Five Observations From Rewatching 2019 Notre Dame Vs. Louisville

In wanting to be as prepared as possible for my first season covering Notre Dame football this fall, I’m going back and watching notable games from the 2019 season with a finer comb than when I watched them live. In a few cases, I watched all the games while at home or out and about. In others, I caught parts of games. And with some games, I didn’t see a minute of them.

Whatever category a game falls into, I’m using the rewatch (or first viewing) to find some themes from it that I think will play a part in how Notre Dame’s 2020 season goes.

First is the season opener at Louisville, which Notre Dame won 35-17. I watched this entire game when it actually happened and remembered the narrative of it. Here are five observations from a second sampling.

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One of the things I first thought to look for was not only how Notre Dame used now-junior tight end Tommy Tremble, but how Louisville deployed a similar player to him in its offense.

With Cole Kmet out due to injury, Tremble caught three passes for 49 yards. The highlight was a 26-yard touchdown Brock Wright technically drew the start, but was targeted once.

Tremble played 33 snaps, per Pro Football Focus — 22 inline, seven in the slot and four in the backfield. His touchdown came in a two-tight-end set when he lined up in the slot. Another reception came on a drag route when he sneaked behind blitzers to give Ian Book an easy completion and a 13-yard gain.

On his touchdown, Tremble ran right past a linebacker and was wide open when the safety went to help on Chase Claypool’s go route on the boundary. Each reception put him in position to run after the catch. He’s a tough cover for linebackers and safeties because of his speed, and he has the size and athleticism to win contested catches.

What also stood out to when thinking about Tremble, though, was how Louisville used its primary tight end, Marshon Ford. He’s more of an H-back or fullback who allows the Cardinals to transition personnel groups without substituting. He rarely lines up along the offensive line. But he’s a yards-after-catch producer who can run by linebackers and is a surprise weapon in Louisville’s option-heavy offense.

Like Ford, Tremble (6-3, 235) probably won’t grow into the body of a traditional tight end like Kmet (6-6, 262). But each is a skilled receiver whose team finds creative ways to deploy. Both of Ford’s catches were short passes that allowed him run. On a 37-yarder, he was simply too quick for Drew White to get to in the flat.

All told, Ford averaged 14.6 yards per catch in 2019 and caught two touchdowns on throws that traveled at least 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. He’s a deep threat, too.

Notre Dame, given its multiple tight end predilection, could consider putting Tremble in more spots like Ford where he is a receiver out of the backfield. More versatility would only help Tremble’s pro potential. It would also be a way to give Wright or heralded freshman Michael Mayer notable roles while still keeping another playmaker at the same position involved.

Notre Dame went nowhere in its quest to replace Drue Tranquill in 2019 spring practices. White was a candidate until missing nearly all of spring after an injury sustained while skiing. He didn’t nail down the mike linebacker job until fall camp.

But he emerged from nowhere right away. For someone who barely played for two years, his instincts and diagnostic ability were advanced, especially against a zone-read and option-filled offense. He appeared to learn Louisville’s tendencies as the game progressed, indicating it wasn’t too fast for him.

One blemish was the Ford reception, but he showed enough speed to latch onto Louisville running back Javian Hawkins in the flat and break up a pass. Louisville had been putting speedy receiver Tutu Atwell in motion as eye candy or as a runner all game and was successful with it in the first half. On one third-quarter play, White recognized the motion, went with him across the formation and dropped him for a six-yard loss on a shovel pass.

White’s instant emergence reflects well on Notre Dame’s defensive coaching staff, but I’m not sure how realistic it is to count on each year. Perhaps that’s another reason the Irish wanted graduate transfer Nick McCloud at boundary cornerback, which is as unsettled now as mike linebacker was then. McCloud was good, not great, at North Carolina State. But he’s a safer bet to grasp things quickly.

Notre Dame’s sack-adjusted rushing totals were impressive: 39 carries, 240 yards and 6.2 yards per rush. The Irish had four touchdowns and nine runs of at least 10 yards. There was little reason for them to ever abandon it.

Louisville has smaller defensive linemen who are athletic enough to shoot gaps, beat pullers to the spot and get off blocks but can also be moved without much issue. That’s about what happened, especially on Notre Dame’s first drive.

But there were also three third-and-short situations where Notre Dame ran the ball and didn’t convert, a bugaboo all season that showed up from the start. Per FootballOutsiders, Notre Dame ranked 106th in power success rate, which measure short-yardage effectiveness.

When these two teams meet again this year, Notre Dame’s offensive line should move the line of scrimmage pretty consistently. Louisville will once again be undersized up front. But if it wants to have a more consistent rushing attack that doesn’t disappear in games, it has to win more in short-yardage spots, especially against upset-minded teams like Louisville.

One other note: Book, for as often as it seems like he leaves early to run, was a smart decision-maker when deciding to scramble.

His 37-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage came when he saw the spying linebacker with his back to the play and took off. That’s not being skittish – it’s recognizing a defensive mental error. A third-down scramble in the fourth quarter appeared to be a read where he saw a defender go with a flat receiver and took off into the vacated spot and got the needed yards.

The strong safety spot is a question mark with Alohi Gilman gone. Career rotation players Houston Griffith and Isaiah Pryor are the main contenders.

They’ll be comforted knowing who’s next to them. There is no ceiling for Kyle Hamilton. Plays like this second-quarter pass broken up show why. The instincts to come off his initial assignment and the range to cover the ground needed are special.

The play came on the same drive as a missed tackle where Hamilton whiffed at Hawkins at the line of scrimmage. It looked like one of those plays where a freshman learns the hard way just how faster the college game is. If it was, he’s sure a quick learner.

Lost in his downfield catches and ideal boundary receiver frame was Claypool’s short-pass proficiency. There was rarely a middle ground from him — he was either catching passes 15 or 20 yards downfield or right around the line of scrimmage. A 6-4 receiver can do both when he can run a sub-4.4 40-yard dash.

Claypool had 31 yards after the catch on three short receptions against Louisville. I feel confident Notre Dame will find a reliable boundary receiver, but do any of them have his after-the-catch skill in space to boot?

I’m not sure Northwestern grad transfer Bennett Skowronek does. Kevin Austin hasn’t played enough to really know, but he’s intriguing. Braden Lenzy and Lawrence Keys III are playmakers but not big-bodied downfield threats. There’s much to like about Notre Dame’s receiver outlook, but it may not have an all-around playmaker in Claypool. There’s a reason he was a top-50 pick.

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