Notre Dame football: Fiesta Bowl Offensive Grades vs Oklahoma State

The Notre Dame football team lost a major bowl game, and here, we hand out the grades on the offensive side of the ball.

Well, it’s Groundhog Day again, as Notre Dame football lost a major bowl game. This time, it was the Fiesta Bowl. Well, maybe saying “This time” isn’t fair. After all, Notre Dame is 0-5 in the Fiesta Bowl since they beat West Virginia to win the 1988 National Championship.

So, the Irish have been here before, even if the cast of players was different this time around.

Everyone was excited to see how Marcus Freeman and Tommy Rees would work together. At first, they worked together brilliantly. The offense was opened up with a downfield passing attack. Jack Coan looked like Brady Quinn and the offense was deadly. In a way, you’d have thought Notre Dame was turning towards the Air Raid offense.

That also meant that Notre Dame wasn’t running the ball. The Irish didn’t abandon the run, because it was never part of the game plan, to begin with. This had something to do with what the Irish were capable of, versus the strength of Oklahoma State’s rush defense. Still, it felt like they adjusted better than Notre Dame and each half was a different game.

Debate the game plan if you want, but it’s also important to see how well each position group performed within this larger context. So, here are Notre Dame’s offensive grades for the Fiesta Bowl.