I'm still optimistic for the rest of the season.
Teams, especially college kids, shit the bed all the time for a million different reasons. Somebody's girlfriend could have broken up with them, bad grade on midterms, or family dog is sick. It happens.
ND had a series of terrible missteps with that BYU game, but I put the offense on par with shit the bed territory rather than fundamental issues. ND lost 4 points with the missed throw to Faison which was basically automatic for CJ all season ("handoff downstairs" as we've heard a bunch this year). For all the collective hours everyone on this board watches football, how many times have you ever seen a fumbled spike attempt at any level? That was another 3 points. Add in some slightly off target passes in the end zone and we're talking about another 7-14 points. 38 points on offense wasn't unrealistic but the execution wasn't there. This isn't the first time ND has played subpar at the end of midterms week...
They have done some tendency breakers but it takes me going back to UNC to remember the last one. They had bunch formation on the left which was a screen every game up into that point but the pass went to Gilbert on the slant from the right side across the middle for the big gain - I could actually be mixing up plays but they're definitely was one and I have to go back and find it.
ND has deception and tendency breakers, but it's being kept in the pocket for now for some reason. I know CMF views it as a 15 or 16 game season, not just the regular season (ie CJ 2025 have us a better chance to win in January but Minchey had a better chance to win in Miami). Maybe the long term plan is to think that we are only less than halfway through the season even though we've played 7 games.