Grading Notre Dame football’s performance through a third of the season
Notre Dame football is now one-third of the way through its season in 2024, and already the Irish have been in the middle of a media whirlwind.
The Irish began the season with an impressive 23-13 victory over Texas A&M at Kyle Field, prompting the national media to put head coach Marcus Freeman on a pedestal as the nation’s most promising up-and-comer. Even ESPN’s Paul Finebaum said he was “impressed” with this year’s Notre Dame team.
Notre Dame followed that performance up with a shocking defeat at the hands of NIU. It was NIU’s first victory over a top-10 opponent in program history.
The season has had its ups and downs. Purdue was a blowout win, then Notre Dame defeated Miami (OH) albeit in shaky fashion. Now Notre Dame is 3-1 heading into what is supposed to be the “tough part” of their schedule.
So where do the Irish truly stand?
Grading Notre Dame football's offense through four games
Rushing offense: A
The Notre Dame offense has been on every Irish fan’s mind this season… for better or worse.
Like many Irish teams of the past, the rushing attack is strong. Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price have both put together strong seasons, both backs working off of each other well. With QB Riley Leonard’s bruising ability on the ground, the option game looks better than it has in a long time. That is not the issue, and there really isn't much to say other than that Notre Dame is an elite rushing team.
Passing Offense: C-
Leonard has a total of six touchdowns on the season, but it took until the final minute of the first half in Notre Dame’s Week 4 matchup against Miami (OH) for Leonard to pick up his first touchdown in the air. Leonard is yet to eclipse 200 passing yards in a game this season.
Junior QB Steve Angeli has thrown just nine passes on the season. He is the current team leader in passing touchdowns (2 vs. Purdue).
Leonard does not appear to be in sync with his receiving corps. Sure, a receiver can miss a route. It’s possible. But it gets more and more unlikely with each timing route that Leonard throws to the wrong spot.
There are times when Leonard looks great, like the second quarter of the Miami (OH) game. There are times when Leonard looks completely overwhelmed, like the first quarter of the Miami (OH) game.
In short: Notre Dame is capable of putting points on the board. It’s the way in which the offense has been one-dimensional thus far that is setting off alarm bells. One issue with the offense is the fact that Notre Dame’s best passer may be sitting on the bench.
Overall: B-
Notre Dame football's defense through four games
Run defense: B+
If you take away the MAC games, Notre Dame would be A- or better across the board.
The Irish allowed one guy to beat them in Week 2. NIU runningback Antario Brown put together a career day, finishing the afternoon with 225 yards of total offense and a touchdown. He led NIU in both rushing and receiving.
The offense may have lost Notre Dame the game, but a preseason top-5 defense should not be allowing a team from the MAC to move the ball 388 yards down the field. Especially when the Notre Dame offense is out-produced by over 100 yards.
Notre Dame then gave up 110 rushing yards to Miami (OH). The RedHawks are the second-worst rushing team in the nation, only averaging 58 yards per game.
But what's funny is that the Irish held Texas A&M to 146 yards on the ground in Week 1. 146 seems like a lot until you realize that it's the Aggies' lowest rushing total of the season. Texas A&M currently ranks 8th nationally in rushing offense, averaging 256 yards per game.
The Irish also held Purdue to just 80 rushing yards (before Hudson Card's sack yardage is subtracted; Notre Dame actually held them to 38).
At 3.6 yards per carry allowed, Notre Dame is allowing opposing runningbacks to rush ahead of schedule most of the time. But the Irish have come up with big stops in big moments, so it’s not all bad.
There are many great things about this Irish defensive front. There are also some head-scratching performances.
Pass defense: A-
That being said… the defense has been rather good, especially in the secondary.
Irish DBs have forced six interceptions. Six. Three multi-interception games (like I said, NIU was a disaster). Guys like Xavier Watts and Kyngston Vilamu-Asa are flying around the field, recording stops and protecting against the deep ball.
When an opposing offense does get it going, however, Notre Dame is giving up 11.5 yards per completion. This is no cause for alarm, as Notre Dame is also averaging just under 12 completions allowed per game. When the team is playing its brand of football, the defensive secondary is a solid unit.
It all just needs to get a little more consistent.
Overall defensive grade: B+
Notre Dame football special teams
Kicking: C
Oh boy.
Two main things stick out in your memory when it comes to the field goal unit. The first is Mitch Jeter missing both of his field goal tries in Week 2. Jeter hits either one of them and Notre Dame is 4-0.
The second thing is the mishandled snap to the wild bootleg throw from Week 4. That miscue could not have come at a worse time; Jordan Faison had mishandled the punt after the RedHawks' first drive to give it back, Leonard had just thrown two ugly incompletions, and then that. Notre Dame looked awful to start the game.
All that to say, the kicking team needs to improve.
Punting: A
I mean... they are punting?
Punter James Rendell ranks 98th nationally in average punt distance (40.9 yards). His longest was 54 yards. He is punting a lot, though, so take that with a grain of salt.
Opponents have returned five punts for 39 yards. That's 7.8 yards per return. Solid.
It's a give and take. You'd like to see Rendell punt farther, but then again you'd like to see him punt less. That falls on the offense.
And with the return defense doing its part, there's really nothing you can say but "great job." It's not their fault that they are needed a ton.
Kick and punt returning: D
Very similar numbers for Notre Dame on the other side of the punt. In this context, those numbers are not good.
Five punt returns for 35 yards. However, I will once again refer to Faison's muff.
On kick returns, things don't get any better. The Irish have attempted to return six kickoffs this season and have taken them an average of 18 yards per return.
Might as well start fair catching everything... that is, if they catch it.
It's early. There's not a lot to go off of. But so far, Notre Dame football needs to clean it up.