• Notre Dame's offense opened the game with three straight three-and-out possessions and faced fourth-and-8 from its 21-yard line on the fourth before a 14-yard gain on a fake punt helped shake off some of the rust and ignite better results on both offense and defense. It sparked a 96-yard drive that ended with Williams' one-yard score to make it 7-3, and the Irish would not trail again.
• In addition to the fake punt, another crucial sequence was the first possession of the second half with the Irish clinging to a 10-6 lead. Duke wideout Jalon Calhoun picked up a first down on a completed pass inside the 50, but senior rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah forced a fumble that sixth-year senior safety Shaun Crawford recovered at his 41-yard line with 11:29 left in the quarter.
On that ensuing Irish series on fourth-and-1 from the Duke 26, Williams found room on the outside and sprinted for the touchdown to make it 17-6.
• It was announced during the game that head coach Brian Kelly's contract has been extended through the 2024 season.
TURNING POINT
Trailing 3-0 and facing fourth-and-8 from his 21-yard line, sophomore punter Jay Bramblett faked the kick and on a sweep made a cutback for a 14-yard gain. It was a gutsy call that would have been second-guessed severely had it failed so deep in Irish territory.
That was the spark that helped continue a 96-yard touchdown drive that included a 13-yard run by Williams and a 20-yard screen to Jafar Armstrong before Williams broke a tackle in the backfield to score on a one-yard run with 10:39 remaining in the first half. It gave Notre Dame the lead for good.
“Don’t rush to judgement too quickly, give it two or three games. From what I saw, it looked like almost a continuation from last season. I can’t wait to see how this offense evolves; we saw Book under center, inside runs, outside runs, a ton of crossing patterns too. I did not see a lot of guys getting open when they’d show the endzone cam on the broadcast.
“Defensively we looked okay; we saw a couple guys flashed. Kyle Hamilton will be okay, that just looked like an ankle sprain.
“The first initial takeaway was just be patient. It’s gonna take some time, I am curious to watch some other games as the day progresses and see what these other teams look like and if they look slow. Just be patient, happy to get a nice win.
“It was really a continuation of last year. As a fan, you want to see those big jumps in terms of progress, but taking into account what the team had to deal with during the offseason, I am content.
“Fans like to talk offense, so let’s talk offense. Especially in the first half, it did not seem like we were blocking the edges at all. So, it was over and over again we ran plays into the boundary so there are some aspects of the game plan and execution that seem like they could be an easy fix and something to address. That’s a problem, going into week two we should be able to fix that."
1. Williams looks poised to be Notre Dame's breakout star: A four-star prospect out of St. Louis in the 2019 class, Williams' offer list didn't look as impressive as you'd expect. While Notre Dame came in with an offer to lure him away, most of his Power Five interest came from programs outside the elite tier. Still, I had coaches from two different schools recruiting Williams tell me that they believed recruiting sites and other programs underrated him. Those coaches just might have been right.
Not only has Williams impressed Notre Dame coaches enough to earn the starting job this season, but first glimpses at him in action against Duke suggest he's going to lead some coaches to regret their decision. It wasn't just the production on Saturday (205 total yards and two touchdowns on 21 touches) but the way Williams moved with the ball. He did an excellent job of reading his blocks, finding lanes and accelerating through them. Once he was in the open field, he proved to be very elusive.
Notre Dame hasn't had a 1,000-yard rusher in a season since Josh Adams totalled 1,430 yards in 2017. Based on what I saw today, the only thing that will stop Williams from getting there in 2020 will be a shortened schedule or injury. He looks to be the real deal.
2. Tight end Michael Mayer might live up to his nickname. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard a coaching staff refer to a young tight end as "Baby Gronk" just because of their size, well, I'd have a couple of hundred dollars worth of spending money that I don't otherwise. So when the NBC broadcast mentioned that Notre Dame coaches had been referring to Mayer as "Baby Gronk," all I could do was roll my eyes.
But then a crazy thing happened.
Mayer made some plays that seemed Gronk-esque! There was the third-and-7 when he caught a short crossing route, discarded a potential tackler with a violent stiff arm, lowered his shoulder into another tackler just short of the sticks and pushed through for the first down. That was some Gronk-like stuff! Still, Mayer finished with only three catches for 38 yards and no touchdowns. Also, he didn't pancake any defenders in the run game. So, he's not quite Gronk just yet.
Every so often, a piece of historical praise is heaped on a player that sounds like there is a comparison coming.
“He did something that had not been done here in 25 years — receiving yards over 90, rushing yards over 90, pretty good opener for him,” Kelly said of Williams’ first genuine collegiate action, leaving the open-ended question of who matched that in 1995.
But as often as not, “25 years” is included only because the media relations department was able to get back just that far before its postgame duties began. In other words, Williams’ day was so impressive, we are not sure of the last Irish player to match it.
What may stand out most about his day is not the way he refused to be denied on the first score or the way he utilized fifth-year senior receiver Javon McKinley’s block to reach the end zone a second time, but rather, his patience. Williams took 13 carries for 39 yards in the first half. He was, quite frankly, not getting any blocking and going nowhere.
In the second half, Williams rumbled for 73 yards on just six rushes.
“We knew 2-3 yard gains would burst into big gains,” Williams said. “So we knew if we kept doing that, then those big gains would come. …
“It took about a couple drives to get my flow, to finally be able to relax, breath, be the player I am.”
Coming from a sophomore whose only real chance as a freshman was a one-play cameo featuring a dropped pass, That level of calm and confidence is unexpected but welcome for Notre Dame.
TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Notre Dame’s offense had not found its stride. Duke’s was nearing its. The Blue Devils were on the Irish 2-yard line, hoping to cap off what was to that point a 90-yard drive with a touchdown and a 10-7 lead.
Instead, Foskey came around the edge and got to Clemson graduate transfer quarterback Chase Brice before he could throw the ball away. It was the second time Foskey had blown up a Brice thought in the backfield in the red zone, the first coming when Notre Dame dropped its defensive tackles into coverage and confused Duke’s offensive line, a new wrinkle from defensive coordinator Clark Lea and defensive line coach Mike Elston.
“Some people would be happy that [Foskey] would be their featured player and he’s a depth player for us,” Kelly said. He’s an outstanding football player, let’s just put it that way, and we are just blessed that we have a lot of depth and you saw that starting to kind of show itself.”
The 9-yard sack cost the Blue Devils any hopes of a fourth-down attempt, forced a field goal and preserved the Irish lead. Notre Dame scored the next 10 points, and Duke never again had the ball while within one possession.
