“Notre Dame’s False Start Issues Haven’t Subsided”
SOUTH BEND — The flinching hasn’t stopped.
Notre Dame’s offense continues to be flagged for false starts at an alarming rate.
In Saturday’s 40-7 victory over Boston College, the Irish were called for six more false start penalties. That matched the previous season high set at Georgia.
At least this past weekend, three of the false starts came late in the game with backup quarterback Phil Jurkovec running the offense and backup offensive linemen caught on the penalties. In the 23-17 loss to Georgia, five of the false starts were called on Notre Dame’s starting offense. The other came on the punt team.
Through 11 games, the AP No. 15 Irish (9-2) have already been penalized for 29 false starts. The starting offense with quarterback Ian Book has accounted for 21 of those penalties. The other eight were called on the backup offense during blowouts (six) and the punt team (two).
It doesn’t seem to matter much whether Notre Dame is playing at home or on the road either. In four road games, the Irish have committed 11 false starts (2.75 per game). In seven home games, the Irish have 18 false starts (2.57 per game).
Notre Dame has yet to complete a game this season without a false start penalty. The Irish will have their last of two chances this season on Saturday at Stanford (4-7).
Nineteen of the false start penalties have been called on Notre Dame offensive linemen.
“It’s a group that just has to stay locked in on every play,” said head coach Brian Kelly. “And sometimes we’re thinking about too many things instead of staying on what’s important. And we sometimes get away from staying on what’s important.”
The Irish have used a clapping cadence for its snap counts this season rather than a traditional verbal cadence. A more repetitive rhythm can be established with a verbal cadence with multiple words, which could lead to easier anticipation for the offense, but it could also become predictable for a defense.
Starting left tackle Liam Eichenberg, who leads the team with seven false starts, said earlier this season that he likes the clapping cadence, but that it comes with its challenges.
“It’s difficult because we’re all trying to load up to get off the ball, and we’re waiting for a sound,” Eichenberg said in early November. “Somebody could scream really quick, and I’m like ‘Ugh.’ Because it’s tough. The defense can time it up. We see it all the time. It’s just one of those things.”
Eichenberg pointed to the second offensive play in the Virginia Tech game as an example. He said one of Virginia Tech’s linebackers yelled before the snap and it caused some of the offensive linemen to flinch. A false start wasn’t called by the officials.
If officials deem that defensive players are using sounds to mimic an offense’s cadence to induce false start penalties, the defense can be called for a penalty. But defenders can be clever to create confusion in making their own defensive calls or moving before the snap on their own side of the line of scrimmage in ways that can cause a false start.
“It happens, occasionally,” Kelly said. “You’ll hear some ambient noise of a move call or things of that nature. But we duplicate that in practice as well.
“So I just think it’s get comfortable, be in the right emotional, optimal zone. And that stuff really should be secondary. It shouldn’t be primary noise for you. Your focus should be on what your primary responsibility is and that is block the guy over you.”
The clapping cadence isn’t new this year for Notre Dame’s offense. The Irish used it last season when they were flagged for 18 false starts in 13 games with 15 of the penalties called on the starting offense.
“It’s easier when you’re dealing with a first-year center,” Kelly said of using the clapping cadence. “Takes a little bit off of (Jarrett Patterson). But it really has no bearing on false starts.”
The official statistics kept by the NCAA don’t track false start penalties specifically, so it’s difficult to compare Notre Dame’s false starts to other schools. For comparison’s sake, Air Force has committed the least amount of total penalties in the FBS with only 39. That’s nine more total penalties than the Irish have false starts.
With 70 total penalties this season, Notre Dame is tied with Kent State and Texas A&M for No. 76 nationally in fewest penalties.
