Notre Dame Notebook: The Irish Are Tired Of Moral Victories
Though the Irish lost 23-17 to Georgia last weekend, the national perception of the program drastically improved, and the team only dropped three spots in the most recent AP and Coaches polls
Even ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, a notorious critic of Notre Dame, had some positive things to say on the Birmingham-based 94.5 FM radio station WJOX.
“They really put up an incredibly challenging and respectful fight,” he said. “I give them credit for playing games like this because they don’t play a conference schedule and they don’t play in a conference championship game.”
But at Brian Kelly’s weekly radio show, the Notre Dame head coach dismissed the positive endorsements that the media and fans have thrown his way.
“I'm kinda tired of hearing 'nice job,'” he said. “I'm at that point where I'm offended by it. You're not in this business to get pats on the back. You're in it to win football games. And quite frankly, we didn't play well enough. We didn't coach well enough.”
Instead, Kelly wants his team to look forward to Virginia and start playing at a higher level, one he feels they’re capable of.
Now it’s time for them to prove it.
Little-to-No Let Down Physically, Except Maybe to Finke
Another narrative surrounding the Georgia game is that it was a physical matchup — one in which Notre Dame will take a while to bounce back from.
While Kelly did acknowledge that last Saturday’s game was a hard-fought battle, he dispelled any notion that his team won’t be physically ready to face the Cavaliers.
“We're fine physically,” he said. “I don't see that. We didn't see that in terms of the testing of our players all week. Our GPS numbers were great.”
Kelly also said that there are no players on the injured list as a result of the Georgia game. The team is expected to get running back Jahmir Smith and wide receivers Michael Young and Braden Lenzy back this weekend.
But one player, Chris Finke, might be a little worse for wear. Kelly said he took a shot to the ribs in the second quarter of the game. This might explain Finke's struggles in the third quarter, especially on a pass that was thrown slightly behind but ultimately hit him in the chest, before bouncing into the hands of Georgia defender Divaad Wilson.
If Finke is still hobbled, it’ll be even more significant that Young can play again.
“Mike's gonna help us,” Kelly said. “There's no question. What it does is it allows us to balance out the reps. you know, Chris Finke was taking 75,80 snaps. That's a lot for Chris and Mike is going to be able to take some of that load off of [him].”
Another receiver Kelly says he hopes to get involved against Virginia is Joe Wilkins, who hasn’t seen the field much in a Notre Dame uniform.
Linebackers Still Need to Prove It
A revelation from the Georgia game was the play of the linebacking corp.
Starting Buck Asmar Bilal has been criticized throughout his Notre Dame career for missed tackles and poor instincts. But against, Georiga, Pro Football Focus rated him as the second most productive player on the team, with a 74.3 overall grade. His run defense was also second on the team with a 72.3 grade.
The inexperienced linebackers also did well. Starting Rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah led the team in tackles with eight and TFLs with two and a half. Mike linebacker Drew White was second on the team in TFLs with two and he recorded five total tackles.
Yet, they’ve only played three games together so far and the only time they’ve all performed above expectations was in Athens. The Irish linebackers still have a lot to prove — but if their experience against the Bulldogs allow them to continue playing a high-level, the Notre Dame run defense could be stout.
“A lot of these guys are playing for the first time and getting the rep work necessary for them to be comfortable in the positions that they're playing,” Kelly said. “Part of it is just getting reps and they've only played three games. We think that the defense has the opportunity to continue to get better.”
Keys to Virginia
Virginia has an aggressive 3-4 defense where linebackers (and sometimes the defensive backs) are blitzing from all over the line of scrimmage.
In four games, four different linebackers already have at least two sacks. This includes Charles Snowden, who was the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Defensive Player of the Week against Old Dominion this past weekend after accumulating 15 tackles. At six-foot-seven-inches, he already has three sacks on the season. Linebacker Jordan Mack leads the team with five sacks.
“They like to bring pressures from different areas so you don't know where it's coming from a lot of times,” Kelly said. “So you have to be able to double read with your offensive linemen and do some things that you don't normally do on a week-to-week basis.”
He also says that a unique characteristic of this defense is how they can go from three down linemen to four without changing personnel.
Their consistent pressure is made even more dangerous by Cavalier defensive back Bryce Hall, who might be the best corner in college football. His talent makes it easy for Virginia to use man-to-man coverage, which allows for an extra defender to bring pressure.
On offense, what makes Virginia so dangerous is quarterback Bryce Perkin’s ability to make plays with his arm and legs. He’s a 65.3 percentage passer on the season, but Kelly says Perkins is less accurate and not as effective when he has to stay inside the pocket.
That means the Irish defensive line, in particular, the ends, need to play Perkin different than they would a Jake Fromm or Trevor Lawrence.
“You've got to stay to the depth of the quarterback,” Kelly said. “He's a short drop quarterback, so we can't have guys racing off the edge, which helps their offensive line quite a bit where they don't have to worry about speed edge rushers. They can really stay in front of our guys.
“It's going to put a lot of pressure on our defensive tackles to really push the pocket and flush him out and our guys have to be able to contain him.”
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