Notre Dame Offense Still Has Time To Change The Narrative

Notre Dame has had a strange season on offense, there is no doubt about that, but the group has a chance to change the current narrative this weekend when they stake on Stanford.

At times the Irish offense has been an explosive unit, one capable of hanging over 40 points per game. Notre Dame has fielded its most explosive offense since 2017 this season, and it has taken a big jump over last season.

Despite running 192 fewer plays, the 2023 offense has already generated more plays of 30+ yards (29 to 25), 40+ yards (16 to 6), 50+ yards (6 to 3) and 70+ yards (3 to 1) this season, and has matched the number of 20+ yard gains at 66.

There has been growth, and basically every metric shows that, but there have also been some valleys among those peaks. The negativity surrounding the offense is high right now, but Gerad Parker and the offensive staff took a big step forward last weekend with an outstanding performance against Wake Forest. It will look to take another with a strong performance against Stanford.

Notre Dame dominates every statistical matchup against Stanford, who has struggled mightily this season. If the offense can match its performance from a week ago the unit has a chance to change the narrative heading into bowl season. I'm not just talking about results, actually I'm not even talking about results. I'm talking about the attitude and aggressiveness that went into last week's game plan and play-calling from Parker, which finally allowed the young talent to show off what it can do.

If Parker puts together another performance like that, which then allows his charges to go show off their impressive talent, the results will take care of themselves. But with Stanford's struggles, Notre Dame could have just an okay game plan and still dominate a defense that is among the worst at the Power 5 level.

Stanford's run game isn't as good as its numbers show, at least it hasn't been against good teams. The Cardinal held Hawaii to minus-5 yards rushing and Washington State to just 4 yards on the ground. Colorado went for just 132 yards against the Cardinal, although that's almost 60 yards above their season average.

Those three teams rank No. 130 (WSU), No. 132 (Colorado) and No. 133 (Hawaii) in rushing offense this season. Against the other eight opponents Stanford has given up 181.5 rushing yards per game and 4.9 yards per attempt. A bright spot for the Cardinal is that they California to 161 yards on the ground and 3.4 yards per carry last weekend, and the Bears have been a strong rushing team this season.

Notre Dame's ground attack has been as up and down as its overall offense. At times the ground game has been very good, in other games - especially in big games - it has been a disappointment. The rushing attack was quite good against Ohio State, but in the next four "big games" against Duke, Louisville, USC and Clemson the ground game averaged just 127.8 yards per game and 4.3 yards per carry.

There were signs of life against Wake Forest last weekend, as a unit with two new starters led the way for Audric Estime's fifth 100-yard game of the season. Estime went over 1,000 yards in the win and scored his 14th rushing touchdown.

A strong finish for the Notre Dame offense should include an even better rushing performance this weekend. It will be interesting to see how both Parker and Estime, as well as the offensive line, reacts to Estime being snubbed from the Doak Walker list. Needless to say all parties involved could have a vested interest in a dominant rushing performance.

Notre Dame's pass attack has been the biggest up-and-down this season. At times it has been a dominant, explosive part of the offense, which we saw last weekend when the Irish went for 313 yards, five touchdowns and averaged 9.2 yards per attempt in the 45-7 win over Wake Forest. It was Notre Dame's second 300+ yard performance in three games, and quarterback Sam Hartman threw his first touchdown pass since the win over USC.

We saw the offense be more aggressive with its pass game, from both a RPO usage standpoint and a willingness to attack down the field. The play-action game was as good as it's been all season as the Irish generated passing touchdowns of 48, 35, 19, 17 and 12 yards in the win.

Parker showed a lot of confidence in his young pass catchers, who caught four of the five touchdown passes. Tobias Merriweather, Rico Flores Jr., Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison combined for 17 catches, 256 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore tight ends Eli Raridon and Holden Staes combined for five more catches for 45 yards and another score. On the day, Notre Dame's sophomore and freshman pass catches combined for 22 receptions, 301 yards and four touchdowns.

The pass game success should continue this weekend against a Stanford defense that is arguably the worst pass defense at the Power 5 level. Stanford ranks 100th or worst in six of the categories shown above, and are among the five lowest ranked teams in two of them, including yards per game (312.4) and pass efficiency.

For all gripes and complaints - some of which are more than fair - Notre Dame still ranks in the Top 15 nationally in scoring offense and yards per play. It also ranks among the Top 30 nationally in red zone offense, red zone touchdown offense and most gains of 30+ yards.

Stanford ranks in the bottom five in scoring defense, total defense, third-down defense and turnovers gained. On paper and on film this game is a total mismatch. Notre Dame has a chance to put up some big numbers and earn another blowout win if it can put together a proper plan and execute it.

It would also give the Irish offense payback against a Stanford defense that shut it down last season. Doing so doesn't erase the issues from the past, but it certainly puts the offense on a good trajectory moving forward.

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