Bowling Green Comes at Perfect Time for Slumping Notre Dame Offense

The Notre Dame offense needs a collective “coming to Jesus.” The Bowling Green game should provide that.

After a tough two game stretch, Notre Dame gets to coast and get everyone out healthy. Every game matters, never underestimate an opponent and any other phrase you can think of doesn’t apply here. Bowling Green is really, really bad and it comes at a perfect time for a struggling Notre Dame offense.

The BVG (Brian VanGorder) Effect

I’m sure every fan remembers the days of BVG stalking the sideline. He returns Saturday to face his old team and it is just what the doctor ordered. Remember how I mentioned that Bowling Green isn’t very good a mere three sentences ago? The defense plays just as big of a part as the offense in the Bowling Green struggles.

Bowling Green comes in with the 111th ranked total defense out of 130 teams. Surrendering over six yards per play and 448 yards per game is never a good look. But add in the fact they have played some “powerhouses” such as Kent State and Morgan State and it makes everything look worse. But I can’t be that tough on the Falcons, BVG does have them better than last year after a 125th ranked defense in 2018.

Notre Dame had a bit of a bounce back on offense last week against Virginia, but there was still glaring issues. The defense played a major role with five turnovers, a defensive touchdown and another return down to the seven yard line. This should be the perfect game to get the offense in a rhythm with USC coming to South Bend next week.

Overcoming Early Struggles

If you had to point to a specific issue that is holding the offense back, you could give a variety of answers. The lack of third down conversions, a lackluster running game, lack of playmakers or some Ian Book struggles manning the offense.

All of them should be fixed Saturday.

The ground game was pretty hit or miss this season and Tony Jones has had some trouble getting going so far. That changed against Virginia when he went for 131 yards and three touchdowns. It was a breath of fresh air for a team sitting in the bottom half of the country in rushing offense.

While it was a solid performance, Bowling Green should give another opportunity to pad the stats and find success early and often. The Falcons have the 117th ranked rushing defense, giving up 5.1 yards per carry and 220 rushing yards per game. The Notre Dame ground game should be able to find running lanes at will and help improve their third down conversion rate.

Notre Dame is one of the worst in the country on third down. The offense only converts on third down 32 percent of the time. Struggles against Georgia are understandable, but that is an unacceptable rate when it has been a season long issue.

The last and probably biggest gripe among fans has been the poor play of Ian Book. While he doesn’t deserve all the blame, he needs to get better if Notre Dame is going to make a playoff push. Bowling Green has the second worst passing efficiency defense in the FBS. Only UMass is worse as Bowling Green has let up nine touchdowns to only one interception. They are giving up a 75% completion percentage and 227 yards passing per game.

No Excuses Saturday

To sum it up, Bowling Green is nearly dead last in most major defensive categories. They can’t stop the run or the pass and they won’t get you off the field on third down. They don’t force turnovers and it is just what you remember from BVG.

This should be another New Mexico type performance. Notre Dame shouldn’t have any issues in any facet of the game and Vegas agrees. A 45-point spread is the largest in recent memory and shows that this should be the equivalent to the annual rivalry between Alabama and The Citadel.

Ian Book and company can get some of the guys coming off injuries up to speed for USC. The Trojans have been looking more impressive over the last few weeks and despite the loss to Washington, they get an extra week to prepare.

Notre Dame may not technically have a bye week, but Bowling Green is as close as you can get while playing against an FBS team. Anything less than a 50+ point win will be a disappointment as we roll towards USC hate week.