Notre Dame's 31-13 win over Georgia Tech won't be remembered as anything grand or a victory of great importance. It's the game before the game, and those have a way of being forgotten when they're a meeting of a good team and a rebuilding one.
Still, there were enough things to watch and discuss. Here are some thoughts, observations and data from a second viewing of the Irish's victory, which moved them to 6-0 and 5-0 in the ACC.
Mid-Range Success
For all the fuss about Ian Book’s deep throws (or really, a lack thereof), his completion rate and yards per attempt have dipped since 2018 because of a drop in intermediate throw efficiency. From the start of 2019 through last week at Pitt, Book was completing 46.2 percent (43-of-93) of his throws between 10 and 20 yards downfield after hitting 61.4 percent of them in 2018.
Saturday, he was 3-for-5 for 57 yards and a touchdown to Joe Wilkins Jr. Notre Dame’s offense would have a higher ceiling if it had more deep attempts (Book threw just two of them against Georgia Tech), but the strong rushing identity and results makes that a luxury more than a requirement.
With mid-range problems, though, the floor gets lower. Notre Dame isn’t built to burn teams over the top for an entire game, but it does need the level of consistency on intermediate throws Book provided in this game.
Two-Back Explosiveness
Notre Dame had an aversion to playing two running backs together and not much success in the rare plays it did. The Irish ran 10 plays in 21 or 22 personnel in the first five games of the year, excluding kneel-downs.
Something changed, though, at Georgia Tech. Perhaps it was Braden Lenzy’s injury. Notre Dame used two backs together six times against the Yellow Jackets. Lenzy isn’t a running back, but the two-back sets were a way of getting speed in space and creating misdirection – which were staples of Lenzy’s usage as a runner and screen pass-catcher.
