Notre Dame Football: Compliments, criticisms and conclusions vs Michigan

Despite the fact that there was a great deal of hype surrounding the game between Notre Dame and rival Michigan, the end result was a one-sided beatdown in Ann Arbor, as Notre Dame lost 45-14.

There were not many positive takeaways following Michigan beating the brakes off Notre Dame.  That said, here are the compliments, criticisms and conclusions:

Compliments

Chase Claypool made some great catches

Chase Claypool appeared to be one of only a couple of Irish players who actually showed up for the game against Michigan. Claypool made two nice catches — in traffic one for an 18 yard gain and a first down on third and 5 on the first drive and another a 24 yard gain later in the game. Despite being targeted a total of nine times in the game, seven of the passes to Claypool were incomplete.  However, most of those passes were uncatchable due to the torrential rain and poor passes by Ian Book. Claypool would end the day with two catches for 42 receiving yards.

Cole Kmet continues to be a touchdown machine

Cole Kmet caught the ball both times he was targeted in the game. The first one was for an eight yard touchdown on a pass from Ian Book. The second one was caught for an 18 yard gain in garbage time on a pass from Phil Jurkovec. Kmet has four receiving touchdowns on the year and was inexplicably absent from the offense despite it struggling all game against the Michigan defense.  There were a couple of times he was wide open and Ian Book never threw the ball in his direction. The Irish need to integrate their one of their biggest playmakers into the offense more. Targeting Kmet twice in the game is simply unacceptable.

Phil Jurkovec played relatively well in garbage time

After falling behind 31-7 with the offense showing no life, the Irish turned to backup Phil Jurkovec in garbage time. While Jurkovec did get strip sacked on one of his three possessions, leading to a turnover, he also provided some offensive spark. Despite attempting 21 fewer passes than Ian Book, Jurkovec would equal Book in touchdown passes and fall 13 yards short in matching him in passing yards. Jurkovec would come into the game with under 11 minutes remaining and would complete three of four passes for 60 yards and a passing touchdown, compared to Book’s 8-25 with 73 passing yards and a touchdown in over three quarters of play.