches were easy, and he was drilled on a number of them. But his ability to get separation, catch contested throws and get yards after the catch impacted the game.

This is a third-down throw that was short of the sticks (it was the correct throw with good timing) that Claypool turned into a 20-yard gain simply with toughness and balance.

Claypool came up huge in the second half, hauling in five passes for 72 yards, including two grabs for 39 yards on the game-winning drive, which included a 26-yard gain to convert a 4th-and-10. Claypool’s grade isn’t an A because he had a drop on that final drive and his run blocking wasn’t up to his normal standard.

WR #10 Chris Finke - Grade: B — Finke looked much closer to his 2018 form in this game. He competed well in the perimeter run game, his route running was solid and he caught the football effectively. During the game I thought he ran an early third-down short of the sticks, but the issue was not his. On that snap, Book made the wrong pre-snap read and went away from Finke. The fifth-year senior receiver ran his route past the sticks but had to work back downhill when Book came back to him late. Finke was especially effective finding soft spots in the zone when Virginia Tech dropped seven or eight players into coverage.

WR #88 Javon McKinley - Grade: B — McKinley caught just one pass - an impressive 26-yard back shoulder grab - but his overall performance was quite good. The lone mistake I saw from him was not blocking the right player on a tight end screen, but overall his blocking was outstanding, and not just on the final touchdown run by Book. Being able to make an impact as a receiver with only one target shows a mature game, and that’s what we saw from McKinley on Saturday. His route running was solid and there were multiple snaps where he could have been targeted.

WR #25 Braden Lenzy - Grade: B — Lenzy was targeted just twice on his 17 snaps, and he made his presence felt on both plays. He put his shoulders down and drove through contact on a screen play, which moved the chains. He was wide open on a drag route that should have gone for a huge play but the ball was poorly thrown. Lenzy did a very good job stopping his momentum and making a play on the ball.

Look at the space Lenzy had in front of him if the ball was thrown accurately. This is an example of the missed opportunities we saw far too often on Saturday. Plays like this will happen to the best quarterbacks from time to time, but they happen way too much with Notre Dame this season.

I would understand Lenzy not playing more if Notre Dame wanted more size on the field with game plan that was about running the ball, but with Notre Dame looking to throw a lot in this game it puzzled me why Lenzy and sophomore Lawrence Keys III combined for just 23 snaps and just three targets.

TE #84 Cole Kmet - Grade: B — Kmet’s play was more impressive than his four catches for 28 yards might otherwise show. As the clip earlier shows, he was open for what should have been two touchdowns in the game. Kmet also had a key third-down conversion with the offense backed up near its own end zone, which sparked a drive that ended with a missed field goal, but the first down allowed the offense to flip the field.

His route running allowed him to be in position to make at least four more catches that would have allowed him to get over 100 yards and score a couple of touchdowns with better reads and better throws.

Kmet’s run blocking was good from a toughness and effort standpoint, and when he got a chance to solo block he was good. The issue was he had a few mistakes when working on combo blocks on the perimeter. Kmet was used to pass protect 13 times in the game and he handled those snaps well.

LT #74 Liam Eichenberg - Grade: A- — Eichenberg was without question Notre Dame’s best performer up front. He was my second highest graded offensive player from Saturday, but Pro Football Focus graded him as Notre Dame’s best player against the Hokies.

Eichenberg blocked with authority in the run game, playing with good pad level, a good base and the leg drive that allowed him to get good movement for much of the game. Eichenberg’s excellent counter block helped spring Book for the game-winning touchdown run.

The senior was excellent in pass protection, not giving up a single pressure on 60 pass snaps. Not once was a defender lined up against Eichenberg able to get close to the quarterback. Not only did I grade him out at a high level, but he also earned the highest pass blocking grade of his career from Pro Football Focus.

LG #69 Aaron Banks - Grade: C — Banks showed good effort in the game, but his technique got him in trouble far too frequently. He played with a below average base far too many times, with Banks leaning forward too much at the waste instead of bending his knees. This technique issue caused him to get knocked back more than a player with his talent should get moved. When he kept his base he got very good movement, and Banks was highly effective in the pass game even when his technique wasn’t ideal. That’s how talented Banks is, he can still win rep after rep when his technique suffers, but it keeps him from getting movement in the run game.

C #55 Jarrett Patterson - Grade: C- — Patterson’s effort in the game was quite good, and the young blocker competed hard throughout the game. His execution, however, wasn’t very good. Patterson not snapping the ball resulted in a false start, and he had issues getting to the second level in the run game. Patterson also had some issues recognizing and picking up the Hokie stunts, which kept him from getting a push in the run game and made him less effective in pass protection.

I continue to be encouraged by Patterson’s athleticism and toughness, but his technique and ability to pick up what defenses are doing still needs a lot of work. That’s expected from a redshirt freshman, so this is simply a critique of what is going on, but his future does remain quite bright.

RG #57 Trevor Ruhland - Grade: C+ — At this point in his career Ruhland shouldn’t be playing. His injuries have sapped him of the power he used to possess and he just can’t get the movement you ideally want. But that is what makes what Ruhland did on Saturday even more impressive. This is one tough young man that fought hard snap after snap. No, he didn’t get movement, but he held his own and battled, especially in the pass game.

RT #75 Joshua Lugg - Grade: B- — Lugg more than held his own against the Hokies. I had him down for two pressures allowed due to him not stepping properly on the edge (allowing an outside speed rush and then getting beat on an inside move), but even then he was able to use his length to get to the defender, preventing a hit on the quarterback. Overall, however, Lugg’s pass protection was solid. The junior showed good power in the run game, and when he kept his pads low he was able to get very good movement. Considering the circumstances of his emergence into the lineup, he graded out quite well.

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