Rakes Report #130: Utterly macabre (The Bowling Green Review)

1) Well, there isn’t a whole lot we can take from that exercise, but let’s try our best. Notre Dame has played two really bad teams in 2019 and won both games by 52 points, which is what you’re supposed to do in this kind of situation but is not necessarily what’s happened historically. (Insert obligatory comment about 2018 Ball State game here.) As we did with the New Mexico review, please insert as many “But it was against literally the worst FBS team in the country, so” as you like to season the following commentary.

2) After a three-and-out to start the game, Ian Book pretty much did whatever he wanted against Brian VanGorder’s defense, throwing five touchdowns and barely missing on a sixth that should have been a better ball and also could have been a catch from Javon McKinley. The offensive line kicked in 6.9 yards per carry and didn't give up a sack for the second time in three games while Tony Jones, Jr. went over 100 yards for the second straight game, doing so in just seven carries. Also on the ground, C’Borius Flemister scored again and Jahmir Smith showed some nice burst. Brock Wright had the longest catch of the tight end trio, just as we all expected, while Cole Kmet and Tommy Tremble both had scores. It seems like Chip Long is going to use a lot of two-tight end formations and that seems wise to me considering how well those guys are both blocking and receiving. Phil Jurkovec flashed some of the stuff that might make him special (arm, size, mobility) in relief, which was nice to see and definitely won’t lead to calls for him to play the next time the offense goes three-and-out.

Fun stat: Through five games, the Irish are one of just four teams (LSU, Iowa, Tulane) to score on every red zone trip. (Those four teams are a combined 17-3 with the losses coming at Georgia, Michigan and Auburn, so it pays to convert.) The Irish are also tied for sixth in touchdown percentage, getting into the end zone on 17 of 20 visits inside the twenty.

3) The defense was sound, with Julian Okwara following up last week’s dominance with another sack and a blocked field goal. Jalen Elliott got a gift interception at the end of the first half while Kyle Hamilton laid the wood, but tough to judge the Shaun Crawford-less secondary considering how hopeless Bowling Green was in their attack. To give you an idea of how deep Notre Dame went into the rotation, two dozen different players notched a tackle as they simply overwhelmed the hapless Falcons who just wanted to get out of there without taking too much damage. I do think it’s at least worth mentioning that the Irish came out focused — five of the first nine Bowling Green snaps were tackles for loss — even though this walkover was scheduled between a pair of Top 20 opponents and the Trojans.

In all, Notre Dame outgained their opponent by 6.1 yard per snap. They did, however, lose the time of possession battle, which shows you why that stat is not necessarily the most useful. Is part of me a little sad that the most recent Notre Dame shutout is no longer 37*-0 over Michigan? Yes, but at least VanGorder was defensive coordinator in both games.

4) Another low stress but successful day for the specialists. Jonathan Doerer had to kick off a bunch and did that well while making a short field goal. Jay Bramblett only needed to punt twice but he averaged 43.5 net yards on them. Chris Finke had a 25-yard punt return, which equaled the total kickoff return yardage for Bowling Green on the day.

5) As best I can tell, the Irish got out of Saturday clean on the injury front. MTA, Chase Claypool and Bo Bauer all went down but returned to the field. Perhaps the most exciting personnel news came from a guy who didn’t play, as Jafar Armstrong suited up and went through warm-ups. This seems to bode well for him getting in against the Trojans, with the worst-case scenario being a return to action in Ann Arbor after the bye. In additional personnel news, Daelin Hayes announced he’s coming back for a fifth year in 2020, so we’re basically swapping his senior redshirt in for the planned one from Jamir Jones, who had a sack for the second straight game. Not exactly how we planned it but roughly the same result. Brian Kelly also announced Sunday that they are going to try for redshirts on freshman tailback Kyren Williams and senior corner Donte Vaughn, so you might not be seeing them the rest of the way.

6) Winning Is Hard/Schadenfreude Round Up: Neither of these teams are particularly good nor suffering from high expectations but I would like to start with Virginia Tech at Miami because it was insane. The Hurricanes were a two-touchdown favorite and fell behind 28-0 to the Hokies, who were coming off a beatdown at the hands of Duke. Miami came all the way back to tie the game at 35, missed the go-ahead PAT and then immediately let Virginia Tech march down the field for the game-winning touchdown. Duke, for their part of the Coastal mess, lost at home to Pitt after rallying from a 26-3 deficit. I like Virginia's chances of winning that division but their trip to Miami Friday night is a key step.

