Notre Dame played an actual game of football today. It felt almost surreal given everything that has happened since Notre Dame last played in December, but the Irish did indeed play and beat Duke 27-13 to improve to 1-0 in conference play.
Here are my quick takes from the game.
Michael Mayer is already a dude for the Notre Dame offense
I heard the hype this summer and thought, sure, Michael Mayer could have a role this year, but wow. The nickname “Baby Gronk” seemed pretty fitting when Mayer took a pass from Ian Book well short of the first down on a third-down with a defender on his back essentially and turned it into a first down. Very few tight ends convert that play, let alone true freshmen.
Mayer was five yards short of the first down when he hauled in the pass, broke a tackle, and then bulled his way for the first. Big-time play from a true frosh. Mayer had three receptions for 38 yards on three targets on the afternoon. It was just one game, but it is very easy to see why the staff has been so high on Mayer.
Kyren Williams looks like a stud.
Speaking of studs, how about Kyren Williams. In the first start of his career, all the guy did was run for 112 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns while adding another 93 yards on two receptions. He should have had a whole lot more receiving yards too, but Book misfired on a screen in the third that was easily a 30+ yard play and could have even been a 70+ yard touchdown with the blocking set up.
Williams got off to a slow start while the offensive line struggled early, but he showed why he won the job with the kind of vision and patience we did not see from Notre Dame running backs in 2019. His 26-yard touchdown in the third quarter was a prime example of that. Instead of just running into the line to try and convert the 4th and short, he bounced the ball outside and ended up scoring. No Notre Dame back on the roster last year makes that play.
Notre Dame’s offense struggled, but we should have expected that
I admit, I got caught up a little bit into the Tommy Rees as an offensive genius notion this off-season and let that cloud my judgment a bit. We should have expected some struggles from the offense considering the lack of spring ball and all of the new weapons – especially with Kevin Austin out and Braden Lenzy apparently unavailable.
Still, the one issue that popped up on offense that can’t be explained away by the lack of practice was Ian Book’s early indecisiveness in the pocket. This is his third year as the starting quarterback. He’s got the experience so that was a bit alarming. Hopefully, it’s not a recurring theme.
On a positive, we learned Mayer and Williams are beasts and that Chris Tyree‘s speed is as advertised. That’s something Notre Dame can work with until they get Austin and Lenzy back.
Where was Braden Lemzy?
Notre Dame entered the game without their best wide receiver with Kevin Austin out with an injury. They played the game without the second-best wide receiver – and their lone deep threat – Braden Lenzy. The reason for Lenzy’s absence isn’t known. Notre Dame said after the game that Lenzy was available for the game. He didn’t play though.
Reports started to surface before the game that Lenzy wasn’t on the field for warm-ups, but was then seen in uniform during the game. If the reason for his absence was some sort of disciplinary reason, we likely won’t get any official confirmation.
Hopefully, this was a one-week thing and Lenzy is back in action next week because the Notre Dame offense needed Lenzy’s big-play ability today.
UPDATE: Tim Prister reported late Saturday night that Lenzy had a minor hamstring injury.
Isiah Foskey is also a dude already
I’m not sure why Duke kept not blocking Isaiah Foskey, but future Notre Dame opponents probably want to account for #7 on Notre Dame’s defense. Foskey spent a lot of his day in the Duke backfield while picking up 1.5 TFL including a sack. Foskey owes the ACC replay crew for the sack since the play was initially ruled an incomplete pass with an intentional grounding call – ie there was no difference at all in the outcome of the play – but he earned it for all the time he spent in the Duke backfield.
In addition to his 1.5 TFL, he had two other quarterback hurries and a pass breakup. Foskey looks like he could be in line for an Aaron Lynch type sophomore season for the Irish.
Kyle Hamilton’s Injury Looked Back, But It Appears Minor
The biggest scare on Saturday was the injury to Kyle Hamilton. Hamilton got rolled up on in the third quarter and never returned. Early reports are that Hamilton just suffered an ankle sprain and could have potentially returned. That said, Hamilton was seen noticeably hobbling on the sideline.
Before the injury, Hamilton was his normal disruptive-self. He had four tackles on Duke’s first drive alone and just missed an interception on their second. He was seemingly everywhere on the field even though you would imagine that Duke would have coached Chase Brise to go away from him.
Kurt Hinish had himself a game
I spent a bit of time this summer writing about how Jayson Ademilola and Jacob Lacey could eventually unseat Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Kurt Hinish this season. Welp, Hinish did not look like a player who is going to have his starting spot challenged any time soon. Hinish had two tackles and both of them were for a loss including a second-half sack.
The fake punt took a lot of stones to call
Notre Dame was struggling to move the ball offensively when Notre Dame called a fake punt on 4th and 8 from their own 21. The Irish were down 3-0 at the time and if they had not converted there, Duke would have had the ball in prime position with a chance to go up two scores. Instead, Notre Dame converted and ended that drive with their first touchdown of the year.
