Rakes Report #245: Trust some of this it’ll show you where you’re at, or at least it’ll help you really feel it (The Florida State Review)
The Fighting Irish spent the evening picking apart a horrific Seminoles team to maintain their winning ways heading into the season's stretch run.
~optional musical accompaniment~
1) It would have been easy for Notre Dame to overlook Florida State on Saturday evening, taking a team this completely woeful and assuming they could sleepwalk to a win. (That wouldn’t necessarily have been wrong — Mike Norvell taught his program that it was okay to quit last December and they decided they liked the taste. A real “We learned it from you!” moment.) But even with a couple early three-and-outs, the Irish never trailed in this game, dominated the Middle 8 and made the Seminoles look like the very bad football team they are. I doubt many people were paying too close of attention so a respectable 21-3 at halftime and gaudy 52-3 final will do the trick for scoreboard watchers.
I always enjoy when Notre Dame wins by such a margin it results in a staff shakeup, and we got a giant one on Sunday when Florida State announced they were getting rid of their offensive coordinator/offensive line coach, their defensive coordinator and their wide receivers coach. As fans who’ve suffered stomaching a couple tough vintages over the years, this Seminoles team is definitely far more of the 2007 Fighting Irish variety versus the 2016 version.
This improves Marcus Freeman to 5-0 after bye weeks, with four home blowouts and the BYU game in Vegas. Some of that competition wasn’t the fiercest but one thing good teams do is take care of business against bad ones and this was absolutely that.
2) The Seminoles completed ten (10) passes on the evening, barely outpacing both the number of sacks they gave up (8) and the number of three-and-outs to which they sputtered (6). I find it hilarious that in the first month of the season as DJ Uiagalelei struggled the general sentiment was “Well, why don’t they put in one of the other quarterbacks? They can’t be worse, right?” They are so much worse. Florida State ground out that opening field-goal drive but after that their six drives covered all of 30 yards, ending in five punts and the Jordan Clark interception. (In regards to that opening drive, what was the point of Norvell going for it on fourth down twice only to kick a field goal from the six?)
The main headline from this is going to be the health of Howard Cross. Freeman implied there could have been some discussion about whether he would have been able to go back if the game were competitive, which is good, but the amount of tape on his ankle seemed bad. Rylie Mills took the injury of his comrade personally, accruing three sacks, including two on consecutive snaps. Donovan Hinish filled in capably (two sacks of his own), Gabe Rubio kept getting back in the swing of things and overall this was a mauling. Multiple times Florida State drew up plays that set up a ballcarrier going one-on-one with Xavier Watts and that simply did not work for them. Some nice plays from Christian Gray after a tough outing against the Midshipmen, and Luke Talich’s* pick six to break 50 was wonderful and featured Brock Glenn looking like a Scooby Doo villain in his commendable but unsuccessful attempt to run him down.
* If you’re not familiar with Talich, really great story. The Wyoming native had a handful of FBS offers (Utah, Wyoming, Oregon State) but chose to walk onto Notre Dame last year as a freshman, his family deciding that basically he’d chase his Fighting Irish dream for one season and if he couldn’t earn a scholarship he’d move on. Talich locked in that scholarship and now seems primed to join Adon Shuler and Kennedy Urlacher as the lynchpins of next season’s safety room.
Any way you want to slice it, Florida State was awful: Three yards per snap, only 208 yards overall, three points, 2nd percentile in EPA per play and an unsurprising 0th percentile in EPA per dropback, losing nearly a point every time an overwhelmed quarterback didn't hand the ball off. Brutal stuff.
Fun note: Quieter night for the linebackers but Jack Kiser (who led the team in tackles with six) will set the record for most games played in a Notre Dame football uniform on Saturday.
3) The Irish offense was more rickety and inefficient than we’ve seen recently in the first half but they made up for it by hitting some impressive splash plays. The Riley Leonard touchdown run on the opening drive was a delight, juking and jab stepping and rumbling down the sideline before the scoring leap. (Leonard’s approach as a rusher? “I just kind of run until they tackle me." Good enough!) Jadarian Price’s 65-yard touchdown was badass shit and Leonard threw a perfect ball to Mitchell Evans for his touchdown.