Let’s see what else. Washington lost at Stanford in a dreary effort, knocking Chris Petersen out of playoff contention and perhaps league title contention before we even get to the second Saturday in October. Iowa/Michigan and Northwestern/Nebraska were abominations, a total of 39 points scored in the two games with the home favorites prevailing. Auburn’s offense got bogged down in The Swamp and Florida prevailed, a reminder that when two good teams play one of them has to lose, particularly if one of them has a true freshman at quarterback on the road. Oklahoma State got trounced in Lubbock and TCU got blown out in Ames. An injury riddled Purdue was destroyed in Happy Valley and they’re now 3-8 since the Ohio State upset. Central Florida lost at Cincinnati, likely ending their run of New Year’s Six bids. Georgia was losing in the second quarter against Tennessee, Texas was down against West Virginia, Oklahoma was briefly trailing Kansas and Oregon was shutout in the first half against Cal before the favorites all prevailed. Things are so bad for UCLA that they lost at home to Oregon State by 17 and I almost didn’t include it.

(One upset that did not happen was undefeated SMU losing at home to Tulsa despite trailing by three touchdowns. If a) The Mustangs go undefeated b) Boise loses a game c) Notre Dame finishes 10-2 or better then it’s highly possible the Irish could play the hometown Ponies in the Cotton Bowl. I would kind of love that and hope it happens.)

7) Notre Dame should never play a team this bad but in defense of the athletic department when this was scheduled in 2016 the Falcons had won the MAC two of the three prior years, coming off a four-year stretch where they averaged nine wins per season under Dave Clawson and Dino Babers. Unfortunately, when Babers took the Syracuse job, the Bowling Green athletic director looked to see which team had the best offense, checked which of that team’s staffers he could afford and hired Texas Tech running backs coach Mike Jinks. Two potential issues: Jinks had never been to Ohio in his life and had three years of college coaching experience after spending most of his career coaching high school in the Longhorn State. (If you think I’m joking I am absolutely not.) So, if you’re wondering how a team ends up with 67 scholarship players it’s by conducting your coaching search with Google.

8) This is what we call a transition, because Jinks is now the running backs coach at the University of Southern California. I will not opine at length because you’ve heard me say this before but I really love the Notre Dame/USC series. It is unique in rivalries, with no conference, division or geography underlining the conflict but instead two programs among the best in the sport’s history using each other as a measuring stick. And the traveling trophy is an Irish war club bejeweled with ruby helms and emerald shamrocks? That’s the good stuff. Notre Dame has a chance to win three straight in this series for the first time since 1999-2001 and my belief is that it would be really cool if they were to come through on Saturday night with the victory

Notre Dame — sitting at 4-1, in the top ten, on a 14-game home winning streak, with a bye week and trip to Michigan looming — cannot lose at home to this wobbly, Clay Helton-coached USC team. As we saw in November, the Trojans have an incredibly talented trio of wide receivers that give them a thrower’s chance in every game, a strength that will likely be enhanced by Crawford’s absence and the fact Graham Harrell is running an actual offense as opposed to whatever was happening last year. Their defense has the regular blue chippers scattered about but they’ve given up yards in most of their games and rank 51st in the SP+. I am curious how the battle between Book and Clancy Pendergast will go because unless I am mistaken this is the first time Book has seen the same defense for a second time in his career. It’s unlikely USC will run the exact same scheme Book eventually solved but hopefully the experience is helpful.

So far this season the Trojans have defeated a good Utah team and walloped a confounding Stanford team in the Coliseum but they’ve struggled in their two road games, losing in overtime at BYU and by two touchdowns at Washington. The last time they came to South Bend they brought a top-three pick at quarterback and a roster that would eventually win the Pac-12 and lost by 35. This Trojans team is not as good as that one while this Irish team is likely better and honestly what’s the point of celebrating USC’s retention of Helton and joking about Lori Loughlin if the Irish can’t pull out the victory?

I am not saying the Irish can’t have a successful season if they lose Saturday night but it would reduce the margin for error for the remaining seven games to zero. Notre Dame let one get away in Athens but atonement can continue through winning their fifteenth straight home game and sending us off into a blissful bye weekend of cheeseburger appreciation while USC fans begin to make funeral arrangements for the Helton Era.

The season will be defined by these next two games so we might as well start the crucial stretch with a win. Go Irish, Beat Trojans.

~

If you want more of a preview for the USC game, a new podcast went up this morning with the Report’s Trojan Insider Nick Tresnowski that you can listen to right here. It's informative and fun and I think you'll enjoy it.

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