Last Saturday night, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame played
arguably their best game of the season. The Irish defeated the then 22nd
ranked Arizona State Sun Devils, 37-34, for their biggest win of the year. The
victory improved Notre Dame’s record to 4-2, and kept alive any hopes it has of
going to a BCS Bowl game.
Coming into this matchup I knew that the Irish would have to
score a lot of points to keep up with Arizona State’s high-octane offense. However,
as I stated in my preview, I did not think that Irish secondary would be able
to keep up with the Sun Devils’ passing attack. In addition, I was not
confident that the Irish could sustain a balanced and consistent enough offensive
attack of their own to come out on top. As a result, I pick Arizona State to
win 31-27, and I could not be any happier that I was wrong. The Irish offense
moved the ball efficiently all night long, and the defense made enough big
plays to give Notre Dame a well earned and much needed victory.
The Positives
1. Balanced offensive attack. The Irish had 424 yards of total
offense, and I was really impressed with how balanced they were offensive.
Tommy Rees passed for 279 yards and 3 touchdowns, while the Irish running backs
combined for 145 yards on 37 carries. It is also worth noting that Notre Dame
ran 75 plays, so that means that 38 plays were passes. A nearly identical pass/run
split is exactly how this offense should be operating, but it has been tough
with the Irish playing from behind in three of their first five games. Since
Notre Dame was able to stay close with Arizona State through the first quarter
and eventually grab the lead before halftime, it allowed Brian Kelly to stick
to his game plan.
2. Winning the turnover battle. Notre Dame won the turnover
battle 3-1 and scored 14 points off of the three Sun Devil turnovers. The first
turnover, a fumble, led to a 21 yard touchdown pass to Troy Niklas two plays
later that gave the Irish a 24-13 lead. The final turnover clinched a victory for
the Irish when Dan Fox intercepted Taylor Kelly and ran it back 14 yards for a
touchdown. The pick six gave the Irish a 37-27 lead with just 1:16 left to
play.
3. Pressuring the quarterback. One of the reasons Notre Dame
was able to hold the Sun Devils’ offense in check was because of the pressure
they put on quarterback Taylor Kelly. The Irish had five sacks on the night,
three by Prince Shembo. The five sacks doubled their season total, and for the
first time the pass rush reminded us of the 2012 Irish defense. Hopefully this
will continue during the second half of the season. The next five games feature
matchups against weaker offenses, so the Irish defense has a chance to get on
quite a roll.
The Negatives
1. Rees’ interception. Other than a couple overthrows, Tommy
Rees played well for most of the night. Rees made some big plays and took care
of the football expect for one costly interception. The pick six Rees threw to
Osahon Irabor was simply inexcusable and it almost cost the Irish the game. Rees
is a senior and has to understand when he should not force a throw.
Fortunately, Notre Dame held onto the victory.
2. Secondary still has issues. Notre Dame’s defense played
really well, but the secondary still allowed some big plays in the passing
game. Arizona State threw for 362 yards and had three passing touchdowns of 36,
21, and 16 yards. Not allowing big chunk plays is what this Notre Dame defense
relies on, but unfortunately it is something they have not been very good at
doing. As I stated earlier, the next five games pose favorable matchups for the
Irish secondary, so now would be a good time to start locking down on some wide
receivers.
3. Jarrett Grace’s injury. During the game, Notre Dame lost
inside linebacker Jarrett Grace for the rest of the season due to a broken leg.
Grace was having a solid campaign and was tied for the team lead in tackles
with 40. The good news is that the Irish still have veterans like Carlo
Calabrese and Dan Fox to fill the two inside linebacker positions. The three
players were actually a part of a rotation in the inside, so Calabrese and Fox
have seen a lot of action themselves. In fact, Calabrese (40) and Fox (36) make
up the other two-thirds of the top three leading tacklers on the Irish defense.
The injury to Grace to a big loss, but it should be one that Notre Dame can absorb
with the players they already have in place.
-Eric Tichelbaut
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