Notre Dame's 2021 Pass Game Improvements Should Translate Well To 2022
Notre Dame's pass game was a bit erratic last season, but it was good it was really good. The issue, however, is that when it was bad it struggled mightily.
Notre Dame came out of the gate well and it certainly finished strong, but during the five games that began with Purdue and ended with USC the Irish pass game largely struggled.
In the opener against Florida State the Irish came out aggressive with the pass game, mixing in quick throws on the perimeter with effective shots down the field. Quarterback Jack Coan went for 366 yards and four touchdowns, and Irish quarterbacks passed for 317 and three more scores a week later.
That's when the good times in the pass game ended.
Over the next five games the pass game struggled in many ways. Notre Dame averaged just 230.6 passing yards per game, 6.7 yards per attempt, completed just 56.1% of its passes, had a passer rating of 122.37 and according to Pro Football Focus the Irish quarterbacks were pressured 45 times, including 40 in the first three games of that stretch (Purdue, Wisconsin, Cincinnati).
Things started to turn around in the final two games of that rough stretch, at least at times. Tyler Buchner had a brilliant second quarter against Virginia Tech (5-8, 104 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Coan came off the bench to lead the Irish to 11 points in their final two drives to turn a 29-21 deficit into a 32-29 victory.
Notre Dame's pass game was solid against USC, the final game of that stretch, but we really saw it start to take off in the 44-34 win over North Carolina.
That began a stretch of five regular season games to conclude the year in which Notre Dame averaged 265.4 passing yards per game, 9.4 yards per attempt, completed 74.5% of its passes, had a passer rating of 174.09.
There were several reasons for the improvements that go beyond the quality of the opposition, and if those areas continue into 2022 the Notre Dame pass attack should be outstanding.
PROTECTION ISSUES
The biggest issue plaguing the pass offense last season was breakdowns in protection. Notre Dame ranked 100th in sacks allowed last season, and while you can always attribute some sacks to the quarterback, the reality is the line struggled mightily.
I don't have enough fingers on my hand to count the number of times I saw open receivers not get the ball during that rough five game stretch, and the primary reason was the quarterbacks simply didn't have enough time to go much further than their first read, and sometimes that didn't even happen.
After the bye week offensive coordinator Tommy Rees rightly changed course. Knowing the line couldn't protect the quarterback consistently, Rees incorporated a lot more quick throws into the offense in the form of quick reads, perimeter screens, more short levels concepts and creatively using free releases to beat the blitz instead of trying to max protect.
Rees used the speed he possessed on offense to get his top players the ball in space more frequently, and the lack of quality opposition made that look even better.
He was able to mix in enough deep shots to keep defense honest, and with teams focused more on trying to defend the Irish athletes in space it opened up more effective opportunities down the field.
During the poor five game stretch discussed above the offense went just 5-24 on throws that went at least 20 yards past the line (according to PFF) and 21-42 on throws between 11-19 yards past the line. That combined for 26-66 for 545 yards and five touchdowns with five picks on throws that went past 10 yards.
In the final six games the attempts were the same (66), but obviously that meant they attempted fewer down the field shots per game. The trade off was it was far more efficient.
In those games the quarterbacks completed 11-26 deep balls for 372 yards and 23-40 intermediate throws for 506 yards. On throws beyond 10 yards the quarterbacks went 34-66 for 878 yards and eight touchdowns against just two interceptions.
The quick pass attack and improved downfield efficiency helped protect the quarterbacks, and it also opened up the run game.
IMPROVED PASS PROTECTION IS THE KEY
The line did perform better during that stretch as well, which shows that when Notre Dame quarterbacks got time to throw they were dangerous.
We saw that in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State and its Top 10 national defense, as the Irish shredded the Cowboys in the first half. Notre Dame beat them on every level as it jumped out to a 28-14 halftime lead.
In the second half the protection issues resurfaced and the offense was hindered by subpar receiver play in the final 30 minutes, which I believe will be rectified (I'll discuss that tomorrow).
Rees going to the quick game and adding far more RPOs to the offense was highly effective and should absolutely continue in 2022. There is no reason not to continue building on that, and he has the weapons at every position to continue making those concepts highly effective and dangerous.
Using his speed to run more chase concepts (working across the field instead of vertically as much) and using motions and formations to create more isolations was highly effective.
Rees threw new wrinkles at teams each week during the final six games, and that can and should continue in 2022.
But if Notre Dame wants to shred teams like Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, etc. the way it did Oklahoma State in the first half and the other subpar opponents it faced late in 2021 it can't just out-scheme teams with quicks and short throws with the occasional vertical pass game effectiveness.
Some of those downfield concepts that I mentioned earlier, the ones where receivers were constantly getting open and not found because of the protection woes, need to start getting hit.
Under Harry Hiestand the offensive line needs to thrive in protection if this pass game is going to dominate like it's capable of. Rees learned in 2021 that he can protect the quarterback with his schemes, but if that is combined with Hiestand's unit also being able to provide protection on intermediate and deep shots this pass game could be lights out.
ATTACKING ON ALL LEVELS
My one complaint with Rees the last two seasons was one I had for the previous 10 seasons and that was too much of an emphasis on one-on-one routes, and too much of a focus on horizontal stretch concepts. At times the offense was focused too much on downfield routes. The offense relied on the talent of the pass catchers without enough of an emphasis on scheming guys open.
So I don't really view it as a Rees problem, it was more of a problem that was created by the man above him. That man is now gone and this becomes all about what Rees wants.
Later in the season we saw more balance, and Rees' offense effectively attacked all three levels (short, intermediate, deep), it mixed up vertical stretch, horizontal stretch, triangle concepts, RPOs and isolations in very impression fashion. It looked like a brand new offense from an emphasis standpoint more so from a "these are new schemes" standpoint.
But it wasn't just later in the season that we saw those concepts and that emphasis. It was also prominent in the opener against Florida State and at times against Toledo before protection issues and a non-existent ground attack halted things.
If you take out that bad five game stretch the numbers are very, very impressive. In those other eight games the pass offense
That must continue in 2022, and there's no reason it can't.
Rees seemed to really come into his own during the second half of the season, and it seemed he was far less encumbered by the former head coach, who had a very clear vision of what he wanted, even though it hadn't proved effective for years.
If you look at the last six games and the first two games - so basically remove the bad five game stretch - the Notre Dame pass offense put up the following numbers (eight games):
314.9 passing yards per game
9.0 yards per pass attempt
13.1 yards per completion
68.9% completion rate
166.85 passer rating
22 touchdowns
5 interceptions
That would put Notre Dame on pace to top 4,000 passing yards if it was carried out for an entire season.
We aren't talking about a really good three game stretch, we are talking about over half of a season. This leads me to believe the offense is more than capable of doing that on a far more consistent basis.
The line must protect better, the receivers need to be coached much better and of course the quarterback play can be better. But the foundation was there, and we saw much more than just flashes of it last season.
If what we saw in those eight games becomes the norm Notre Dame is going to FINALLY start putting one of the nation's best pass games on the field.
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