Five Observations From Rewatching Notre Dame Vs. Virginia
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 game 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.
The third game up is Notre Dame’s 35-20 win over Virginia from Sept. 28. I did not watch any of it live. Here are five observations from my first viewing.
Defensive Line’s Dominance Sustainability
Virginia’s offensive line, particularly its tackles, was no match for Notre Dame’s edge defenders. Julian Okwara’s speed was overwhelming. Khalid Kareem used his power and craftiness to set up camp in the backfield. In a search for some kind of answer, the Cavaliers eventually made a change at right tackle.
Okwara and Kareem combined for 5.5 sacks, but Notre Dame had 3.5 more from other defensive linemen. Even its interior linemen and second-string edge players had moments. Okwara’s backup, Ovie Oghoufo, notched a sack. This was Jamir Jones’ first meaningful action, and he had a strip-sack.
Virginia was a good team in 2019. It went 9-5 and won the ACC Coastal Division. Notre Dame’s front seven, though, was superior and wore down the Cavaliers’ front as the game went on. Defensive coordinator Clark Lea shifted to some basic 4-3 looks and let his players win one-on-one matchups. Everyone on the defensive line did at some point.
There weren’t many fancy blitzes or coverages. Sometimes, the best adjustment is to sit back and let a superior, well-coached team take over.
I left this game thinking even without Kareem and Okwara, the Irish’s defensive front should handle many of their 2020 opponents like it did Virginia. There are plenty of Virginia-like teams on the schedule — experienced, safely bowl-bound squads but ones without a history of recruiting the offensive line talent to slow Notre Dame’s defensive front. Virginia doesn’t run an intricate option attack either.
Not everyone will allow eight sacks, but it’s a difficult task for most of those teams — like 2020 opponents Pitt and Wake Forest, for example — to move Notre Dame’s defensive line around often enough to run for 5.0 yards per carry or allow a quarterback to sit back and pick apart a secondary.
The Irish didn’t have Daelin Hayes for much of the game against Virginia due to an injury he suffered. They replaced him with another senior (Jones) and missed nothing. Virginia averaged 2.2 yards per rush, excluding sacks.
Notre Dame played eight deep across the defensive line against Virginia. Everyone had flashes, at minimum. If Hayes goes down in 2020, Notre Dame would likely turn to Oghoufo, himself entering his fourth year with the program. All four interior mainstays are back. Highly regarded recruits Justin Ademilola and Isaiah Foskey are expected to slide into bigger rotation roles at the end spots.
This isn’t to say Notre Dame is better off without Okwara and Kareem. They were drafted for good reason. But the Irish defensive line is built to handle personnel losses and avoid a drop-off.
Ade Ogundeji’s Promise
One player who illustrates the idea of great depth is Ogundeji, the expected starter at strong-side end in place of Kareem. He had only 0.5 tackles for loss and no solo stops against Virginia, but his power and discipline showed up in his 25 snaps. Pro Football Focus credited him with three quarterback pressures in 17 pass-rush situations.
Lea expressed pregame concern about Virginia’s quarterback running game with Bryce Perkins, who rushed for nearly 1,000 yards in 2018. It featured zone-reads to help create opportunities for a backfield that lacked difference makers. In the third clip of the video above, Ogundeji finds himself unblocked, stays home and bottles up running back Wayne Taulapapa after Kurt Hinish’s disruption forced the play right to Ogundeji.
Ogundeji is a fine example of the strong developmental track record Notre Dame’s defensive line has established the last few years. The one-time Western Michigan commit needed to wait his turn, but steadily improved and enters his final season with some NFL buzz.
Regression Feelings
Ian Book was 17-of-25 passing for 165 yards with no touchdowns and no turnovers. Notre Dame scored four touchdowns with him at the controls. He made some important throws to keep drives going. Overall, an adequate day.
Yet the season-long theme of his regression was still prominent in this game, and a look at three drop-backs where there was a first down to be had illustrate why. Book can deliver a clean overall game like this one and let Notre Dame’s defense and rushing attack go to work, but these plays allowed consternation around him to fester for two months of the season.
The first one is an eight-yard gain on second-and-nine, a play that’s useful without context but a missed opportunity when put under the microscope.
Notre Dame’s offensive line picks up a zone blitz, with tackle Robert Hainsey and guard Tommy Kraemer exchanging protections on the right and running back Tony Jones Jr. picking up the linebacker on the left. Book has a tidy pocket and Cole Kmet is open on a post pattern, but he spins out and scrambles.
On another, Notre Dame faces a third-and-five near midfield, up 21-17 in the third quarter. Virginia sends a slot blitzer, who Jones picks up. The Cavaliers are in single coverage, and Chase Claypool is running a corner route. He's not wide open, but it's a favorable situation for Book's favorite target. Book is fixated on Claypool's side, but throws short of the marker to Chris Finke, who is immediately tackled.
These are the moments that cemented Notre Dame as a pretty good offense in September and October instead of a great one. They’ll need to be at a minimum for Notre Dame and Book to push into the national top 10-15 in major offensive categories. The issue isn't Book's inability to hit these throws and display poise, as shown here against the same rush concept as the first throw.
Running Game Floor
Running back is unsettled and unproven at this point, but when watching Notre Dame’s offensive line in this game, I don’t see the quest for a lead back as a season-defining quandary.
The Irish moved Virginia around largely at will. Without sacks, they ran for 225 yards on 6.6 yards per carry. Notre Dame ran a steady dose of power all game. On its final drive, it used 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends) on nearly every snap and blew the Cavaliers off the ball. Jones’ two longest runs came on that drive.
This was a particularly good game for Kraemer, who Jones and other backs often ran behind. Kmet and No. 2 tight end Tommy Tremble had strong blocking game. Tremble played a season-high 35 snaps, per PFF, and acted as a lead blocker out of the backfield on a few occasions. (I previously wrote why using him there might be wise).
Notre Dame’s offensive line will be expected to bring this type of blocking effort against all the good but not top-25 teams on the schedule. If it does, it’ll be hard to have an unproductive ground attack in at least eight or nine games this season no matter who is carrying the ball.
A game-changer would help in the spotlight games against Clemson, Wisconsin and USC, but there’s a high floor given the offensive line’s demonstrated ability to push around other Power Five teams.
Where does C’Bo Flemister Fit In?
The third-year sophomore is among the many unproven running backs on the 2020 roster, but he capitalized on his six carries against Virginia. He ran for 27 yards, 11 of them on a touchdown run, and took a dump-off screen pass 13 yards.
The idea of Flemister as a lead back fails to generate much excitement. This game, though, displayed enough to make me think he will keep himself in the mix well into fall camp. He broke one tackler and dragged another man on his reception. He shed two tacklers on his touchdown run, right after waiting for Kraemer to pave the road on a pull and cutting upfield.
Flemister isn’t really elusive or fast, but he’s a tough runner who can fit as a one-cut-and-go back in power running or zone-blocking schemes. That’s what earned him red zone and short yardage work in 2019, and I’d suspect there will be a place for it in Notre Dame’s backfield this season in some capacity.
Previous Rewatch Observations
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