Things may not have started out as planned for Notre Dame. The offense’s eleven-play opening drive ended with Kyle Brindza’s field goal attempt blocked. Then Air Force proceeded to march ten plays for 71 yards and a quick touchdown in under four minutes. But the Irish shrugged off a challenging start and cruised to an easy 45-10 victory, powered by a career-day by senior quarterback Tommy Rees.
The Falcons defense has struggled against good quarterbacks this season and Rees certainly looked like one on a perfect Saturday afternoon in Colorado Springs, throwing five touchdown passes while completing 17 of 22 passes for 284 yards, moving ahead of Ron Powlus for third place in career touchdown passes.
Freshmen Corey Robinson and Will Fuller caught their first touchdown passes. Sophomore Chris Brown did as well. Ben Koyack and TJ Jones also got into the action, with Jones catching a touchdown in his fifth straight game. After the slow start, Bob Diaco’s defense played very well, forcing two turnovers and allowing just ten points on the afternoon.
An easy win pushes the Irish to 6-2 and likely into the Top 25. Let’s find out what else we learned in Notre Dame’s 45-10 victory over Air Force.
No Nix, no problem for the Irish defense.
You could understand why Irish fans would be nervous without Louis Nix, the tip of the spear for the Irish defense. The 350-pound All-American defensive tackle stayed home this weekend, resting a balky knee and shoulder, as his teammates picked up the slack for him. With Kona Schwenke stepping in and Stephon Tuitt sliding inside, the Irish defense rallied after a slow start to hold the Falcons to just ten points and 339 total yards.
As predicted, the Irish started Ishaq Williams and Prince Shembo at defensive end and used Tuitt and Schwenke on the inside. We also saw plenty of reserves getting opportunities, with freshman Isaac Rochell playing (against his brother), Jarron Jones contributing, Tyler Stockton taking reps along with a disruptive performance by Justin Utupo.
The Irish will face a similar scheme next week with Navy likely to be a tougher challenge than Air Force. But getting Nix some rest and recovery, and having the defense pick up the slack, is a good sign.
Matched up in man coverage, Tommy Rees made Air Force’s secondary pay.
A week after missing most of the second half after taking a vicious hit, Tommy Rees dusted himself off and torched the Air Force defense. Rees may have missed one or two throws he’d like to have back, but he completed an impressive 17 of 22 for 284 yards and five touchdowns, fully in control of the offense against an overmatched Falcons secondary.
It’s hard to draw conclusions after a comfortable victory like the one we just witnessed. But if there’s a step forward Rees made it was with his accuracy throwing against man-to-man coverage. Rees routinely hit on deep throws, many sparked by playaction or double-moves, and connected on a 20-plus yard completion with five different receivers.
Getting into the act was a freshman class that just hasn’t had much opportunity yet this year. Corey Robinson made the type of catch we’ve been looking forward to seeing, snatching a deep throw away from a defensive back before scoring a 35-yard touchdown. Will Fuller also got behind the defense, only the third time in school history that two freshmen have caught touchdowns in a game.
Probably just as important as Rees’ impressive afternoon was the fact that it let Andrew Hendrix see the field and get the taste from last week’s game out of his mouth. Hendrix still struggled, but looked better against Air Force, completing one of his four passes for a 47-yard connection to Fuller and ran for a touchdown.
Jaylon Smith continues to make his move.
It took a few plays for Jaylon Smith to get up to speed with the Air Force offense. Whether it was his fault or not, Smith lost contain as he tried to read both the run and the pitch as the Falcons got outside of him for a few big gains early. But the freshman showed how quickly he learns on his feet, and rebounded to co-lead the Irish in tackles with eight.
The production the Irish are getting out of Smith at the drop linebacker position is amazing when you consider the true freshman is learning on the job and still not as big as Bob Diaco would like him to be. Through eight games, he’s already matched Danny Spond’s tackle total from last season. In fact, one look back at the Irish defense during the Kelly era and you get an appreciation of how dangerous and productive Smith already is.
Through eight games, here are Smith’s cumulative numbers, compared to the full season stats of other Dog linebackers playing in Kelly’s hybrid 3-4/4-3 system.
Jaylon Smith: 39 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, 1 INT, 1 FF, 1 FR
Danny Spond: 39 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT,
Prince Shembo: 31 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 2 Sacks,
Kerry Neal: 42 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1.5 Sack, 1 FF, 1 FR
Smith was all over the field on Saturday afternoon, and was a referee’s inadvertent whistle away from scoring his first defensive touchdown. It’s becoming abundantly clear that Smith’s moving quickly past the learning phase and that greatness might be sooner than later.
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In a muddled running back depth chart, Tarean Folston took an important step forward.
If there’s one disappointing stat on paper in the Irish’s 35-point victory it’s the lack of running game. Against a unit that ranked among the worst in the country in stopping the run, the Irish only averaged 3.6 yards a carry, running for a modest 135 yards on 37 attempts.
Brian Kelly talked at halftime about Air Force’s decision to challenge Rees to beat the Falcons in man coverage. He did that, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that the ground game wasn’t as efficient as it could have been.
George Atkinson looked hesitant out of the gates, forgetting to run like a 220-pound power back. Amir Carlisle was nonexistent on his three touches. While Cam McDaniel led the team with 61 yards on ten carries, it was freshman Tarean Folston that had the most carries, gaining 47 yards on his eleven attempts.
As Brian Kelly still tries to sort out his running back depth chart, Folston helped his cause on Saturday by looking the part. The freshman ran with a spark and explosiveness that the other backs just don’t possess, looking comfortable running in Kelly’s zone blocking attack, and showed great ability to find creases in the defense and run effectively off his blocks.
The Irish will have another chance to overpower an opponent next weekend when they face an undersized Navy defensive front that entered Saturday 98th against the run. Don’t be surprised to see Folston and McDaniel start to separate themselves from the pack.
As the calendar turns to November, it’s worth watching a few injuries that could prove significant.
After losing Christian Lombard for the season, Brian Kelly had to be holding his breath when he saw senior Chris Watt down, needing the assistance of two trainers to help him off the field. Kelly already plugged freshman Steve Elmer in at right guard, but the loss of Watt pushes Conor Hanratty into the lineup and weakens a left side that’s one of the finest in college football.
Freshman Mike McGlinchey made the trip on Saturday, an emergency option for the Irish in case there were bodies needed. But it’s worth keeping an eye on Watt’s health for next week, as the depth chart still isn’t as stocked as this staff wants it to be, especially with the hopes of redshirting everybody but Elmer from the rookie class.
Another injury worth keeping an eye on is the ankle of Sheldon Day. After playing early, Day was in street clothes during the second half, likely the product of tweaking an injury that sometimes takes months to get right. Without Day, the Irish production drops off a cliff in a hurry.
Pete Sampson of Irish Illustrated noted that the starting three of Day-Tuitt-Nix allowed just 1.62 yards a play against USC. Compare that to the trio of Schwenke-Tuitt-Nix, who allowed 6.5 yards per play. It might not matter against Navy, but against BYU and Stanford the Irish will need all hands on deck.
Watt was still in uniform as the No. 2 offensive line worked while Day watched the end of the game in street clothes, a good sign if you’re looking for them. He’s also played in all 47 games of his career, a testament to Watt’s durability. That’ll likely come in handy as he spends some extra time in the training room this week.
