Game Notes Musings

Each week the Notre Dame Media Relations department releases Games Notes in preparation for that week’s upcoming match.  As I reviewed the Game Notes for the upcoming Michigan State game several notes and numbers jumped out at me and I wanted to share them with you.

The Irish have a nine game home winning streak heading into this weekend’s game against the Spartan.

Tommy Rees ranks seventh in the FBS in passing yards (969), and no one has more yards against FBS opponents this season.

Michigan State ranks as the fourth most played team in the list of Notre Dame Opponents, only Navy (86), Purdue (85) and USC (84) has played the Irish more.

Since 1949 the winner of this rivalry is presented with the Megaphone Trophy

Key Match ups ND’s total offense Ranked 50^th vs. State’s total defense ranked 1^st and ND’s red zone offense ranked 112^th vs. State’s red zone defense 91^st.

Notre Dame Head coach Brian Kelly and Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio each previously served as the head coach at Cincinnati. Dantonio (2004-06) and Kelly (2007-09) both spent three years with the Bearcats.

2012 Game; ND rushing yards 122 & Michigan State 50, ND’s defense had four for 30 yards sacks Michigan State’s defense had one for 2 yards.  Notre Dame’s defense held the Spartans to three points last season (it was the first time the Spartans were held to three points or less since 1991).

Arguably the most impressive stats when it comes to truly indicate Notre Dame's completion dominance of No. 10 Michigan State in 2012 was the Spartans failure to run a single play inside the Irish red zone.

Under Brian Kelly the Irish are 6-0 when scoring 40+ points and 0-2 when surrendering 40+ points.

Average weight of the offensive and defensive lines: Notre Dame OL 311.4 lbs. vs. Michigan State DL 273.0 lbs. Notre Dame DL 317.0 lbs. vs. Michigan State OL 305.0 lbs.

Notre Dame has played six previous games in its history on Sept. 21. The Irish are 6-0 (1.000) all-time on this date.  Three of Notre Dame's six all-time games on Sept. 21 have come against Michigan State.

Tommy Rees needs 5 pass completions to move into 4th all-time in school history.

DaVaris Daniels – Jr. 167 receiving yards last week were the most by an Irish WR since Nov. 28, 2009 (Golden Tate, 201).

Tommy Rees’s 82 yard pass play to DaVaris Daniels against Purdue last week was the 9^th longest pass play in Notre Dame History.

Notre Dame struggled to run the ball against Purdue on Sept. 14, but the Irish were successful on its final drive to run out the clock (ran for 42 yards on final drive; just 49 prior to the drive). Notre Dame ran the final 7:22 off the game clock. The Irish converted four third-down plays on the final drive.

In the first three games Notre Dame is average Punt return of 10.25 yards per return good for a 44 national rank, a HUGE improvement from last season.

Seven of Purdue’s 21 rushes in the game went for one yard or less.

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Purdue Review

On a Saturday where the Michigan Wolverines barely beat the Akron Zips 28-24, perhaps the Irish faithful should be a bit more than content with a 31-24 win over the Purdue Boilermakers.  However, on Sunday, we find ourselves in a bit of a fog.  We supposedly have a monster offensive line yet we can’t even rush for a combined 100 yards against Purdue (MCDANIEL 16-56; ATKINSON, G. 5-27; CARLISLE 11-16; BRYANT 1-2), averaging a meager 2.5 yards per carry.  We supposedly have an All-World, bend don’t break defense, yet we have given up 65 points in the last two games.  Finally, Tommy Rees was not supposed to be the answer, yet he as three 300+ yards games in three games.

Offensively, the philosophy seems to be do it until it works as opposed to do it till they stop it.  It felt like two-thirds of the plays called were either a flair out or some sort of bubble screen for a yard.  I know that Rees doesn’t have a super strong arm, but if Chris Brown is a speedster, turn on the burners and throw it down field.  Martin needs to let Rees and his “Pieces” spread the field.  Maybe Kelly and Offensive Coordinator Chuck Martin are more like chess players when it comes to being patient with the offense than we’d hoped for.  My concern with that is how it looks to voters and whether or not we afford to be that patient against better teams when it comes to waiting to see what the defense gives us and scoring points.

