The Wolverines defeated the Fighting Irish Saturday night, 41-30. Here, the Irish’s Chris Brown is tackled by Michigan’s Delonte Hollowell after making a catch. (Photo:vGregory Shamus/Getty Images)
No one likes to lose to Michigan. Ever. But I don’t think the end of the world is any closer either. While the defense still has much work to do, the offense actually looks pretty good … and will only get better from here in my humble opinion.
Lets take a look at how the offense produced on Saturday.
Tommy Rees – Rees completed twenty-nine of fifty-one passes for 314 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. This was also the first time in his career that he had back-to-back games where he passed for more than 300 yards (346 yards against Temple on August 31). The two touchdowns that he threw against Michigan bring his career totals to 39 and his season totals to five. Rees also moved passed Jarious Jackson (’99, 4,820 yards) into sixth place all-time in career passing yardage at Notre Dame with a new total of 5,073 yards.
Yes, I know, two interceptions, but Tommy’s offense scored 30 points. How many points does this offense need to score to win games?
TJ Jones – Jones caught his first touchdown of the season, the 11th of his career, and snagged nine catches for 94 yards in the match-up against Michigan. Jones’ punt return for 18 yards in the first quarter was the longest of his career, and the longest punt return by a Notre Dame player since Michael Floyd returned a punt for 41 yards in 2011 against Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl. (We can all hope that Jones follows in Floyd’s footsteps and goes on to make one-handed grabs like Floyd was making Sunday against the Rams.) And tell me again why we stopped running back punts? Anyways, I digress.
Troy Niklas – Niklas caught six passes for 76 yards, one being for a score and the longest being 21 yards. We seem to be holding strong in our reputation as Tight End U. I am very much looking forward to watching this kid play.
DaVaris Daniels – Daniels caught six passes for 63 yards, the longest being 22 yards. (I’m not saying that Eifert will not be missed this year, but with Jones, Niklas and Daniels catching passes Notre Dame’s passing game is bright to say the least.)
Chris Brown – Sophomore receiver, Brown, had three catches for 28 yards, his longest grab being for 11 yards.
Our receiving core looks tremendous and will only get better from here. We cannot, however, rely on our offense putting up huge numbers every game to make up for our defense not being able to hold or tackle anything.
Our running game, however, gave me fits of worry seeing as it was practically non-existent. This absence was not because we are lacking talent … we’ve all seen what Carlisle, Atkinson and McDaniels can do. Carlisle had 12 carries for 65 yards, Atkinson had five carries for 39 yards and a 50 yard kickoff return in the third quarter (this was his longest since a 96-yard touchdown run back at Notre Dame Stadium against USC on Oct. 22, 2011), and McDaniel had a mere one carry for four yards. Why Kelly is not utilizing this running core more effectively I have no idea. Our offense has got to be much more diversified in its attack for us to be successful moving forward.
Hopefully after they review game film and begin preparing for Purdue they realize that all passing and no rushing is not going to win games. I truly am not overly worried about this offense. Rees has a stellar surrounding cast and the more experience he gets under his belt the less mistakes he is going to make. Purdue should be a good chance for us to tune things up before we return home to face Michigan State.
Cheers!
Her Loyal ... Daughter
Lisa Kelly is a multidimensional marketing professional. She has over two decades of marketing experience and earned a bachelor of business administration and marketing from the University of Notre Dame (Class of 1993 ... Siegfried Hall!). She is a Digital Publishing Manager by day and by night is writing her third book, a continuation of "Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became" and its sequel "The Men We Became: MORE Echoes From the End Zone." In 2012, Lisa was crowned the "Biggest Fan of the Big East" in a blogging and social media contest, representing Notre Dame.
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Good article, but one small correction; “Tommy’s offense” scored 23 points, not 30. We need a more balanced attack as you mentioned. Running the ball more often will allow Tommy to throw more effectively dowbnfield and lossen up defenses.
Very true … Tuitt & the D had a TD.
