Although the Irish wound up defeating the Knights rather
comfortably, the game was quite a struggle for three quarters. During that
time, the two teams traded scores with the Irish kicking a field goal in the third
quarter to give them a 16-13 lead. Notre Dame would put an end to the seesaw
battle by adding another field goal with 12:46 left in the game. Trailing 19-13,
Rutgers would bring the score back to within three points with Kyle Federico’s
third field goal of the game. Later, the Irish would eventually seal the game
with a 3-yard touchdown run by Tarean Folston and a late Kyle Brindza field
goal, his fifth on the afternoon.
The Positives
1. Balanced offensive
attack. If you just looked at the box score, you would think the Irish won the
game 45-16 instead of 29-16. The Irish ran 90 plays on the day and Brian Kelly
showed great balance in his return to play calling. Kelly dialed up 47 pass plays,
but stayed committed to the running game in the second half due to the wind and
field conditions. In fact, Kelly stated that he had to divert from his original
game plan and call sheet because the conditions were so bad. Whatever Kelly
did, it worked. The Irish racked up 494 yards of total offense (319 passing,
175 rushing), and dominated the time of possession battle with a 38:16 to 21:44
advantage. Overall, it was a great day for the offense, but they were still unable
to finish a few of their drives.
2. Chris Brown’s
emergence. Sophomore wide receiver Chris Brown was expected to have a
bigger impact this season, but he only managed to catch ten passes during the
regular season. On Saturday, Brown showed why the coaching staff believes he
still has a bright future. The sophomore caught five passes (all for first
downs) for 54 yards on the afternoon with a few of his catches coming on
critical third down conversions to extend scoring drives. Hopefully, this will
be a performance that Brown can build on heading into next season.
3. Kyle Brindza’s big
day. Despite the offenses success moving the ball, the Irish would not have
won the game with their kicker. Kyle Brindza was 5-for-6 on the day, hitting
field goals from 21, 38, 26, 25, and 49 yards out. The junior had been pretty
solid all season long and he figures to be a weapon heading into next year.
The Negatives
1. Red zone struggles
continue. As mentioned above, the Irish offense moved the ball with
relative ease against the Knights, but they struggled once again in the red
zone. The Irish had three drives that stalled inside the Knights’ 10-yard line,
having to settle for field goals instead. This is a problem that has plagued
the Irish all season long, and frankly it has been an issues the past couple
seasons. Part of it is play calling and part of it is execution (like T.J.
Jones dropping a sure touchdown pass on a 2nd and goal in the fourth
quarter). Either way, it is something that can be and needs to be fixed moving
forward. With Everett Golson returning next season, the Irish will add another
dimension to their offense that should help in the red zone and short yardage
situations. Hopefully, we won’t be discussing this problem again next season.
2. Careless
penalties. The Irish committed 8 penalties for 69 yards, highlighted by two careless personal fouls. The first one was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on
Stephon Tuitt for his role in an altercation after a play. Tuitt appeared to
push and say something to a Rutgers’ defender after a Notre Dame defender made
a tackle. The play resulted in an automatic first down, but fortunately for the
Irish, KeiVarae Russell intercepted a halfback pass at the one yard line to end
a Rutgers scoring threat.3. Return game issues. Notre Dame’s punt return issues under Brian Kelly reared its ugly head once again when T.J. Jones muffed a punt in the first quarter. The miscue led to a Rutgers field goal to tie the score at 3-3. Frankly, I don’t understand how a marquee program like Notre Dame can continue to struggle with returning punts. You would think that amongst all the talent the Irish have, a reliable returner would emerge. In addition to the punt return struggles, Notre Dame had a rough time holding the Rutgers kick return game in-check. Notre Dame tried to kick the ball away from Janarion Grant on several occasions, but the freshman did return three kicks for 127 yards. Rutgers was given good field position on most drives, but the Irish defense played well under the short-field conditions to keep the Knights out of the end zone. Improving in all phases of the return game should be one of Brian Kelly’s top priorities for the offseason.
-Eric Tichelbaut
Follow me on Twitter @etichel07
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