There are things that seem to be coming into focus on the offensive side of the ball after three games.  Amir Carlisle is emerging as the number one running back who should continue to develop into an all-around offensive threat similar to Theo Riddick.  DaVaris Daniels (167 yards on 8 catches with 2 touchdowns) is looking more and more like the go to guy at the wide receiver position.   Troy Niklas is not “there” yet but he is on his way and the Irish will need him to get “there” sooner than later for success this season.  To do that, Niklas needs to get more looks - he had one catch for nine yards against the Boilermakers.

 

On a Saturday where the Michigan Wolverines barely beat the Akron Zips 28-24, perhaps the Irish faithful should be a bit more than content with a 31-24 win over the Purdue Boilermakers.  However, on Sunday, we find ourselves in a bit of a fog.  We supposedly have a monster offensive line yet we can’t even rush for a combined 100 yards against Purdue (MCDANIEL 16-56; ATKINSON, G. 5-27; CARLISLE 11-16; BRYANT 1-2), averaging a meager 2.5 yards per carry.  We supposedly have an All-World, bend don’t break defense, yet we have given up 65 points in the last two games.  Finally, Tommy Rees was not supposed to be the answer, yet he as three 300+ yards games in three games.

Offensively, the philosophy seems to be do it until it works as opposed to do it till they stop it.  It felt like two-thirds of the plays called were either a flair out or some sort of bubble screen for a yard.  I know that Rees doesn’t have a super strong arm, but if Chris Brown is a speedster, turn on the burners and throw it down field.  Martin needs to let Rees and his “Pieces” spread the field.  Maybe Kelly and Offensive Coordinator Chuck Martin are more like chess players when it comes to being patient with the offense than we’d hoped for.  My concern with that is how it looks to voters and whether or not we afford to be that patient against better teams when it comes to waiting to see what the defense gives us and scoring points.

There are things that seem to be coming into focus on the offensive side of the ball after three games.  Amir Carlisle is emerging as the number one running back who should continue to develop into an all-around offensive threat similar to Theo Riddick.  DaVaris Daniels (167 yards on 8 catches with 2 touchdowns) is looking more and more like the go to guy at the wide receiver position.   Troy Niklas is not “there” yet but he is on his way and the Irish will need him to get “there” sooner than later for success this season.  To do that, Niklas needs to get more looks - he had one catch for nine yards against the Boilermakers.

It also occurred to me last night that if something happened to Tommy Rees or it got to the point that he would need to be pulled, Brian Kelly’s options were very limited.  True freshman Malik Zaire has had mono and he had just been cleared for cardio earlier this week. It was supposed to be a game day decision, but even if he was officially cleared to play, what kind of shape would he have been in?  Even looking forward to Michigan State what kind of shape will Zaire be in and how much learning did he miss out on while he was sick?  The Irish missed a huge opportunity to beat up on a lesser team early and get some second and third team players (namely Andrew Hendrix, who to date only has five pass attempts and one completion for nine yards) on the field for some game experience. 

Defensively, this team looks like a shadow of its former self.  The line is not getting the penetration it needs, the linebackers look lost in coverage and the secondary has come up short time and time again.  If the Boilermakers’ offense is going to push the Irish around scoring 24 points, there are teams on Notre Dame’s schedule that might drop 50+ on Her Loyal Sons.  Bob Diaco’s crew has got to get three and out’s going against teams or this could be a very average season.  Contrary to Brian Kelly’s post game comments, “This is probably his best game of the year in terms of just being on every play," something is wrong with Stephon Tuitt, who had assisted tackle against Purdue and a total of four tackles in three games.  One positive note on the defensive side of the ball was Bennett Jackson, who had four tackles, one tackle for a loss, a sack and an interception for a touchdown. 

It would be great if our Special Teams could be “special.”  I am more than just confident in Kyle Bindza’s field goal abilities (4/5 with a long of 44 on the season), his kick-offs should and could be touch backs every time (he did have 4 out of 6 touchbacks on Saturday), but his punting game leaves a bit to be desired, averaging just under 37 yards on four punts against Purdue.  Senior Wake Forest transfer Alex Wulfex did have one punt for 38 yards, landing it inside the 20 yard line.

