Notebook: Notre Dame doesn't want to get in shootout with North Carolina
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marcus Freeman offered plenty of praise Monday for North Carolina when discussing the challenge of slowing down the No. 4 scoring offense in the FBS so far this season.
The Tar Heels (3-0) have lit up opponents for 51.3 points per game, but none of those opponents (Florida A&M, Appalachian State and Georgia State) have been from Power Five conferences.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Notre Dame head coach will push for a conservative game plan from ND’s offense similar to what the Irish did in the season opener against Ohio State’s prolific offense.
“I haven’t studied them enough as a team yet to make those decisions,” Freeman said Monday. “Those are things we’ll discuss as a coaching staff as we continue to evaluate and continue to game plan. The game plan versus Ohio State was specific to Ohio State.
“We’ll look at where our team is now and who we’re facing offensively and defensively. Some of those decisions are because of both sides of the ball. We know they’re an explosive offense.
"We obviously don’t want to get into a shootout. I don’t think anybody in our program wants to do that, especially not the defensive side of the ball. We have to find ways to stop them.”
MONDAY NIGHT LIVE: Watch Eric Hansen and Tyler James review ND's win over Cal
Notre Dame’s offense will almost certainly be concerned with controlling the ball to some extent, but the Irish need to put up more points than the 10 they managed against Ohio State. It should be easier against a North Carolina defense that’s allowed opponents to score 37.7 points per game.
“I don’t expect it to be a 7-10 game at the end of the third quarter like it was at Ohio State,” Freeman said. “This is going to be a game that we’re going to have score some points, and we’re truly going to have to limit them defensively.”
The first look at a full game of a Drew Pyne-led offense produced mixed results for Notre Dame. The junior quarterback started slow — 4-of-9 passing for 27 yards — before completing 13 of his 14 passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns in the final three quarters.
Pyne wasn’t asked to stretch the field much. Of his 23 passes, only three were thrown to targets at least 10 yards down the field, according to Pro Football Focus data. The lone completion of those three attempts was the 21-yard touchdown pass to wide-open running back Chris Tyree.
The limited deep shots, Freeman said, were a product of Cal’s defensive scheme. He doesn’t expect the Irish offense to always rely so heavily on short throws and run-pass options with Pyne.
“We had a game plan in of being more lateral in our passing game,” Freeman said. “We missed a couple of shots that we took a chance on, but we're going to have to throw some balls downfield. We're not going to be able to get away with running five-yard routes and RPOs and running the ball the entire game. We know that.
“There's a belief from our coaching staff, from me on down, that we can and we will be able to execute that. We haven't done it yet to the percentage that we want to, but to be able to win the upcoming games that we play, you're going to have to be able to complete some balls down the field.”
For the first time since the Purdue game in week three of last season, tight end Michael Mayer was limited to fewer than three receptions in a game he played. One of Mayer’s two receptions against Cal provided the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter, but his low production (two catches for 10 yards) likely won’t be a winning recipe very often for the Irish.
Pyne missed Mayer on three throws in the first quarter.
“We have to find ways to get the ball in Michael Mayer’s hands,” Freeman said. “We understand that. We tried to earlier, didn't execute the way we wanted, so we had to kind of abort a little bit and say let’s establish the run game and adjust our plan.
“Every week, one of the main plans will be get the ball to Michael Mayer.”
Pyne will have to use his right arm to make sure there are more successful aspects of the passing game.
“What we were trying to do Saturday is what we needed to do to win,” Freeman said. “That’s what we ended up doing. Hopefully the second half is a better indication of who Drew Pyne is.”
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Fixing mistakes
Though Notre Dame sacked Cal quarterback Jack Plummer six times Saturday, the Irish had more opportunities to take him to the ground.
For instance, Freeman highlighted a blitz in which cornerback Clarence Lewis whiffed on a clean shot at Plummer. Though there’s room for improvement on finishing sacks, Freeman said he wasn’t overly concerned with those missed pressures. But letting a quarterback like Plummer scramble for big gains is a different story.
“We have to be relentless to get after the quarterback, but at the same time we can't give up a fourth-down conversion with a quarterback scrambling and a second-and-long conversion where the quarterback scrambles,” Freeman said. “We have to understand the integrity of our rush lanes. It's a double-edged sword.”
The Irish also have to clean up false start penalties on the offense. Notre Dame committed four in the first half against Cal to move its season total to seven, all of which have been on the offense.
“I think it’s a little bit of everything,” Freeman said. “A new quarterback. Some of those third-down plays, you’re getting some stems and those guys are sitting in their stance for a while and they’re getting antsy.
“We just have to clean up those unforced errors. We have to clean up pre-snap penalties. That’s something that we made a big point of emphasis in halftime, and we’ll make it during this week. We cannot continue to do that.”
Defending Josh Downs
Freeman didn’t seem too interested in finding silver linings from last season’s defensive performance against North Carolina when he was defensive coordinator. Especially when it came to wide receiver Josh Downs and his final line of 10 catches for 142 yards in the 44-34 ND victory.
Downs, who finished last season with 101 receptions for 1,335 yards and eight touchdowns, missed the previous two games for North Carolina with a leg injury, but he’s expected to return to the starting lineup against the Irish. Downs will likely become a favorite target of redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Maye, whose first three starts have produced 930 passing yards and 11 passing touchdowns.
“I don’t know if you can completely shut down Josh Downs,” Freeman said. “He’s a really good football player. I don’t love hearing a stat line of 10-plus catches and 100-something yards. That’s too much.
“As a former defensive coordinator, it’s still a lot. I don’t care how many touchdowns you had. You’re putting your offense in position to score touchdowns if you’re doing that. We can’t do a ‘Let Josh Downs get his.’ We have to find ways to try to limit his catches and what he does after the catch.
“That’s probably the most dangerous thing Josh Downs does. He gets the ball in his hands, and he makes people miss. He takes a three-yard gain and makes it a 20-yard gain. That’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”
Extra points
• Sophomore running back Logan Diggs didn’t play against Cal due to an illness. Freeman said the Irish could have used him if necessary. He’s expected to be available this week.
“He'll be ready to go,” Freeman said. “He practiced (Sunday) and had a great practice.”
Defensive linemen Isaiah Foskey and Jayson Ademilola received attention from the training staff during Saturday’s game, but they both returned to action after being temporarily sidelined. Neither are expected to be limited moving forward.
“Those guys are tough players,” Freeman said. “They were out there (Sunday). Both of those guys, I have no concern with them being able to perform on Saturday.”
• Following victories, Freeman explained Monday, the team will announce players of the week. For their performances against Cal, the following players were recognized as players of the week: Foskey (defense), running back Audric Estime (offense) and safety Houston Griffith (special teams).
Foskey tallied four tackles, two tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks and two quarterback hurries. Estime totaled 76 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries and 43 yards on three receptions. Griffith made two tackles on punt coverage.
• Senior linebacker JD Bertrand was selected as one of 11 FBS players on the 2022 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which recognizes community contributions in college football. Bertrand’s work with Uplifting Athletes as Notre Dame’s chapter president was highlighted. With Bertrand’s leadership, Notre Dame raised $80,385 for Uplifting Athletes and its investment into the lives of people impacted by rare diseases.
The Good Works Team includes a roster of 11 FBS players, 11 players from lower college levels and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops as honorary head coach.
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