Notre Dame football: Offensive position grades against Georgia Tech

Notre Dame football offensive unit grades in the win over Georgia Tech

Playing against a weaker, rebuilding Georgia Tech team, a win was expected by Notre Dame football fans. But could the offense have been more effective against one of the worst teams in the ACC?

No matter who you’re playing it takes a good offensive day to score more than 30 points on an opponent, and when you consider that we’re just a couple of weeks removed from Notre Dame only scoring 12 points at home against Louisville, 31 points sounds like a dream.

Still, it’s frustrating. This team is capable of more on offense, and they’re out of time to figure it out. Clemson is up next, and the Irish are going to need to play at full capacity to win next week.

Ian Book was fine, without being outstanding. That’s becoming the standard as this season goes on, which is fine. Mike Golic (who always gets an A grade) said it best on the broadcast, Ian Book doesn’t get you into trouble, but he does leave plays on the field. Book checks down when he has a shot downfield. He misses receivers he should hit. He doesn’t turn the ball over, though.

That’s all fine when the goal is to win 10 games, and you don’t care about losing to the elite teams. However, if Notre Dame wants to beat Clemson next week, they need him to push the ball downfield and take advantage of opportunities, while still not turning the ball over.

Book’s stat line at Georgia Tech was as bland as a stat line can come. He went 18/26 for 199 yards and a touchdown. Book did not throw an interception, and he gained 46 yards on the ground.

By necessity and design, the Irish run their offense through two young running backs. Nothing about that changed against Georgia Tech. Three running backs combined for 35 carries and 181 yards on the ground. Kyren Williams and C’Bo Flemister had 15 carries each, while Chris Tyree had only five touches. Williams scored two touchdowns and Flemister added one of his own late in the game.

The numbers weren’t as dominant as you might expect, but they were still solid numbers broadly speaking. They had a few chunk plays as a group and moved the ball forward for the most part.

Unfortunately, they also caught the fumble bug against Georgia Tech. The first-half fumble by Kyren Williams led to a scoop and score that gave Georgia Tech some momentum. That’s the kind of sloppy play that can lose you games to teams like Clemson.

By far the weakest unit on the Notre Dame offense, as has been proven all season long, the wide receivers produced an effective but forgettable game against Georgia Tech. As a whole, they still struggle to get open or find space. At the same time, their quarterback doesn’t seem to trust them, so it’s hard to tell what the biggest issue in the receiving game is right now.

Javon McKinley continues to be the go-to wide receiver for Ian Book, as he had five catches and 93 yards on Saturday. Both of those led the team, with no one else grabbing more than 29 yards receiving. Meanwhile, Ben Skowronek, who had a couple of explosive touchdowns at Pitt, was limited to a single catch for eight yards.

Michael Mayer is clearly the most talented option to throw the ball to, despite only being a freshman. Mayer grabbed three balls, but it would have been more if Book had put the Ball on him. Joe Wilkins, meanwhile, had the game’s lone touchdown catch on his only reception of the day.

On paper, the best offensive line in the country, Notre Dame certainly looked like it in the running game. Their size and strength were obvious, and Georgia Tech’s front seven had no response. They could bowl over them on the goal line and open wide holes for the running backs to go through.

So, why only a B grade?

There is something wrong in their pass blocking. Book was taking hits again against Georgia Tech. In the first half, there was a sequence where Book was sacked and the next play was strip-sacked. A hands to the face call bailed Notre Dame out of the mistake, though. In the end, they would give up two sacks, which is two more than a defensive line like Georgia Tech should manage against Notre Dame.