I would like to recognize the discipline on Saturday by the Irish only committing three penalties.  Another positive stat from Saturday for Notre Dame was going 3 for 4 in the red zone. 

Onward to Michigan State.

 

Purdue Preview

Looking at Purdue’s body of work so far this season, Saturday night’s game should not even be close.  The Irish should use this as a bounce back game to build some confidence after their loss to Michigan and a tune-up for the rest of the season. Both teams are 1-1 after two games, but these two teams are in very different worlds.

The Boilermakers win was a six point victory over a FCS Indiana State team by the score of 20-14 (an Indiana State team who lost to Indiana the week before 73-35).  Their loss was a 42 – 7 shellacking by the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Offensively, Purdue is, well, pretty awful.  27 points in two games (20 against a lowly FCS team and a running game averaging 2.9 yards per carry).  Purdue’s passing game has a total of 311 yards

With all that being said, this is still an in-state rivalry game with the Shillelagh Trophy at stake.  Purdue and Notre Dame first faced off in 1896 and have played every year since 1946.  Notre Dame has the series lead 56-26-2.

Don’t expect this game to be nearly as close as last year’s 20-17 contest.  New head coach Darrell Hazell (from Kent State) has a long road ahead of him in West Lafayette and this Saturday’s game against Notre Dame is not going to make this trip down that road any easier.  The Boilermakers will be up for this game and should be pretty fired up to prove their worth as former 3-star recruits going up against future NFL Pros.

As for the Irish, there are a lot of things to look for on Saturday.  Obviously, Notre Dame needs to have a strong showing on both sides of the ball and get back on the winning track.  The coaching staff could take this opportunity to rest the likes of T.J. Jones who is a bit banged up with a shoulder injury.  He could play, but there is no need to further aggravate his shoulder against the team they should defeat handily, especially with receivers like Brown, Robinson, Onwualu, and Smith needing to prove their potential.

Once a comfortable lead is established (and admittedly I am not sure what that is), this is a great chance for Kelly and his staff to work in the second and third teams.  At running back we have what we know (at least to some extent) – in Atkinson, Carlisle and McDaniel - and what we hope we have - in Bryant, Folston and Mahone.  Let’s see what we hope is what we’ll get.

Others players who should get some work in while they can (before they have to) include back-up quarterback Andrew Hendrix and offensive lineman Steve Elmer.

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Feeling Blue

Before we rip apart the culprit of Notre Dame’s loss to Michigan - the Irish sefense - I want to commend Michigan’s offense.  Overall, the Wolverines offense was better than advertised even after dominating Central Michigan the week before.  Devin Gardner looked to be more than just a suitable signal caller to lead Michigan’s storied program into the future.  Hats off as well to receiver Jeremy Gallon (8 receptions, 184 yards and 3 touchdowns) and running back Fitzgerald Toussaint (22 carries for 71 yards).

If you told me we would score 30 points (seven via the defense) in Ann Arbor Saturday night I would have thought for sure the Irish would come out with a win.  If anyone told me that the Irish defense would surrender 41points while giving up 460 yards of offense (294 passing / 166 rushing) I would have never believed it.

The Irish offense, led by Tommy Rees, looked more than solid with 410 yards of offense and 314 of them through the air.  With those kinds of numbers I can even overlook the two interceptions.  Rees still had some limitations and flaws but with his second 300+ yard passing game of the season you expect some better defensive support.  I liken it to a pitcher in baseball having a good game but not receiving run support.

The Irish running game looked decent, but there needs to be some changes made.  In my opinion, George Atkinson should not be the number one back.  GAIII has skills and more than a few glimpses of greatness (5 rushes, 37 yards); but Amir Carlisle (12 carries, 64 yards) looks like he has the overall advantage coming out of the backfield.  Cam McDaniel needs more touches (1 rush, 4 yards).

Defensively, the Irish not only bent but broke, I would say with a compound fracture.  If you looked only at the stats line you might think things weren’t that bad - eight tackles for a loss (-27 yards), three pass break ups, one sack (-8 yards) and one interception (for a touchdown).  However, the two numbers that override everything are 41 (points allowed) and 1 (loss).

The Irish defensive secondary was not supposed to be a major liability this season. 

Okay, now back to work and onward to Purdue.