Calling that fake at that time, at that point of the field took a lot of guts for Brian Kelly and Brian Polain. It was a huge risk/reward play that worked out for the Irish. I can only imagine the internet’s reaction to it had it not worked out, but it worked and helped turn the tide of the game early on.
Jeff, Pedro, David,
I was clearly being sarcastic!
Clemson is at an altogether different level than ND, with or without COVID.
That’s the excuse we’ll hear here about why ND didn’t look dominant, as if BK and Co. were the only ones dealing with the pandemic.
Put BK on Clemson and Dabo on ND and it’s tight, only because Clemson is so much more talented than ND.
Agreed and I knew you were being sarcastic. I appreciate that you call it like you see it.
Thanks, Jeff, I leave the pie-in-the-sky to others and the inane BS to Burgy.
I just think ND will not compete for a NC with this coach and with its current recruiting/admission philosophy. And before someone says I’m asking the ND administration to sell out, I’m only asking ND revisit whatever it did with Lou. No one can tell me that the “Rocket” was a “rocket scientist” at ND!
At some point, perhaps sooner than later, ND mediocrity will cost it its position in the college football pantheon. ND football will become irrelevant, like the neighboring Chicago Cubs. Rather than inspiring hatred like they once did among their foes, ND football will just illicit a shrug of the shoulders or worse still pity for its fall from grace.
Hopefully, ND decides that it wants to actually compete for a national championship and not an Ivy League title!
GO IRISH!
The 2016 World Series Champions are irrelevant?
wow lot of hate jeff and David. So let’s get back to football. Disappointed:
ian was not good he lacked accuracy and vision
– is that on tommy R?
O line looked dreadful for a large portion of the game
-is that on jeff Quin or just kids being lazy during lock down. Either way needs to be fixed asap
What happened to the 5 running backs I saw two. I’m not sure 1 back has had the opportunity to have 19 carries in 1 game since early 90s. KW did well, but he missed some lanes that were there.
Positives:
Mayer looked tough on the conversion.
Fioskey was a beast.
The D as a whole looked more than respectable. Give Lea a $ bump now and put a contract in place to keep him. Big bonus if he gets us a championship. Be clear if we win one it will be because his D earned for us.
Going for it- fake punt- the punter caught the ball on the 7 yard line. The offense wasn’t moving the ball. Too make that call- wow. Thats more than guts. If they would not have made that unflattering billboards would have been scattered across the Bend. If Kelly gets his 4th coach of the year- this is where you start the list.
Last thoughts
ND didn’t look like a championship team Saturday. They did however look like the better team. That is all we need to do is be the better team each week.
Go Irish!
This year is surreal. After being sports free for about 6 months I’m just finding it hard to get my head back in the game. Plus, with CFB, it’s a year unlike any other. Will there even be a national champion this year, and if so will it be considered legit with some conferences not even playing?
But on this win, a win’s a win. I try not to read too much into first games. Some things you think will be big problems turn out to nothing and things you don’t expect crop up.
ND has some playmakers, which is good obviously. I continue to be skeptical of Book being the elite QB ND needs to win championships. He’s reliable, he’ll win most games. But is he good enough to win the big games? I think that is yet to be seen.
But again, the way CFB is this year will ND even have the opportunity to play for any sort of National Championship even if they do shock the world? Wouldn’t that be a kicker. ND ends up playing dominant football, manages to beat Clemson (even twice) and no NC.
Honestly, I don’t know what will happen in regards to anything like an actual playoff beyond the conference championship. With the Big 10 and Pac 12 seemingly out of the picture, along with a number of other conferences, I’m not sure.
Damian,
Bama has already claimed this year’s NC title. They also probably claimed last year’s too since the “Tuscaloosa Crimson” voted them #1.
According to Bama’s sports communications they own 1000 NCs!
ND is the only team in history to have never lost a conference game.
Easy tough guy. I know the absence of Flutie was hard on you today. Its gonna be alright.
At least Clemson is struggling just like ND. I mean a whole new O line for them and they can’t move the ball against Wake.
That Clemson D also giving up a lot of points with new starters there too.
ND and Clemson look like twins!
Clemson will curb stomp Notre Dame. Maybe twice this year but dont be alarmed we got old purple face locked up thru 2024
Eh? 27-0 Clemson right now. Clemson lines dominant. ND’s O-line not so much. I like our defensive ends but outside of Hinish I don’t see much on the interior. Book downright terrible given the level of competition. I will admit he’s working with a depleted receiving corps, but accuracy is suspect, he’s still skittish, didn’t see a wide open Keyes on a play where he actually had good protection, and he runs out of bounds for a loss instead of throwing the ball away. Lots of work to do