Column: Irish's Defeat Of Georgia Tech Felt Transactional, And That's Good
The best thing Notre Dame could do on its Halloween road trip to Georgia Tech was make it easy to forget.
Go to Atlanta. Put up a win with little doubt of the outcome. Stay healthy. Get it over with. Avoid regression and the creation of any new themes that would bring concern. To borrow and alter a Bill Belichick line, just cruise to a win and say, “We’re on to Clemson.”
Cross all of those off the to-do list. Up now is the test it’s actually looking forward to taking.
“We don’t have to beat around the bush anymore,” defensive end Daelin Hayes said. “It’s Clemson week, baby.”
There wasn’t much the Irish could do against the now 2-5 Yellow Jackets that would increase the confidence level heading into the first visit by a top-ranked team to Notre Dame Stadium since 2005. Delivering a wire-to-wire win was the expectation, and a 31-13 suffocation of Georgia Tech fits the description.
Indeed, it was hardly memorable and felt transactional. That’s OK. No Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah destructions of a hapless ball carrier or Isaiah Foskey harassments of opponent’s punters. Safety Kyle Hamilton was superhuman in his return to his hometown, but you’ve come to expect that already. The offense was effective but not sexy. All told, this game won’t be brought up when discussing the 2020 season months and years from now.
All Notre Dame had to do was ensure pessimism didn’t grow. Maybe you’ve already decided Notre Dame won’t hang with Clemson, but if not, holding Georgia Tech to 3.9 yards per play and zero offensive touchdowns until garbage time and putting up 237 sack-adjusted rushing yards didn’t provide many opportunities to form such a conclusion.
“I wouldn't say it was our best performance today,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “But we did some good things.”
The biggest storyline that came out of the game happened one state over and during halftime, when Clemson coach Dabo Swinney announced quarterback Trevor Lawrence won’t play next week at Notre Dame. Lawrence, perhaps the Heisman frontrunner, tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday. He missed the Tigers’ 34-28 win over Boston College and won’t be ready in time for next weekend.
“I heard today that he’s not going to play, which is probably the safest thing,” Kelly said. “It's too bad he's not playing. You want you want the best players to play.”
Clemson won’t be light on quarterback talent, though, with five-star freshman D.J. Uiagalelei piloting the offense. And Notre Dame’s not thinking about whatever diminished credit they would get for a win. The Tigers stand between the Irish and their championship goals. They’ll need to topple Clemson at some point to get there, no matter who’s at quarterback.
“We've been preparing for this opportunity to play the best team in the country,” Kelly said. “They're excited about this opportunity to play the gold standard in Clemson.”
If nothing else, the game affirmed how Notre Dame will go about the attempt to hand Clemson just its third regular-season loss since 2015. Run the ball, early and often. Throw it efficiently and effectively. And just get stops. Notre Dame’s opening drive chewed up nearly nine minutes and featured zero incomplete passes. Pull out the sacks, and Notre Dame averaged 5.6 yards per carry, which is remarkably its third-lowest sack-adjusted rushing average this year.
Quarterback Ian Book didn’t shred Georgia Tech’s defense, but he was more than good enough. He was 18-for-26 for 199 yards and a touchdown. The downfield throws were rare, though placing too much emphasis on those (or the lack thereof) would overlook one of his sharper outings throwing mid-range passes. Through five games, Book was 14-for-31 for 237 yards on throws between 10 and 20 yards downfield.
Notre Dame was 10-of-15 on third down, its third straight game converting at least half of them. Book was responsible for six of those, five on passes and one on a scramble. He averaged 10.4 yards per pass attempt on third down.
“It was a really good day for him, one that we can continue to build off,” Kelly said.
The Irish will also build off a breakout defensive performance from Hayes, who had gone sack-less through five games. He notched two of those, forcing fumbles on both. He appeared to have a third, but it was overturned. He made five tackles and agitated true freshman right tackle Jordan Williams for much of the game.
One of Hayes’ sacks came a play after a 39-yard completion that gave Georgia Tech a jolt. Hayes stomped on those flames by strip-sacking Yellow Jackets quarterback Jeff Sims. Defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa snatched the loose ball, and Notre Dame turned it into a touchdown to take a 24-7 lead.
“Elevating the play of Daelin Hayes might be singularly as important as anything that happened today,” Kelly said.
Maybe that’s the only happening from this nondescript, tune-up win – Notre Dame’s 30th straight over an unranked team – that has any long-term significance. The Irish’s pass rush has been fine, but a step below its 2018 and 2019 levels. Hayes turning pressures into sacks can help it get there.
Notre Dame will get right back to work and begin game prep Sunday, earlier than normal because of Tuesday’s mandatory day off for Election Day.
It can’t come soon enough. Finally, what’s important next is also what’s important now.
“Now,” Book said, “it’s time to go.”
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