SOUTH BEND, Ind. — All-America left tackle Joe Alt wasn’t a part of Notre Dame’s mostly planned/partially patchwork-related offensive line shuffle Saturday night at Louisville.
But the first sack he’s given up in in 28 career starts to date on Saturday night may have been part of the collateral damage of the questionable tactic.
And one Irish head coach Marcus Freeman didn’t have a suitable answer for on Monday, 36 hours after a calamitous 33-20 loss to the host Cardinals that effectively eliminated Notre Dame from playoff contention more than three weeks before the first College Football Playoff rankings reveal of the season, on Halloween night.
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Alt still wound up as Notre Dame’s top performer, offensively or defensively, per Pro Football Focus’ film grades, and with elite pass-blocking and run-blocking grades. The rest of the offensive line, which was subject to personnel rotations at three positions and an injury replacement at a fourth, struggled.
Sophomore Billy Schrauth rotated in at both guard spots, for juniors Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler. Andrew Kristofic temporarily replaced starting grad senior center Zeke Correll. Later, senior Tosh Baker spelled junior right tackle Blake Fisher to finish the game after Fisher suffered a hand injury that Freeman does not expect to affect him for Saturday’s fourth consecutive night game and fourth straight top 25 matchup, against No. 10 USC (6-0).
Kickoff at Notre Dame Stadium is 7:30 EDT and NBC/Peacock has the telecast.
“We had a plan going into that game to roll guys in, to see if we could elevate the play as a whole,” Freeman said during his weekly Monday press conference of the tag-teaming of interior linemen. “I was really pleased with the way Zeke stepped up and was challenged and, obviously, from the week before with a couple of false-start penalties. And he really stepped up.
“The guards were solid. We have to continue to get better. But across the board we have to continue to improve, and so I can't say it was great. I don’t want to say it was terrible. It's just solid, and we’ve got to get better.”
Solid?
Notre Dame (5-2), now ranked 21st by AP after a tumble of 11 spots, gave up a season-high five sacks, was pressured into a season-high five turnovers, produced a season low in total yards (298) and produced tied for the sixth-fewest rushing yards in a game since the end of the Charlie Weis Era (2009), with 44 rushing yards.
Freeman added that Coogan missed some practice time Tuesday with a knee injury but was able to practice both Wednesday and Thursday ahead of facing a Louisville team that came into that game 84th nationally in sacks.
But wouldn’t have the rotations been a better idea being worked out in practice rather than holding that audition during a game when continuity and cohesion are at a premium with the offensive line position?
The good news is USC hasn’t been able to stop anybody in the run or the pass game, ranking 89th out of 130 FBS teams in both rush defense and pass-efficiency defense this season. And they’re 109th in total defense after coughing up 505 yards to an Arizona offense run by 5-foot-9, 175-pound backup QB Noah Fifita Saturday night in L.A. in a 43-41 triple-overtime survival of the Wildcats.
Even former Irish QB Drew Pyne helped Arizona State’s flaccid offense (122th nationally) put up a season-high 28 points as an emergency starter in a 14-point loss two weeks ago.
The bad news for Notre Dame is that USC pairs that defense with the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense (51.8 ppg) and the nation’s No. 1 player, in reigning Heisman Trophy winner, junior quarterback Caleb Williams.
Williams is seventh nationally in total offense (324.3 yards per game), and No. 1 in both points responsible for per game (28.7) and passing efficiency (206.4 ratings points).
More challenging news for the Irish — the one thing USC’s defense does well is bring pressure. The Trojans rank fifth nationally in sacks and first in tackles for loss.
“We don’t worry about beating USC as much as how do we continue to focus on reaching our full potential?” Freeman said. “That’s the pressure I’ve put on our team and our program. What are we doing to make sure we reach our full potential? The result of that will be the result of that. That’s my concern and that’s my focus. … They’re 6-0, and it’s a tough challenge for us. But we’ll be ready.”
Faison now on football scholarship
Elite men’s lacrosse recruit Jordan Faison came to Notre Dame as a freshman having earned a scholarship in that sport but a desire to double up in football. So, the two-star high school quarterback and safety from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., walked on to the Irish football team.
As a wide receiver.
On Saturday night, the 5-10, 182-pounder finally got into a game, but by doing so NCAA rules stipulate he must be on a football scholarship rather than men’s lacrosse, going forward.
“Coach [Kevin] Corrigan doesn’t have to worry about that anymore,” Freeman said of his men’s lacrosse counterpart, who recruited the four-star midfielder out of Pine Crest School to join the defending national champs in that sport.
Faison still plans to play both sports, which is largely why he turned down a full football scholarship to Iowa. And Freeman plans to keep Faison in the game plan after he caught two passes for 48 yards against Louisville, a 16-yarder to convert a third down and a 32-yarder for a touchdown.
In high school Faison rushed for 1,581 yards as a senior, passed for 235, scored 29 touchdowns, made 33 tackles and returned two interceptions for TDs.
“He's been a talented individual from the moment he stepped on this campus, in fall camp,” Freeman said. “He's continued to improve throughout the first six, seven weeks of the season. And because of some injuries, we moved him up.
“Three weeks ago, he was on scout team. And then we had some injuries, and we started moving him up with the travel squad, and he's continuously gotten better and gained the trust of his coaches.
“We had a lot of faith and trust that he could perform or we wouldn’t have put him in there. And so, it was really good to see him make those plays. To do it in practice is one thing. To make them into a game is another thing, and he did it.”
Play-calling gets a pass
After Notre Dame opened the season with four games or scoring 40 points or more for the first time since 1900, the Irish haven’t scored more than 20 in any of its past three games.
And Saturday’s offensive performance against Louisville called into question the playing-calling by first year offensive coordinator Gerad Parker.
But not by Freeman.
“I have no issues with the play-calling,” he said. “I have issues with the execution. And that's what we have to attack. We can blame it on a call. We can blame it on anything we want, but the reality is if we feel strongly enough to call that play, then we have to have answers for why it did or doesn't work.
“And so, that's where I'm attacking — why didn't it work? If this guy was supposed to do that and he was supposed to do that, then that's the issue. We have to make sure our guys are crystal clear on what they need to do and don't make mistakes.”
Freeman added later than simplifying the offense may be the key to reducing the mistakes.
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