Other good stuff: While I maintain my position that Jeremiyah Love should be in on nearly every third and fourth down, Aneyas William converted the game's initial third-down try with style on his 28-yard catch-and-run. Love Love getting a touchdown in his ninth straight game and making a nice snag over the middle after an early drop on an otherwise slow day at the office. Jayden Harrison came through with two big-time catches, which gives me hope of some more shot play potential going forward. It seems like a good idea that Mike Denbrock is working hard to fully activate Jaden Greathouse, and we saw another couple green shoots that Evans might be returning to his pre-injury form. Deion Colzie getting his first touchdown of the season was fun but seeing how joyous his teammates were for him really put it over the top.
Concerns: Drops continue to be an issue, which would have been a bigger deal in an actually competitive game because this was Leonard’s least accurate performance since September. He was high on a number of throws in addition to some being batted down at the line but hopefully that was a one-game, post-bye aberration. One of Leonard’s best plays of the game came before the Love drop, where he avoided a wave of pressure, kept his eyes downfield and delivered a great pass. I’m glad Anthonie Knapp is okay.
4) A touch too conservative from Freeman in a couple situations. The Irish punted on fourth and three from the Florida State 47 in the second quarter, something that shouldn't happen and definitely shouldn't happen when it's third and three the prior play and you throw it. The next possession Notre Dame attempted a 42-yard field goal on fourth and six with a banged up kicker. (In Freeman's defense on this one, they tried a Leonard draw the previous play — likely to set up a fourth-down try — and it only gained three. I still think you go for it.)
I have concerns that the staff was even considering a 52-yarder with the backup kicker but thankfully Florida State taking a timeout resulted in Notre Dame reevaluating that choice, the Noles putting 12 men out on the field and a fourth-down catch from Jordan Faison that immediately preceded the Evans touchdown. Kudos to going for it on fourth and two from the visitor’s 44, pushing the easy button of Leonard run. (This decision, of course, makes the decision to punt from the 47 seem even stranger.)
The placekicking situation feels perilous and I am praying it doesn’t come back to bite the Irish in these final three games. Florida State might have had the single worst punt protection I’ve ever seen, underscored by the fact they punted so many times and at no point seemed to adjust. We were a total of, what, maybe 18 inches from a half dozen blocked punts? Still awaiting a majestic booming punt of our own from the Irish.
Enjoyed the booth overall but Todd Blackledge whining about throwing on the final drive was unbecoming. The back-up quarterback had completions to two different walk-ons before throwing a touchdown to a veteran who’s seventh or eighth on the depth chart and has been putting in the work all season. Silly.
I’m thankful this Florida State team provided on-field evidence for a couple of my pet theories about the sport. The first is that having elite play at quarterback (especially a creative dual threat), wide receiver and defensive line is a cheat code that can help you punch above your weight. Take those boosters away and life can come at you pretty fast. The second is that if you rely too much on the transfer portal too often it is eventually going to catch up with you. Interesting fact: Norvell’s buyout following this season is roughly $63 million.
5) Winning Is Hard Round Up: Nearly every single October, some fans start to look at the number of teams with zero or one losses and ask “Well, what if all 13 of these schools win out?!” and then they never, ever do. In the exact tone of Rita Ora in Fast Six, this is college football, baby.
Miami’s highwire act finally faltered in Atlanta, giving up nearly 300 yards rushing to Georgia Tech and failing to convert on a number of fourth downs. It wouldn’t be a Mario Cristobal loss if he didn’t find some avant garde approach to time management and this was no different, as he called a timeout coming out of the two-minute warning because he seemed worried about a fake punt or too many men on the field. The Yellow Jackets would have run out the clock anyway but still nice to see an artist at work. I think this makes the ACC a one-bid league? Depends on how the rest of the at-large options (very much including Notre Dame) finish up their season but feels likely.
The Hurricanes weren’t the only Top 4 team to lose, as Georgia got walloped by Ole Miss, their lone touchdown coming on a short field after an interception. The Bulldogs have home games remaining with both Tennessee and Georgia Tech and likely must win both to make the playoff field. Ole Miss would be in the driver’s seat for the SEC title game if they hadn’t lost at home to Kentucky and blown a game in Baton Rouge they were leading the entire time.
LSU got a heavy dose of Good Jalen Milroe while being maimed at home by Alabama, eliminating them from playoff contention. So you’re telling me Marcel Reed might not be the best player in the country and the Bayou Bengal defense might just be that bad? Three years and no playoffs is tough, especially when you had the Heisman winner and NFL Rookie of the Year on your team. At the end of the first half, LSU had the ball at the Alabama 43 with 28 seconds left and didn’t even get a throw off to the end zone. Weird stuff.