I hate the “running the ball allows for easier passes” argument. Passing effectively can spread defenses out and create huge spaces for the running game as well.
Also, when you are trailing and need to score, you kind of have to air it out.
In general, the only place where I wish they’d run the ball more is in the red zone. Other than that, I don’t see a problem with the play calling at all.
As long as everything continues to improve & adjustments are made I’ll be happy. We knew this was not going to be another 12-0 season. 🙂
I must respectfully point out that this offense technically only scored 23 points. Also, they failed to score touchdowns on multiple red zone attempts vs. scum and are currently ranked 111th in red zone offense. I agree with you though- the pieces on offense are there. Effectively being used and properly motivated/focus-driven does not seem to be there.
I think people are sort of looking at an obvious slip in performance in the last 3 games and sort of wondering, why can’t we play consistently elite football with this talent? In terms of ND coaches, what’s different between Kelly and Lou when he wins 12 games one year and then does the same the year after + beats #2 Michigan on the road? Why have we given up over 80 points in two big games with “1st round NFL talent” on the DLine and 8 returning starters from the #1 scoring defense last year (I realize Manti was a bigger loss than anyone could have seen coming)? I’m not a goofus that’s calling for Kelly’s head, but this is certainly a time to look critically at gameday and probably preparation decisions. Let’s not even factor in the large and maddening loss of signed 5* talent.
I just hate losing to Michigan, I hate it so much!!
Yes, the pieces are there, and if Kelly is a top tier coach he will be able to get them there.
GO
IRISH!
Regarding your question on defense: Alabama was not just on another level, but also had over a month to gameplan against ND. They mentioned that ND had a very simplistic scheme and they found a way to beat it.
If you rewatch that matchup, you will see how they focused on Nix and only allowed him to penetrate to the opposite side the play was going more often than not. With that main concern down, they managed to handle the second level with little issue, especially with Te’o having a bad game.
As for Michigan, I suggest you read my post from yesterday: http://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2013/09/09/dismantling-defense/
Michigan was able to survive our blitz-happy gameplan, but those same blitzes were also the reason for any good plays that ND had.
Further, Michigan is good. It might annoy you to admit it, but after watching Saturday, I’m not sure how you can discount what Gardner and Gallon bring to the table.
Amen
So you’re saying 2 people beat us. I agree. I’m saying we’re not the championship caliber team I thought we would be. If the D can’t/won’t adjust during the game, maybe Diaco isn’t the great coach we all thought he was. Tommy sailed several passes hi and threw 1 legit pick that was very costly. All that said, when 30 points is not enough to win we have problems.
I believe plays were run by reading the defense. Tommy made ALOT of play changes at the line based what he saw on defense. When the defense showed a run could be successful , they ran the ball. They used what the defense gave them. Tommy is experienced enough and football intelligent enough to do this. I thank God we have Tommy Rees this year. He made one bad throw the entire game. The 2nd interception was in desperation with the clock running out and the game already lost. I don’t question what or why coaches do what they do. I’m not there everyday in practice , I don’t know every kids mindset in practice all week and I won’t question whats done by watching on tv for 3 hours. HOWEVER , I am very surprised at BK’s post game presser. He barely mentioned defense. He said several missed opportunities on offense is what the problem was. I don’t agree with that. EVERY game has missed opportunities on offense. The #1 reason for this loss,in my opinion,comes down to one number…41. FORTY-ONE POINTS !! To a team who’s quarterback wears #98. Take the whole college football schedule , every team and put 41 points on the opponents score. I think most all teams would be losing teams. I’m not so sure Coach Diaco will be a hot commodity for a head coach if this keeps up. Of course we miss Manti and KAP and several others,but we have plenty left. More than enough to keep meeshigin well under 41 points. Whats going to happen with Oklahoma ,Stanford & BYU ??? I agree with you Lisa 30 should be enough to win most every game,whether its 23 by offense and 7 by defense or 30 by offense. No offense should have to overcome 41 points. Don’t let me forget kudos to Kyle Brindza and the kicking game , great job ! GO IRISH Lets take it out on Purdue now !
