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Special Teams Blunders Nearly Cost Notre Dame

C.J. Sanders has struggled in his role as punt returner.
C.J. Sanders has struggled in his role as punt returner. (Bill Panzica)

Notre Dame won, but its special teams units continue to struggle.

During Miami’s 27-0 comeback run against the Irish on Saturday, it was these crucial mistakes that sparked the Hurricanes rally.

• Notre Dame’s first special teams blunder against the Hurricanes came with 8:51 left in the first half. A Miami punt ricocheted off the leg of Notre Dame freshman Troy Pride Jr., who was setting up to block for return man C.J. Sanders, and was recovered by the Canes and set up their first touchdown.

On the play, Sanders appeared to be signaling to his teammates to get away from the short punt. But Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said Sanders should have fielded the punt himself and not let it bounce.

“C.J. was close enough that he could have caught the football,” Kelly said on his Sunday teleconference. “And in that kind of situation, we should be calling out and clearly, we feel like as we evaluate those situations, again, we have to be more decisive at the returning position to get up there and run up and fair catch that football.”

• On the ensuing kickoff, Miami recovered an onside kick. Notre Dame freshman Jalen Elliott was on the front line of the kick return unit, but instead of moving to recover the ball, backed off and let the Hurricanes fall on it.

Kelly said Elliott — one of a number of freshmen playing special teams for the Irish — was confused on what to do. That’s on the coaching staff, he said.

“I'm out there every day and the first thing that we say is, ‘Your feet are in concrete until the ball is kicked to be aware for the onside kick,’” Kelly said.

“But, obviously, we have to do a better job with Jalen in that situation. He knew what happened after the fact. And again, he's a very smart football player. He was caught off guard and probably panicked a little bit, but we got to continue to work on that and make sure it doesn't happen again.”

• Midway through the third quarter, Notre Dame’s Tyler Newsome had a punt blocked. The ball traveled just 23 yards and led to a short Miami drive that ended with a field goal to cut the Notre Dame lead to 20-17.

“From a protection standpoint we just have to do a better job against some really, really good athletes in being able to take the sting off of some guys off the edge and we didn't do a very good job,” Kelly said.

• But the most egregious error on special teams against Miami came with 6:49 left in the game, when Sanders tried to field a punt that bounced inside the Irish 10. The ball hit Sanders and was recovered by Miami in the end zone — a score that gave the Hurricanes a 27-20 lead.

It was Sanders’ tentativeness that Kelly highlighted after the game, a problem the entire team has been dealing with at times this year.

Sanders is coached, Kelly said, to plant his heels at the 7 yard line and never retreat from that spot.

“C.J. knows that. Look, I mentioned it (Saturday), C.J. was tentative and he wasn't trusting in his own ability, but he'll get through it and we got to just keep working on him and he's got to — look, when you're back there, if you lose your confidence, it can be a disaster,” Kelly said. “He’s got to be a confident player. When you lose your confidence back there, it obviously shows. And I thought that him being indecisive was the reason that there were two miscues there.”

There were bright spots against the Hurricanes. Sophomore Chris Finke was inserted to return the final Miami punt of the game, and he brought it back 23 yards to set up sophomore Justin Yoon’s game-winning 23-yard field goal.

Yoon went 3-for-3 on his field goals against Miami.

After evaluating the film, Kelly said the punt return game has to be addressed. Kelly could stay with Sanders, make Finke the full-time guy or puts someone else back.

“It's a competitive situation,” Kelly said. “I'll have to make a decision on it. But certainly (Finke) bolstered his chance by having a key return late in the game for us.

Yoon was dealing with some “leg” tendinitis, Kelly said after the game. That forced him to go with senior John Chereson for three kickoffs against Miami.

Kelly opted for Chereson over Newsome — who handled kickoffs in 2015 — because of what the seventh-year coach has seen in practice.

“His hang time was really good. We just like his placement and hang time,” Kelly said of Chereson. “And that is more of a concern for us in terms of what we want than how far you kick it. Unless you're going to kick it out of the back of the end zone every time. Tyler has a tendency to kick it a little bit lower.

“We like the fact that John can really place it where we want it and has pretty good hang time. You could see it on his, it was his last kick, we were almost able to make the tackle on the 4 yard line, if we are in better position. So, he didn't get our guys down there and that's what we like about John kicking off.”

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