Notre Dame Football Stock Report: Week 3

It was “a win is a win” week for the Fighting Irish football team.

It was the type of game that provides the best and worst in message board fodder. On the one hand, the Fighting Irish football team ran amok on the Boston College defense, amassing 500+ yards rushing and seven rushing touchdowns. This reality would have been considered unthinkable a month ago with “air Kelly” entering his 8th season. They ran for 500 yards! Two players ran for over 200 yards. This is the dream of old school fans everywhere, who long for the days of Holtz who crushed teams on the ground. But….

The fact also remains that it was 14-13 with Boston College in field goal range at the start of the third quarter following a Brandon Wimbush gaffe. This game was close longer than it was a blowout. And to be honest, they looked bad throwing the ball in a way that pre-dates the Charlie Weis era. Nothing was to be taken for granted through the air.

So blowout win, with a dominating rushing attack, but also close through 2 1/2 quarters, and an inability to throw. A choose your flavor performance. A little something for each in the glass half full, glass half empty crowd.

All told, a victory in the win column and it’s on to Sparty in East Lansing next Saturday. Onto the stock report.

Rising

Shaun Crawford

I’ve mentioned Crawford being a key to the Notre Dame defense in a number of articles dating back to the summer of 2015. I loved his skill set and his game. He’s the type of guy who always finds a way to be around the ball, make plays on the ball, and be involved in big plays. This has proven out over the first three weeks of the season, and especially against Boston College. He intercepted two passes, racked up two more passes defended, and recovered a fumble. This was something of a “breakout” week for him in terms of big plays and creating turnovers, but he has been steady all season.

For the season, Shaun Crawford is allowing a 28.6 completion percentage and 3.92 yards per target. Both tops among Irish corners.

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) September 19, 2017

He will continue to be a part of the cornerback rotation, and that rotation should continue (as opposed to him supplanting Julian Love), because while he is playing well, he’s still had trouble staying healthy. Notre Dame would be wise to keep an eye on him in terms of snap count. Because not only does he bring a lot to corner, but he also is a key member of the nickel defense, which has also been doing very well.

Notre Dame has been in nickel on 32 snaps this season. It’s allowed 3 first downs and 2 TDs to go with 3 INTs, 1 FR and 2 sacks.

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) September 19, 2017

(Sampson points out in a later tweet the two touchdowns were the one handed grab by Terry Godwin of Georgia and the “touchdown” Crawford gave up against Boston College when the receiver caught the ball without catching it.)

Alize Mack

Credit where it is due. I’ve been critical of Mack the last couple of weeks and while he didn’t flash big plays last week, he was reliable when called upon. Notre Dame was also more creative in trying to find him space and give him opportunities. He made a tough catch at the one yard line on 2nd and goal which didn’t yield a touchdown, but allowed Notre Dame to run the ball on 3rd and goal, where Tony Jones Jr. converted from one yard out. It seems like a small thing, but if Mack doesn’t haul that pass in, Notre Dame might have been less inclined to run from the six, and we all saw Wimbush throw the ball last week. Good signs from Mack as Notre Dame continues to struggle at receiver.

Te’Von Coney

Simply put, he’s been Notre Dame’s best linebacker through the first three games, which is saying something because Morgan, Martini, and Tranquill have been pretty good as well. He leads the team in tackles with 25, has brought in a sack, registered two quarterback hurries, and has been the most consistent week to week. He doesn’t have the tackles for loss numbers the others do, but 4th down stops for no-gain (against BC for example) also don’t show up on stat sheets other than a notch in the tackle column. He’s been a significant bright spot early this year.

Falling

The Passing Game

I follow offseason reporting very closely, probably more than most, because I’m tasked with writing about the team. Being based in Southern California, I rely on local Notre Dame beat writers for information on the way players look in practice and what type of team this might be.

I heard a lot of things about Brandon Wimbush. Never heard the word “accuracy” in the concern column. It just didn’t come up. And this isn’t me finding fault with the reports. I don’t think the beat reporters were wrong or misleading the public. But, what was true then, is not true now. The passing game is a mess and it has gotten worse.

Wimbush went from a 123.52 passer rating against Temple, to 94.10 against Georgia, to 71.10 against Boston College. And it’s hard to find a fix that doesn’t come down to Wimbush needs to settle down and throw the ball better. He’s 4 of his last 16 in targeting Equanimeous St. Brown. Some of those balls St. Brown can bring in, others have been outright misses by Wimbush.

I’ll have a piece later in the week breaking down the passing game and it’s struggles, but simply there isn’t a lot to like right now.

Kickoff coverage

Notre Dame just hasn’t been very good covering kickoffs this year and it’s going to really bite them at some point if this doesn’t get figured out. They currently sit at 104th nationally at average per return and that doesn’t include the 90 yard return against Georgia that was called back to open the game (and the guy who was held wasn’t in position to make a tackle). If you were to add that return to the ledger, we are looking at 28.2 yards per return, which is quite bad. Even as it is now, they are a yard above the calamity that was last season on special teams.

In addition, Notre Dame’s average kickoff distance is 67th in the nation with teams fielding kicks on average at the 3 yard line, and they are 89th in touchback percentage. So a team who is not good at covering kicks is also not good at kicking the ball out of the end zone or forcing touchbacks. Settle it, boys, settle it.