Last season, every Saturday ended with the Victory March. While it wasn’t always pretty, the Irish found a way to win, even when out-gained, and sometimes out-played. Breaking in a young quarterback, reinventing an offense, and relying on a defense that played historically stingy, it was a season to remember.
Saturday night reminded us that every year is different. The magic was coming from a team wearing a different jersey. Every loss requires inspection, and that’s likely happening in South Bend right now, as Brian Kelly and his staff examine what went into the Irish’s 41-30 defeat at the hands of Devin Gardner and the Michigan Wolverines.
Let’s do the same ourselves and take a look at the good, bad and ugly from Saturday night’s defeat in Ann Arbor.
THE GOOD
Special Teams. So all those that were worried that the Irish special teams would cost Notre Dame a close game can breathe deep. Kyle Brindza was a veritable weapon out there on Saturday night, punting the football well on both his attempts while making all three of his field goals as well. Brindza also had four touchbacks on his seven kickoffs.
TJ Jones did a nice job on his lone punt return attempt while George Atkinson also returned a kick to midfield. After looking shaky last week, Kelly turned all the kicking duties over to Brindza and he returned the favor by playing flawlessly.
Amir Carlisle. Taking the lion’s share of carries, Carlisle ran hard both inside and out, carrying 12 times for 64 yards while chipping in two catches as well. The durability everybody worried about seems to be there, as the junior put together a nice game and appears to be the early leader for carrying the load.
TJ Jones. A gutty performance for the senior receiver, who banged up his shoulder early in the night but came back and still had nine catches for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Troy Niklas. The run of greatness at tight end looks to be continuing with Niklas, who played another excellent game, quickly becoming a weapon in the pass game with another touchdown among his six catches for 76 yards.
Running Back George Atkinson: After not looking all that explosive against Temple, Atkinson did some damage on the ground, averaging a mighty quiet 7.4 yards a carry while also making a big kickoff return.
We’ll talk about the other part of George’s game in the bad section.
THE BAD
The Defense. Brian Kelly can talk about the plays the offense could’ve made, but this one is on Bob Diaco’s guys. There’s no question that Devin Gardner does some things that make life hard, but the defense didn’t do themselves any favors, routinely blowing assignments and losing one-on-one battles.
You can’t expect to win a game when you give up 41 points. Period.
Coverage in the secondary. It was a tough day the office for the back-end of the Irish defense. KeiVarae Russell looked like he was being picked on at times, and Jeremy Gallon looked like Desmond Howard out there, racking up three touchdowns and 184 receiving yards.
The pass rush. They weren’t playing horseshoes or hand grenades, so one sack of Devin Gardner just isn’t going to cut it. While he made an incredibly acrobatic interception in the end zone for a touchdown, Stephon Tuitt didn’t make a tackle, given chase to Gardner often but not getting to him. Ishaq Williams tallied his first sack of his career, but Prince Shembo was kept in check again.
The Irish committed blitzers to stopping Gardner but it didn’t matter, and Gardner routinely made Notre Dame pay when it went one-on-one in coverage.
One-dimensional offense: People tend to forget that the Irish were essentially down two touchdowns for much of the second half, necessitating a passing attack, especially as time ticked away. But the Irish averaged 5.1 yards a carry on just 19 official rushing attempts, while Tommy Rees threw 53 passes. During the Irish’s final three possessions, they threw 13 times and ran it only twice, often from an empty formation.
Looked at as a whole, that kind of ratio isn’t good. It’s likely a product of a game that was on the verge of getting out of hand and forced Kelly and offensive coordinator Chuck Martin to abandon the ground game.
Pass catcher George Atkinson. Too often the football clanked out of Atkinson’s hands, with at least three drops on the ledger. Never know for his natural catching ability, Atkinson did have a nice gain out of the backfield on one pass. But if he’s going to be a guy that can play in a featured capacity, he’s got to make the plays… or let somebody else have a chance.
Slow Start. Not exactly how you want to get out of the gate. Two three and outs for the Irish, both with the Irish unable to convert running the ball. Compare that to Michigan putting up scores on their first two possessions, and that’s an easy way to get down 10-0.
THE UGLY
Giving up big plays. It’s mystifying how this defense can give up some of the big plays that it did Saturday night. When it was time to make a big play, it just kept feeling like it was only Michigan that made it.
The Irish tried multiple things to keep Devin Gardner in check– spying linebackers, safeties, keeping contain — none of it worked. Last season was defined by the defense’s flair for the dramatic. There are still ten games left, but this group needs to make some steps forward quickly.
Leaving the Big House with a L. That’s a football game that everybody wanted. Players, coaches, fans. After listening to Big Blue and company crow all offseason about Notre Dame chickening out, that the Wolverines would back up the talk with a convincing victory can’t taste too good.
Pass Interference. Sooner or later, the Irish defensive backs will figure out that they can’t get sloppy in coverage on third down and around the goal line. While you could argue until you’re blue in the face that the call against Bennett Jackson was pretty iffy, the Irish need to play smarter and better in coverage, especially with a group that’s got plenty of experience.
College GameDay Signs: If there’s a benefit to taking a break in this series, it’s that ESPN won’t give three hours of national air time to idiots with signs. While the network allegedly filters the signs allowed to be in the background, the tasteless nature of a few defied logic.
