Notre Dame Football: Who was Notre Dame’s offensive MVP against Georgia?
Notre Dame football’s offense left a little to be desired on Saturday night, but one of the brightest spots for the Irish was the play of Cole Kmet.
Georgia has a great defense, but for a lot of Saturday’s game, the offense of the Notre Dame football team looked like they skipped practice all week. It was sloppy. The Irish used two pre-snap timeouts in the second half alone. It wasn’t one or two false starts, it was six false starts. In short, the Georgia crowd helped force multiple miscues.
Once the ball was snapped, things were rarely inspiring. The offensive line and the banged up running game got absolutely no push. Tony Jones was Notre Dame’s leading rusher with 21 yards on 9 carries. That’s abysmal. It made the offense one-dimensional, letting Georgia pin their ears back, and attack on the pass rush.
Quarterback Ian Book was left to run for his life. In the end, Book did well to not take a sack, but that pressure forced a number of throwaways, and two interceptions. One of those interceptions gave Georgia early second half momentum. The other killed a drive and rally attempt in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Lucky for the Irish, they had Cole Kmet. Without Kmet, Notre Dame wouldn’t have been able to move the ball at all. Kmet led all receivers with 9 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. That’s an awesome performance, given that it was Kmet’s first game action this season due to injury.
Kmet became Book’s safety valve when plays broke down. Until late in the fourth quarter, receivers struggled to get open. The offensive line struggled to block. Ian Book knew that if he could find Kmet that the sure handed tight end would be there to net some positive yardage.
Late in the game, Notre Dame discovered that throwing comeback routes to Chase Claypool worked every time. It’s as if Claypool is an NFL talent at wide receiver, and the comeback is an uncoverable route. However, before that, the only player who’d be open for downfield throws was Cole Kmet. Kmet had a number of streaks that he caught, despite safeties barreling down on him.
Next. Notre Dame's defense played at a championship level. dark
At the end of the day, Kmet’s performance wasn’t enough to win. He did, however, keep the Irish in the game. It’s clear Notre Dame’s passing attack is a lot better when they’ve got the tight end game working well. Kmet is a silver lining, despite bad play calling and an awful running game. The offense has opened another layer to its attack.