Notre Dame football: Fiesta Bowl Offensive Grades vs Oklahoma State

Notre Dame football: Fiesta Bowl Offensive Grades vs Oklahoma State

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

For all Jack Coan was asked to do in the Fiesta Bowl, the wide receivers and tight ends were asked to do even more. Let’s establish something right now. There were three scholarship wide receivers playing in this game or at least playing any significant amount of playing time. In a game with 68 pass attempts, there were three wide receivers.

How in the world does that happen? Poor roster management and injuries blended to get to this point. It’s bad luck and a lot of blame for how Brian Kelly has recruited and developed the position.

For those three wide receivers who did play, they played pretty well. Braden Lenzy was all over the field and getting held onto all game. He could’ve been more consistent, but a ton more than normal was asked of him. Meanwhile, you could call this the Lorenzo Styles coming out party, as he caught a touchdown on a streak route, on his way to 8 catches for 136 yards.

Meanwhile, Kevin Austin quietly had 6 catches for 105 yards and a touchdown in the final minute.

Then, Michael Mayer, Notre Dame’s all-everything tight end, was his usual dominant self. Oklahoma State double-covered him all game long. They were physical on the line of scrimmage with him, and it still didn’t matter. He still flexed on the Cowboys all game, particularly in the 1st half. There he had two beautiful touchdown catches, including a dive on the slant route.

This group was phenomenal. They just need help. Marcus Freeman and Tommy Rees need to recruit with their hair on fire, develop quickly, and find players in the transfer portal.

Grade= A