Notre Dame picked up its first win of the season by taking down Duke 27-13. Throughout the game, the Fighting Irish offense and defense looked lackadaisical at times, but the collective performance was enough to get the job done against a well coached but far less talented Blue Devil team.
Based on rewatching much of the game and using the advanced analytical tools Pro Football Focus offers, below are offensive and defensive observations from Notre Dame’s performance on Saturday.
Williams Thrives Running Outside The Tackles
Two days after Notre Dame’s first-ever conference football game, sophomore Kyren Williams was named the ACC Running Back of the Week after he had 205 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns against Duke.
More than half his yards and both his scores came on the ground. He was praised for much of the game for running hard and finding a way to stay on his feet, including on his first touchdown run up the middle, when he was hit well short of the goal line but somehow stayed upright and found the end zone.
But for as hard as he ran between the tackles, most of his rushing production came off the edge. According to PFF, 89 of William’s 112 rushing yards came on his eight runs outside the tackles (11.1 yards per attempt). On his 11 rushing attempts between the tackles, he ran for 23 yards (2.1 yards per attempt).
This may have more to do with the offensive line’s inability to create much space for him inside, but it’s still worth noting how effective Williams is in space. He doesn’t have the breakaway speed of a Chris Tyree, but his initial burst and agility more than make up for it.
Book Struggles Under Pressure
In 2019, one of quarterback Ian Book’s biggest issues was navigating the pocket. Too often, he’d escape unnecessarily and end up putting himself in harm's way.
According to PFF, he was sacked 14 times last season but only two were credited to lapses by the offensive line and one fell on wide receiver Chris Finke. On the rest, Book received the blame.
Duke pressured Book a total of 16 times on Saturday and five were because of his poor pocket presence. This included one of the Blue Devil's two sacks.
