1) This was the game where it seemed like we would learn a lot, right? Week One was an emotional grudge match against a team that might be the best on Notre Dame’s schedule but it was Week One, so it’s tough to extrapolate too much. Week Two was a complete and total letdown game against the likely worst opponent the Irish will face but still a win. Week Three was a home game against a solid Vanderbilt team and for a while it looked like Notre Dame had things figured out (16-3 lead at the half), but they failed to finish some drives, the Commodores’ quarterback made some nice throws and it got far too interesting. But it was interesting in a win, which is far better than any kind of loss. The Irish are 3-0 and have led for just under 96 percent of time played this season, never trailing. It’s a flawed, stressful 3-0, but it’s 3-0 and there are dozens of teams across the country who would love to trade spots with us right now. It’s on the Irish to build off this start and not let it go to waste.
How much more do we know about this team than we did in August? Well, we know they’re capable of coming out of the gates strong, as they’ve outscored opponents 31-3 in the first quarter. We know that the defense is at least good and has playmakers at all three levels, but we don’t quite know if it’s great (or how long it can maintain if the front seven spends so much time out on the field). We know the offense is very much a work in progress, and while I feel a little better about it this week than I did after Ball State that is clearing a half-buried bar. We know Notre Dame might have already played its toughest game and that the November slate that had us all worried is slightly less formidable than it seemed in the preseason but that teams are not static and those opponents could look better by the time the air chills. And again, we know that Notre Dame is 3-0, those wins locked in the bank even if they weren’t beauties. In an ideal world you want to know more about your team at this point than we do, but this world is certainly not that. If you’re going to figure yourself out, do it while consistently scoring a few more points than your opponents.
2) Let’s do something we almost never do and start with the special teams. Justin Yoon missed a stress-inducer late but was 3 for 3 before that, Michael Young had a really nice return and Jonathan Doerer had his best game of the season by a country mile on kickoffs but we must focus on The Captain. Tyler Newsome broke his own program record for average punt yardage in a game (59.6!) and closed things out by booming a 63-yard tactical missile and pinning Vanderbilt back deep in their own territory. It’s very easy for things to go wrong on last-second, high-pressure punts —
just click this, you already know what it is — and Newsome was masterful in a clutch spot, with a bonus for a clean snap. Great work all around.
3) So many key plays in the goal line area. There was Notre Dame failing to a convert a 1st and goal from the two on the opening drive after a pass interference in the endzone, four points that would have been somewhat useful for our hearts later in the game. Then you had the absurd Alohi Gilman strip (Big! Play! Safeties!) and fumble recovery at the goal line. Then you had Troy Pride making a pick in the endzone (Great!) and then returning it to the two* (Bad!) which led to Notre Dame going very conservative (Questionable!) before punting it away and immediately giving up a touchdown when Vandy had good field position (Very bad!). Just a lot of big swings happening in the south end zone.
* In Pride’s defense, he is extremely fast and there was likely plenty of green ahead of him if he didn’t get dragged down out of the blocks. It was a bad decision but I like corners with the confidence to think, “Why couldn’t I return this 104 yards?” It is much easier to rationalize things after wins.
4) Defense did its job, holding a third consecutive opponent under 20 points. They were sterling early, forcing three-and-outs on the second, third and fourth drives of the game followed by the circus forced fumble on the fifth. At that point the offense should have built a larger lead but they had not. (The defense also was hurt by Notre Dame’s offense holding the ball for less than five minutes in the third quarter.) Credit to Vanderbilt and Kyle Shurmur for adjusting and getting rid of the ball more quickly so the Notre Dame pass rush didn’t have time to wreck him like they did early in the game (it also helped the Commodores that the refs allowed them to hold the Irish line on nearly every snap*) and credit to the Irish secondary for making just enough plays to stave off a nightmare at the end. So far this season we’ve seen an offense mostly incapable of making the big play they need in the second half and a defense that has been pretty solid at making the big play when it’s necessary. Let's hope the former trend reverses while the latter stays strong.
