Notre Dame football: Offensive grades vs. Pitt Panthers

Notre Dame football fans were treated to a rare offensive explosion by the Irish against Pitt.

Where has the Notre Dame football offensive production we saw against Pitt been all season?

In 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a novella called The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You’ve probably heard of it. Dr. Jekyll is a respected physician. He’s known as a kind and thoughtful man.

However, he is also Mr. Hyde, who represents the darker desires within him. He invents and drinks a serum turning him fully into Mr. Hyde. The transformation is total; mental and physical. He’ll go back and forth, without control, between the two personas.

Kind of like a certain offense that needs to be graded. Coming off a Mr. Hyde week against Louisville, there were reasonable concerns. After all, Pitt’s strength is its defense and Louisville isn’t particularly strong on that side of the ball. It didn’t matter though. Dr. Jekyll showed up, for the most part.

By no means was Ian Book perfect. His accuracy was off all game. He missed throws anyone should make, let alone a senior quarterback. He also pushed the ball downfield, attacked the Pitt secondary, and put up his best numbers since last seasons.

Book finally seemed comfortable pushing the ball downfield, hitting Ben Skowronek for 2 long touchdown passes. He also was able to get the ball to Michael Mayer more consistently than in past games, completing 5 passes and 1 touchdown to the freshman tight end.

Pitt didn’t seem to take Book’s running ability seriously, and he was able to effectively scramble when no one was able to get open downfield for the Irish. Book ran 8 times for 40 yards, with sack yardage coming off a quarterback’s rushing totals.

Book wasn’t outstanding, finishing the day 16/30, 312 yards, and 3 touchdowns. He was effective, though. He hasn’t really been effective consistently yet, so hopefully, he builds from there.

Brendon Clark also played, but his role was mostly to hand the ball off. He went 1/3 for 7 yards.

All season long the running backs have been the sole source of production on Notre Dame’s offense. The two-headed attack of Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree has dominated opponents. They couldn’t get going against Pitt, though, who held the two young backs to a total of 35 yards combined. That’s, frankly, terrible.

A lot of their struggles seemed to be play calling. There were a lot of slower developing pitch plays that simply didn’t work and left the backs to get devoured in the backfield. Of course, it wasn’t all play calling. Pitt’s front 7 is its strength and they showed their talent and effort all day long.

C’Bo Flemister actually led the way in terms of yardage, getting a lot of garbage time touches. He had 48 yards and 1 touchdown. Williams, meanwhile, had the most touches with 17 carries. He only gained 38 yards and 1 touchdown, though. Tyree went backward, averaging -1 yard per carry.

Also, what happened to Jafar Armstrong? His fall from grace continued, as he had 8 carries for -4 yards.

This is by far the worst unit on the Notre Dame offense. They struggle to get open, don’t threaten teams vertically, and there are clear chemistry issues between them and Book. They did, however, have a nice day at Pitt.

That nice day was led by Ben Skowronek, the transfer wide receiver who has missed a decent chunk of time this season with a hamstring injury, had 2 catches Saturday. While two catches doesn’t jump out, two touchdowns for 107 yards on those 2 catches does.

Skowronek provided a rare spark downfield and even showed off ability after the catch that Notre Dame has yet to show off. Book also found Michael Mayer 5 times and for a touchdown. The young tight end has already become a fan favorite for his bowl you over style.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much production beyond those two. Javon McKinley and Avery Davis were fine, without standing out. Tommy Tremble was present for the game and even managed a catch.

Kevin Austin, on the other hand, was not there. He was dealing with an injury and missed the game. Braden Lenzy, who went without a catch, got hurt late in the game. It appeared that he reaggravated his hamstring issue.

The Notre Dame offensive line didn’t play to its standard. They’re used to bullying opponents. They want to run it down your throats. Except, Pitt didn’t let that happen. Pitt stood strong and wouldn’t let the Irish blow them off the ball.

It’s not all that often that the Irish offensive line lets up a half dozen tackles for loss, let alone the full dozen they gave up to Pitt. They also sacked Book twice, hurrying him a further 11 times.

This game was to be Notre Dame’s offensive line vs Pitt’s defensive line, and whoever won that matchup won the game. Well, Pitt won that matchup. Luckily enough, Notre Dame was able to dominate in every other facet of the game.