I think discussing the three opponents you highlight is a great talking point. My thoughts:
Oklahoma – Lots of question marks here for their offense. Trevor Knight beat Blake Bell out for the starting QB job and has struggled a bit to get going and take OU to the offensive level we are used to seeing from them. To complicate things, Knight went down with a knee injury and Bell will be starting this Saturday against Tulsa. Which QB will we get and how well will that QB have progressed? That’s going to be the big thing to watch.
Stanford – I want to see more from them. They’ve played one game and we are all simply working under the assumption they will be great. I wasn’t able to watch them play San Jose State, but the final score was shockingly underwhelming for what I thought they would do to them. Of the three you list though, this is the toughest.
BYU – BYU’s offense is primarily running based, which even the 2013 Irish are strong against. ND only gave up 71 yards to Toussiant who is a damn good back and Temple’s rushing attack was held at bay as well. The thing to watch here is that BYU does have a very mobile QB; however, unlinke Michigan, the passing game won’t be a primary concern which should allow for a better focus on containing any big scrambles.
Also, don’t put that much stock into them beating Texas. Texas is an awful, awful team that was horribly overrated. That program is a total mess right now and only got their ranking because they are Texas. I saw this upset coming a mile away (called for it in the last Roundup) and many other folks did too. BYU is good, but do realize that Texas is bad.
ASU – I know you didn’t mention them, but I think they deserve the attention. Thus far they appear to be a team that should end the season in the top 25. Add on to the fact that they get a shot at ND, on a national stage, with ND possibly looking two weeks ahead to USC. That could be a very combustible recipe for disaster.
Overall though, I still believe we have a good shot at 10-2, but we will have to play much better than we did against Michigan. 9-3 is very realistic and I think 8-4 only happens if we shoot ourselves in the foot somewhere along the line.
The D is quite worrisome … Hopefully Kelly uses Purdue to shore up the D & the running game.
GO IRISH!
Nice work Lisa. NDTex, you and I are certainly on the same wavelength . The sad truth is that Michigan was a whole notch better than we expected, and Gardner in particular. He may be the tate Forcier of this year, but in truth he looks like the real deal. It is fair to say that if Denard had been an accurate passer Michigan might have been close to unstoppable, and now they have a great passer who can run close to Denard’s level.
So the objective truth is, we lost to a good team and they still needed the PI calls to close us out.
I watched NFL Sun and Mon night and the D backs are mugging receivers without getting called.
I think the running will improve. GA will either play better or sit.
I think the D will tighten as Jaylon and Jarret Grace get more comfortable.
Lets relax and see what happens.
Yes, lets relax. One loss does not mean the sky is falling!
After reading the BK presser transcript and some of the comments above, I’m troubled by the “we run when they let us run” mentality. I agree, running doesn’t necessarily set up the passing game and in some instances the passing game is what actually opens up the run. That being said, our big, powerful o-line and solid RB stable should make imposing our will on the ground an important part of the game plan. I’m all for Tommy changing plays at the line of scrimmage but sometimes those changes should be from run A to run B. Tex is right about red zone play-calling but establishing the running game early on could have eaten up time of possession and limited UM’s scoring opportunities. I’m not looking for the panacea BK referenced, just a more practical approach to game planning.
I agree with the headline. We got beat by a good team. It’s not time to panic but this defense is certainly not the 2012 defense. We’re finally playing teams to have the ability to test our secondary, specifically Russell. He has been terrible in both games. He may not be quite the corner he was made out to be last season. His tackling has been atrocious; he doesn’t wrap up. However, that can be fixed. I cringe whenever Shumate is on the field. He’s been a glaring weak spot in both games. The positives are that these guys are young and should benefit from more playing time. Thankfully, we play Purdue next week and should be able to overcome more mistakes but they’ll need to tighten up their game quickly or they will become targets for opposing offenses.
Unfortunately, red zone woes and INT’s are Tommy’s MO.