Compliments, Criticisms and Conclusions from Notre Dame vs. Georgia
By Matt Clark
Criticisms
The Irish Had Critical Penalties At Crucial Times
Already at a disadvantage, playing on the road against the 3rd ranked team in the nation, the Irish hurt their cause with brutal penalties throughout the game. Granted, some of the penalties could be attributed to the fact that they were playing in front of a raucous crowd of nearly 90,000 Georgia fans, who made it nearly impossible for the Irish to hear on offense.
The six false start penalties that the Irish accumulated throughout the game were certainly a direct result of crowd noise. Brian Kelly stated during his halftime interview with CBS that the team was not prepared as well as they should have been to go with a silent cadence. This lack of preparation may have cost them the game, as the six false starts did nothing but hinder an already anemic offense.
In addition to the parade of false start penalties, the Irish were plagued by the untimely 15 yard personal foul penalties by Liam Eichenberg. The first of these penalties was three plays into the game, following a first down reception at the Notre Dame 41, Eichenberg shoved a Georgia player after the play, making it 1st and 25 from the Irish 21. This effectively ended the drive, as the Irish were forced to punt, after failing to gain a first down.
On the second to last offensive drive of the game for the Irish, Eichenberg would get his second personal foul penalty for a blatant hands to the facemask of the Georgia offensive lineman. While the Irish would ultimately score on a Chase Claypool touchdown, it backed Notre Dame up and forced them to spend valuable time trying to regain those yards.
If the Irish hope to beat the elite college football teams, especially on the road, they have to learn to play cleaner football and prepare for hostile environments by fine tuning their ability to play with a silent cadence. These types of mistakes are unacceptable in a game of this magnitude.
The Anemic Run Game Of The Irish Prevented The Offense From Throwing Deep
The elite run stopping abilities of the Georgia defense were well-documented coming into their matchup with Notre Dame. The Irish did nothing to dispel the notion that the Bulldog defense is amongst the best in college football. Granted, Notre Dame was thin at the running back position, with both Jafar Armstrong and Jahmir Smith sitting out due to injury. However, the Irish had no answers in the run game, finishing the game with 14 carries for a pathetic 46 yards rushing.
Outside of one jet screen by Lawrence Keys III for seven yards and a nine-yard first down run by Ian Book, the run game was non existent. As a result, the Georgia defense was able to focus on shutting down the passing game, effectively taking away any of the deep pass plays that the Irish have dominated with this year.
By taking away the run game and the deep threat, the Irish offense was rendered one-dimensional, featuring nothing but dink and dunk passes from Book. Because the run game was ineffective and the deep game had been taken away, the Irish opted for trickery with an attempted flea flicker, which ultimately resulted in a critical interception that would all but seal Notre Dame’s fate in the game.
Great teams make adjustments on the fly and allow themselves to play to strengths. While Jones Jr. was ineffective rushing the ball, perhaps allowing Book to attempt to run the ball more would have opened up the offense for more deep routes. Instead, other than a one yard run in the second quarter with the Irish on the Georgia goal line, Book did not attempt a rush until there was 5:53 left in the game.
Book’s ability to scramble is something that defenses have to respect, but Notre Dame did not force Georgia to do so, thus taking away an important element of their game, limiting their play calling options.
In a media session prior to the game, Brian Kelly stated that the Irish offense would be focusing on trying to continue their success with the deep routes. That clearly did not occur, due to the lack of a threat in the run game. This is another area of opportunity for growth if Notre Dame hopes to defeat the elite programs in the nation and be considered a viable contender for the College Football Playoff.
Ian Book Failed To Shine In The Spotlight
In what was one of the biggest and most important games of his career, Ian Book failed to step up. While he finished 29 for 47 with 275 yards passing and two touchdowns, Book looked lost at times against Georgia. Book had two interceptions in the game, one where he never looked away from Cole Kmet before telegraphing a pass that Divaad Wilson would intercept and run back to the Notre Dame 22 yard line, leading to a Bulldog field goal to tie the game at 10.
Later, Book would be intercepted by JR Reed on a failed flea flicker attempt, giving the Bulldogs the ball on their own 33 yard line, leading to another field goal and giving Georgia a commanding 23-10 lead.
Book would finish the game with a dismal 41.7 quarterback rating, further demonstrating how poorly he performed in this marquee matchup. The biggest issue of the game for Book was his inability to extend drives to give the defense a breather. Instead, Book led the Irish offense to three consecutive three and outs in the third quarter, which would allow Georgia to soften the Notre Dame defense enough to break through in the 4th quarter for ten points, giving the Bulldogs enough to secure the victory.
It was a disappointing performance for Book, whom many expected to take a leap forward from his impressive performance last season. It is a stark reminder that the great quarterbacks never let the game get too big for them and find a way to will their team to victory. Unfortunately, Book was not up to the task against Georgia. However, Book still possesses the skill set necessary to be elite and there is plenty of time for him to learn from his miscues.