Notebook: Notre Dame Offense Can’t Keep Up, Defense Starts Tentative
After falling to No. 1 Alabama 31-14 in the Rose Bowl, Notre Dame's 2020 season has come to a close.
The loss is disappointing for the program and fans but, during a season that almost never happened, the Fighting Irish came away with their second College Football Playoff appearance in three years.
Over the summer, many assumed the COVID-19 Pandemic would force the powers that be to cancel the season or, at the very least, postpone it until the fall.
It was near-impossible to imagine Notre Dame playing in the Rose Bowl at that time.
The loss also provides the Fighting Irish coaching staff with plenty of learning opportunities.
Notre Dame struggled on both sides of the ball, especially early in the game, which is why the program ultimately suffered a 17-point defeat.
Offense Can’t Keep Up
Trailing 21-7 early in the third quarter, Notre Dame was in the midst of a methodical drive. The Irish had produced 27 yards on seven plays and it appeared the offense was primed to have continued success on the ground.
Then on second-and-7 at the Notre Dame 38-yard line, quarterback Ian Book escaped the pocket and looked to have enough daylight to run for the first down. At the last second, Book saw a streaking freshman tight end Michael Mayer and decided to take his first shot downfield.
But the throw was short and suddenly, a drive that began with so much promise ended with an interception by Alabama linebacker Christian Harris.
“He just needed to put a little bit more on that, he kind of floated it a little bit,” said Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. “If he had another shot at it that would have been a fastball instead of a level two with some touch to it.”
While Kelly didn’t blame Book for taking his shot, it was also evident in the moment that Notre Dame couldn’t overcome such a deflating turnover.
The Irish were actually competitive with the Crimson Tide in terms of total offensive yards, getting outgained just 437-375 (a difference of 62 yards).
The problem was a lack of explosive plays. Notre Dame doesn’t have any wide receivers with the ability to stretch the field. Long, clock-eating drives are a great way to win time of possession, but it also provides more opportunities to make mistakes. The Irish produced just 4.7 yards per play, a much lower total than the Crimson Tide’s 7.9-yard average.
After the interception, quarterback Mac Jones led Alabama on a five-play, 62-yard drive. Down 21, the game was all but out of reach for such a plodding offense.
“They just made more plays than we did tonight,” Book said. “We talked about that all week. We were going to try to win the time of possession and then when it’s time to make a big play, make a big play. They made more big plays. That's why they came out victorious tonight.”
It also helped that Alabama was strong with the ball and never turned it over.
Irish Defense Comes Out ‘Tentative’
Alabama’s first two possessions combined to eat up just over seven minutes of game clock. Yet, on just 18 total plays, the Crimson Tide had produced 260 yards and three touchdowns.
Was this a surprise? Of course, not.
Alabama entered the contest averaging nearly 50 points per game, three different offensive players finished in the top five of Heisman Trophy voting and its offensive line is one of three finalists (along with Notre Dame) for the coveted Joe Moore Award.
What was tough to swallow was how uncertain many of Notre Dame’s defenders were. At times, a few even appeared passive.
“We were a little tentative,” Kelly said. “We shut our feet down. And you can't do that against highly skilled players. You have to be aggressive and attack those skill players in space. If you shut your feet down for a second, they are gone.”
By the end of the second half, the Notre Dame defense had returned to form and forced Alabama to punt on half of its remaining offensive possessions. Unfortunately, it was too late.
“We got better at that and started to swarm to the football better,” Kelly said. “But it put us in a hole early on by not being decisive and aggressive.”
On the other hand, the Notre Dame defenders saw their poor play early in the game as poor execution more than anything else.
“I don't really think it was us being shy or any tension of us holding back,” said senior linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. “It just wasn't the execution deal. I don't think we executed well in those first few drives, and we just had to settle down.
“Coach [Clark] Lea always preaches to us to start fast. When you don't do that, you see what happens. So I don't think it was us being timid or shy or anything, but just the deal where we didn't execute to the fullest of our ability.”
Still, holding Alabama to 31 points for the first time since the 2018 season is an impressive feat, but that doesn’t mean the Notre Dame defense sees Friday afternoon as a success.
“As a unit, our job is to go out there and limit the offense to zero points if we can,” said Notre Dame sixth-year safety Shaun Crawford. “We don't try to take moral victories by holding them to 31 points. If our offense can't get it going, then our job is to go out there and limit them to no points, if we can, limit them to field goals in the red zone.
“So, yeah, we stepped it up as a defense in the second half, and we fought to the end as a defense, but this unit, we don't believe in moral victories. So we pride ourselves on trying to shut out teams. So if our offense can't get it going, then 3-0 should be the game-winning score for us."
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