Notre Dame Football: Grading Irish Offensive Position Groups vs. Wake Forest

Notre Dame football more than doubled its average offensive output in Saturday’s win over Wake Forest.

Notre Dame football fans can take a deep breath. After two weeks of margins that were too close for comfort against lesser teams, the Irish offense finally hit their stride against Wake Forest. Here is how each position group fared against Wake Forest.

Quarterbacks

Make no mistake about it, Notre Dame’s offensive success came as a result of the arm of Ian Book.

Book, who backed up Brandon Wimbush for the first three games of the season, got the start. It’s safe to say that he didn’t make Brian Kelly regret the decision.

The junior for El Dorado Hills, California passed for 325 yards, completing 25 passes on 34 attempts and throwing for 2 touchdowns. He also rushed for 43 yards on 10 carries and 3 scores.

The most impressive part of Book’s game was his decision-making. With Book at the helm, the reads were crisp and the ball was coming out with decisiveness and precision. It was a welcome sight for Irish fans. Today, quarterback play gets an A. 

Running Backs

The Irish had a very balanced offensive attack. Book actually lead Notre Dame in carries, but as far as running backs are concerned, the Irish were paced by Avery Davis with 9 carries for 43 yards, Jafar Armstrong with 8 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown, and Tony Jones, Jr. who with 7 carries for 39 yards and a score.

In all, the Irish ran the ball for 240 yards and had a well-balanced offensive attack. The running backs get an A. 

Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

Much like the running backs, the wide receivers and tight ends has a very balanced effort. Ten Irish players caught passes with tight end Brock Wright and receiver Chase Claypool hauling in touchdowns. In addition, both Chris Finke and Michael Young were effective in getting yards after the catch.

While there were a couple drops that ultimately will prevent this group from a perfect score, there isn’t a much to be upset about. The receivers get an A-.

Offensive Line

The best compliment that you can give an offensive line group is that they went unnoticed throughout the game. That pretty well sums up the play of Notre Dame’s offensive line in this game. The Irish ran for 6 yards per carry and didn’t surrender a sack. What else is there to say? The Irish offensive line gets an A.

Notre Dame’s offense will face perhaps their biggest challenge to date when the Irish host Stanford next Saturday. Today, however, the Irish passed their tune-up with flying colors.