Utah led BYU the entire game but blew it late as the dream season for the Cougars continues. This was an exceptionally strange game in which Kalani Sitake committed numerous crimes against time management but got away with it. (Both Sitake and Kyle Whittingham had used timeouts 91 seconds into the second half.) Indiana flirted with disaster against 5-5 Michigan but pulled it out. (The Wolverines still play Northwestern and will probably beat them to clinch a bowl but it’s not for certain.) Pitt went from 7-0 to 7-2 in eight days, losing at home to Virginia. Some Iowa State fans were awfully chatty about their ranking relative to Notre Dame but they suffered the same fate as the Panthers, losing to Kansas for their second straight loss after a 7-0 start. Texas Tech had a 13-0 lead at home against Colorado in a huge game for the Big 12 race and couldn’t hold on. Virginia Tech couldn’t hold onto a 7-0 halftime lead against Clemson and the ACC Brent Tech Power Rankings really shifted this week.
Oklahoma had a late lead in Columbia but they couldn't overcome some Drew Pyne Heroics (I’m being serious — he made a couple really nice throws on the game-tying drive) and a fumble return touchdown. The Sooners, who gave Brent Venables an offseason extension, will need to defeat either Alabama or LSU to go bowling. Vanderbilt got bowled over at home by South Carolina. (Gotta tip the hat to Shane Beamer, nice season for his squad.) I was also going to give some credit to P.J. Fleck for how the Gophers had been playing lately but unfortunately they lost to a Rutgers team that seemed kaput. Speaking of the Big Ten West diaspora, Iowa had been on a run but lost at UCLA after having to turn to their fifth-string quarterback. Army and Boise State were in the muck with North Texas and Nevada, respectively, but pulled out wins.
Maryland had the lead down to 11 with possession out at Autzen but threw picks on consecutive drives and that was that. Down 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, Purdue attempted a field goal from the Buckeyes 3-yard line. Sheer cowardice. It missed, and they were blanked 45-0. Cincinnati lost at home to West Virginia’s backup quarterback. Trent Dilfer and UAB had a 20-3 home lead against UConn but blew it against the Fighting Huskies. Louisiana Tech lost at home to Jacksonville State after giving up a Hail Mary as time expired. (JSU missed the extra point that would have won it in regulation but prevailed in overtime.) Oklahoma State lost to TCU to fall to 0-7 in league play. They were preseason Top 25! Mixed bag of a week for Mike Gundy.
6) It’s been a good stretch for Notre Dame football. The committee showed some respect for them in the initial rankings, they annihilated an overmatched opponent and the rest of the sport has broken in such a way that if they should be fortunate enough to win their final three games they will be going to the playoff and with a touch of luck they’ll get to host*. The advanced metrics continue to love the Irish and for a more casual observer simply glancing at their recent results they’ll see consecutive final scores of 49-7, 31-13, 51-14 and 52-3. Atonement for the Week 2 loss was only going to come in the form of consistent, quality football and that’s what we’ve been watching.
* I don’t know how the committee is going to evaluate a bunch of two-loss SEC teams if it breaks that way. I suspect Notre Dame will be ahead of the losers of Indiana/Ohio State and Tennessee/Georgia but I try not to think too much about what the committee will do as I maintain they make it up as they go and any attempt to follow their logic will lead you into the mouth of madness.
That momentum must be maintained on Saturday for Senior Day against the Cavaliers. It’s been seven years since Notre Dame didn’t turn their final home game of the regular season into a complete blowout and I would be very grateful if they could continue that stretch. The Hoos are coming off a win in Pittsburgh and they nearly knocked off Louisville earlier this year but it’s not a particularly impressive team in the third season under Tony Elliott, the former Clemson offensive coordinator. Quarterback Anthony Colandrea is a dual threat who can make some plays but he’s been turnover prone, logging a pair of interceptions in four separate games so far this season (including the most recent two). It doesn’t seem like that’s going to go well for him against Al Golden but we’ll see.
Only three games left so enjoy them all and if you have any interest at all in basketball I implore you to absorb every second you can from Niele Ivey’s squad because it’s going to be special (and already has been through two games). We’ll reconvene next Monday. Until then, take care of yourselves and please, please, please take care of each other.