* Is the fact so many holds have gone uncalled mean the defensive line is really good? Holds always go uncalled but it seems like an absurd amount so far this season. There was one play late on Saturday where two separate Vandy linemen were hugging Julian Okwara. Hopefully they can maintain this level of activity the whole season because it's fun to watch.
It’s not like we don’t appreciate Julian Love but we really need to appreciate Julian Love. On Saturday he added four more pass break-ups to his incredible tally since the start of last season and recovered two fumbles, one in the end zone and one to close the game. With Love doing so well Shurmur started going after Pride, who kicked in three break-ups and the end zone pick plus bonus ill-advised return. Jerry Tillery had a forced fumble on Shurmur that the Irish couldn’t quite recover which would have been a nice bonus and further momentum early. Houston Griffith played a bunch on Saturday and was maybe a step slow reacting to stuff but nothing terrible for a third career game, wrapping up three solo tackles and an assist.
5) I’ve seen a few people say Brandon Wimbush was awful this game, which I don’t understand. He completed 56.5% of his passes and would have cracked 60 if not for a couple drops. He also ran for 84 yards and a really cool touchdown on 3rd and 10 with no turnovers, which is a solid if unspectacular effort. I am confused by playcalling and some personnel stuff but Wimbush is right about where we need him to be to be a really good football team. Also he did all this with his favorite target, Miles Boykin, taken out of the game by
a really good corner who our friends at Notre Dame Our Blogger profiled last week. The offense gets very conservative at times, but we’re also a red zone conversion here or a third down there from putting these games away comfortably. (The Irish started the game four-for-five on third down conversions and got just one of the next ten after that. Not good.)
Now that offensive line and running backs had their best effort of the season (5.9 yards per carry for Tony Jones and Jafar Armstrong, zero sacks allowed, plus another 56 yards receiving by Jones in the finest game of his career) we’ve seen the potential for every part of this team to be good, and with Dexter Williams one more game away the running game is going to receive a shot in the arm come September 29. However, we’ve also seen the potential for each part of this offense to struggle, sometimes all of them at the same time. Will it click in a good way? Perhaps in a bad way? Stay tuned!
6) I am genuinely flummoxed by the use of Ian Book so far this season. Against Michigan, it seemed like he came in for touchdown plays after Wimbush took big hits but I guess that was the plan the entire time. Was Wimbush really bad at taking snaps under center in practice? You would think that considering Notre Dame’s red zone success last year and how much of that was due to Wimbush’s legs they would roll with it, but Kelly said Sunday they’re planning on using Book from five yards and in, which I still don’t really understand. I am fine with Book packages but I’d prefer him just get an entire series versus the “One play for you, one play for me” plan. This is the kind of thing you can tolerate in wins but if the wins stop it’s going to become the first thing pinned on the coaching staff.
7) Winning Is Hard/Schadenfreude Round Up: This is going to be a long one because Saturday was an absolute bloodbath. Within an hour of Notre Dame winning a close one, Wisconsin lost at home to BYU. The Cougars have played some solid football this year (winning at Arizona, losing at home to an okay Cal team) but they were 24-point underdogs playing at the No. 6 team in the country. A few minutes after that, Auburn blew a fourth quarter lead and lost to LSU at home as a 9.5-point favorite. LSU is good — any team that defeated them in this calendar year would have accomplished an impressive feat — but still, that one stings. USC was winning 14-3 after the first quarter in Austin and gave up the next 34 points, so they’re now 1-2 and our friends in Los Angeles are starting to sharpen the pitchforks for Clay Helton, a guy who's yet to lose a home game as Trojan head coach. Oh, and Southern Cal finished with negative-five yards rushing.
Florida State got absolutely destroyed by Syracuse’s back-up quarterback and they’re looking at 6-6 as a probable best-case scenario, so blame this on Willie Taggart or blame it on Jimbo Fisher but it’s not good. Arkansas lost at home to North Texas by 27. Nebraska lost at home to Troy and Scott Frost starts his career 0-2, the first time the Huskers have had that record since 1957. Now you might say “It’s his first year, this will happen” but Notre Dame fans are adamant that first-year losses stain a soul forever so it’s tough for Frost. (Also, if you get bored, take a look at Nebraska’s schedule. This could get really ugly in year one.) Maryland lost to Temple 35-14 at home, which seems bad as Temple had already lost to Villanova and Buffalo this season. UCLA is 0-3 for the first time since 1971. Herm and the Sun Devils lost at San Diego State. Rutgers got blown out by Kansas. Rock Chalk, baby, that’s a win streak!
