Bye week wishes: What Notre Dame hopefully was working on
Bye weeks are the worst, any momentum gained over the past few weeks seems like it can be lost. For Notre Dame, they finally started to get back to their winning ways, consecutive victories against California and North Carolina. The good part about bye weeks is that teams can now self-scout. Yes, the wins weren’t perfect so there was plenty for Marcus Freeman and his first Notre Dame team to work on. Here are a few things that I hope they tried to correct since last hitting the playing field.
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Drew Pyne establishing rapport with his wide receivers
Sep 24, 2022; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels defensive back DeAndre Boykins (16) breaks up a pass intended for Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Jayden Thomas (83) in the first quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
It’s great that tight end Michael Mayer is having a fantastic season, but even the best tight ends shouldn’t be leading the team in receiving yards. For the season, only one wide receiver has over ten catches, Lorenzo Styles. The other receivers have seven, Braden Lenzy, and three, Matt Salerno and Jayden Thomas. That’s it, no other player from that group even has a catch. None of these even three has over 100 yards on the year, not ideal. Hopefully this bye week gave Pyne and his receivers time to work on timings of routes and ball placement as they rank 76th nationally in yards-per-attempt. This group has to be better.
Defense’s tackling
Josh Downs #11 of the North Carolina Tar Heels makes a catch against TaRiq Bracy #28 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half of their game at Kenan Memorial Stadium on September 24, 2022 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Over the last two games, albeit wins for the Irish, the tackling has been very suspect. The defenders are positioned well enough to make the plays but are missing. Getting back to fundamentals in tackling should have been a focus for defensive coordinator Al Golden and the position coaches. This will greatly help a defense that has been good, but not great so far this fall.
Creating turnovers
Sept. 24, 2022; Chapel Hill; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye (10) fumbles the ball in the third quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Against North Carolina, the Irish finally got on the turnover board as linebacker JD Bertrand forced a fumble on the first play of the second half. It was just the first time all year a ball was jarred out of an opponents hands. Taking three-and-a-half games to get a take-away isn’t ideal and it still leaves them with a -1 ratio for the year, 119th in the nation. The Irish must have better results getting the ball on the ground or position themselves for picks when the ball is in the air. Speaking of the air, it’s been a struggle for the defensive backs as well, just eight times this year have they tipped a pass away and obviously not interceptions. An emphasis on getting takeaways should have happened over the last two weeks.
Improving efficiency on third down
Sep 24, 2022; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Drew Pyne (10) runs with the ball in the second quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
This is the money down and the Irish have been far from it this year. Through four games, the offense has converted us to 34.6% of their third down tries, good for 98th in the country. Yes, a quarterback change occurred but also getting to manageable down and distances will help this percentage go up. The offense as a whole needs to be better moving the ball. Dedicating multiple practice periods to fixing this aspect of the Irish offense was hopefully done during the bye.
Red zone defense
Sep 24, 2022; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye (10) throws a touchdown pass as Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive lineman Justin Ademilola (9) defends in the second quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
As mentioned earlier, with just one forced turnover this stat most likely was going to be bad. It is worse than that, the Irish are dead last in the country, having allowed 9 touchdowns and 3 field goals in twelve red zone tries for their opponents. It’s not the perfect scoring percentage that really bugs me, its the fact that 75% of the time, it’s a touchdown being scored. Like third downs on offense, red zone defense is the time to focus and really attack. The Irish need to find a way to get some stops when offenses drive this deep into their territory.
