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Of all the complaints about the Notre Dame defense in the first five games of the season, they seem to have evaporated.
Here are our takeaways from Notre Dame’s romp over N.C. State on Saturday, where the defense began to rise.
Notre Dame’s offense hit a wall early
Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock’s Achilles Heel seems to be short-yardage situations this season.
In the last two games, he’s opted to throw or run out of the Wildcat package in third-and-short or fourth-and-short situations. Saturday was no different.
Notre Dame had fourth and one at the NC State 27-yard line. The Irish called a rollout for quarterback CJ Carr, and he ran out of bounds for a sack and a turnover on downs when no one was open.
Later in the first half, on fourth and three from the NC State eight-yard line, Denbrock called another pass for Carr. He was chased out of the pocket on a play where Malachai Fields was double-teamed, and was intercepted on a prayer heave.
Some, well, dubious calls kept Notre Dame from a last-minute drive in the first half. But, Notre Dame just curled in a field goal to take a 10-7 halftime lead.
This was another week where the offense should have put up 35-40 points. Head-scratching offensive play calls have kept that from happening, especially when the Irish have two premier running backs who could tote the rock.
In the second half, the Irish settled in. They scored 17 points. They moved the ball. They put the pressure on the NC State offense to respond. Jadarian Price and Jeremiyah Love didn’t have all-world games, but they ground out yards when they needed to.
It's a boon to see the offense take care of business. They averaged 6.8 yards per play and scored 34 points.
It’s just tough to figure out why their short-yardage offense has struggled.
The defense continues its momentum
The much-maligned Irish defense put its foot down against Boise State. They had to do so again against NC State.
Credit to the entire unit, they answered the call.
Boubocar Traore had two sacks in the game and consistently brought pressure on NC State quarterback CJ Bailey. His second sack was a bull rush that forced third and 15, which led to a fourth-and-11 moment where Adon Shuler intercepted Bailey.
NC State bent the Irish defense in the first half. Notre Dame never broke. In the second half, Notre Dame barely bent at all. They even scored, grabbing a safety with NC State’s offense backed up on its own two.
In the second half, Notre Dame shut out NC State. The Irish also held the Wolfpack to just 51 yards rushing on the day. NC State averaged 3.9 yards per play, too. This is a unit on the rise.
It should be noted that the Irish should have had four interceptions on the day.
Christian Gray had one late in the first half that everyone in Notre Dame Stadium thought was caught and secured. The referees disagreed.
After review, it was incomplete.
The decision making needs to improve.
The score was 10-7 at halftime. It should have been 16-7 at halftime, at the very least.
The Irish were great on short-yardage plays last year, namely because of Riley Leonard’s physical running style. Notre Dame doesn’t have those kinds of plays in its playbook.
However, the Irish do have Price and Love. Both are NFL running backs.
If Notre Dame doesn’t have that trust in its offensive line, then it needs to stop believing it’s a team that can go for it on fourth down and short.
They need to kick the field goals. Points are a premium for a team that can’t afford many mistakes. Against NC State they can afford them. Next week against USC might not be the case.