Some lighter stuff: Clemson and Georgia Southern were tied at zero into the second quarter and Stanford trailed UC-Davis 3-0 for a bit. This is fine because sometimes it takes a while to get cooking but if Notre Dame was in either of those situations it would be the end of the world even if they ended up winning easily as the Tigers and Cardinal did. Some corrective stuff: Last week we forgot to mention that Purdue lost to Eastern Michigan at home and dropped to 0-2. Well, Saturday night they lost to Missouri at home and are now 0-3 in what was supposed to be a year of building under Jeff Brohm after last year’s pleasantly surprising 7-6. Brohm is most likely a very good coach but, well, you know.
And our grand finale: Back in 1894, John Heisman led Buchtel College to an undefeated 1-0 season, their lone victory a 12-6 win in Columbus over Ohio State. Buchtel College eventually became the University of Akron and Ohio State eventually joined the Big Ten and that was the last time Akron had defeated a Big Ten team until Saturday night. Northwestern was a 21-point favorite and led 21-3 at the half, but the Zips scored three (3) defensive touchdowns in the second half to take the lead. The end of this game was absolutely absurd, as Akron’s clock management — which involved running backwards instead of trying to get the first down and throwing the ball away on fourth instead of punting it — left Northwestern two seconds and the ball at the Zips’ 30. The pass (is it a Hail Mary if it’s from the 30?) fell short and the Wildcats lost. Northwestern is now 1-2, with their sole win over…Jeff Brohn and Purdue.
Consistency.
8) If you’re wondering why your heart has been in your throat during Notre Dame games since November, our friend Brian Fremeau pointed out on Twitter following the game Saturday that these are the scores of the Irish’s last five victories:
24-17
21-17
24-17
24-16
22-17
That’s a lot of gently rocking back and forth, quietly hoping Death breezes past your door. I will also point out here that despite these theatrics the Irish are 13-3 since the start of 2017, which is rather good.
That said, if Notre Dame keeps playing one-score games, they’re going to lose some. (I mean, odds are they’re going to lose some anyway considering the program has had two undefeated regular seasons since the 1973 title.) Nobody wins all their close games and if the Irish keep playing with fire they’re almost certainly going to get burnt, but each game has been on the cusp of a blowout for the good guys that never quite takes. This gives me hope that comfortable wins are maybe possible, but if this team goes into an offensive shell or has a couple tough series in a row on defense against the wrong team at the wrong time, it’s going to get ugly. (My mind is specifically on the Stanford/Blacksburg stretch here.) But it might not get ugly? I wish we knew more about the team than we do now but I’ll take a mysterious and frustrating 3-0 over any kind of 2-1 or 1-2 every single day of the week. Might the wheels come off? Oh yeah, for sure. Have they yet? Nope, and that matters, as we see program after program go careening off the road through the first three weeks of the season.
9) Wake Forest is going to be an interesting test. They’re a dang solid team with a good offense, and a noon start in their tiny stadium (capacity: 31,500) is going to make for a weird environment. If the Irish can get past the Demon Deacons, they will get to what are looking like their two biggest remaining tests of the season in consecutive weeks. With the second half of the schedule looking far weaker today than it did pre-Labor Day, the Irish have a chance to put together a rather gaudy record if they get to the bye week at 6-1 or better. It’s going to be very tough to hit that mark if they lose in Winston-Salem so I would suggest, uh, not doing that.
But we are already a quarter of the way through this fleeting season and whether you're embracing the thrill ride and savoring the victories or living in fear of the
impending doom the games are going to keep on rolling along either way. Hop on this somewhat rickety train and let's see where it takes us. Go Irish, Beat Demon Deacons - it would be silly not to.
