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A breakdown of each position for Notre Dame and Clemson and who has the advantage.
This is the game of the year in the ACC, if not all college football, at least in the regular season. No. 1 Clemson travels to South Bend to take on No. 4 Notre Dame. This highly anticipated game will feature a number of future NFL stars.
A look at each position and which team has the advantage in Saturday’s huge contest.
Don’t forget to take a look at each of our tales of the tape as well (wide receivers, running backs, and quarterbacks)
(Some photo’s courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)
Notre Dame’s list of players worth watching continues to grow.
Notre Dame’s list of players worth watching continues to grow. It was announced Wednesday that receiver Ben Skowronek and linebacker Daelin Hayes are on the 2020 Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year Watch List. The award recognizes college football student-athletes who have overcome illness or injury. Three winners will be announced at this year’s Fiesta Bowl.
That these particular Irish players have been selected for this watch list shouldn’t be a surprise. Skowronek, the transfer who suffered an injury that needed surgery during his final season at Northwestern, was the unanimous selection for our offensive game ball after making two touchdown receptions for 107 yards against Pittsburgh. Likewise, we unanimously picked Hayes, the captain whose 2019 season ended prematurely because of a shoulder injury, for our defensive game ball thanks to two sacks and two forced fumbles against Georgia Tech. So even if they haven’t been impactful in every game, their contributions thus far have not got unnoticed, even by those of us watching from our homes.
Who were the standout players for Notre Dame in their dominating win over Pitt? The Fighting Irish Wire staff hands out their game balls.
As is tradition we award a Notre Dame player from both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball with a game ball after every Fighting Irish game.
Sometimes they’re easy to come up with while other times they’re a bit more of a pain.
Saturday was a little more difficult as there was stellar play in many places as you’d expect in a 45-3 win over an ACC opponent, but here is what the Fighting Irish Wire staff came up with on Saturday afternoon.
First up – Jeff Feyerer
Notre Dame got bad injury news earlier in the week but came out firing on almost all cylinders in their rout of Pittsburgh. Takeaways here.
Good vibes were not being had by many after the injury report on wide receiver Kevin Austin came out early Saturday afternoon, but Notre Dame was able to answer the bell and cruise to a dominating win over Pitt, ______.
It wasn’t perfect but it was a pretty stellar showing for the third ranked Irish, one week after they were unimpressive in their win over Louisville.
What do you take away from the team that made a Pitt team that had started 3-0 before now dropping their fourth straight game, all in ACC play?
Here are five instant takeaways from the Notre Dame win, starting with Tommy Rees.
What in the name of Notre Dame offense is going on? It appears we’re finally getting that big game we’ve been waiting for.
What in the name of Notre Dame offense is going on? It appears we’re finally getting that big game we’ve been waiting for. And it includes a receiver who’s been very quiet until now. The result is a 28-3 halftime lead over Pittsburgh.
Ben Skowronek decided one big touchdown catch wasn’t enough. He decided he needed to make an unbelievable grab as Ian Book aired it out after being sacked. It was one of those plays that even he appeared to be shocked that he made. Regardless, the 73-yard touchdown reception, which allowed Book to pass Tommy Rees for second place on Notre Dame’s all-time touchdown pass list (62), was such a pleasant shock that even Skowronek’s former Northwestern teammate and current Los Angeles Charger Justin Jackson had to weigh in:
Yessir!! @BSkowronek10 https://t.co/hB7z9mwUX5
— Justin Jackson (@J_ManPrime21) October 24, 2020
Meanwhile, the Irish defense continues to make Joey Yellen’s afternoon miserable as its pressure on him has helped hold one of the country’s best offenses at picking up first downs in check. Even after the Panthers were to get one in one instance, Bo Bauer picked Yellen off on the next play. Bauer’s 16-yard return into Pitt territory set up a particularly great drive for Kyren Williams, who recorded a 20-yard reception and eventually, a 2-yard touchdown run.
Not wanting to feel left out, the special teams also made a big play right before the second quarter ended. After the defense successfully defended another third down, Kirk Christodoulou came out to punt for the Panthers. But just as he did, Isaiah Foskey blocked the ball into the end zone, where he fell on it to wrap up the scoring for the half. It certainly helps to get points every which way after the Louisville game.
Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book caught his coach on an all-time list Saturday. And then passed him about an hour later!
On the first drive of Notre Dame’s game at Pitt on Saturday, quarterback Ian Book connected with receiver Ben Skowronek on a pass that got the Irish on the board early with a 34 yard touchdown.
That pass tied Book with former Notre Dame quarterback and current Irish play-caller Tommy Rees for second all-time in program history as it was the 61st of Book’s career.
Just a quarter later it was Book finding Skowronek again, this time for an athletic catch and run that went for 73 yards and another Notre Dame score.
What a play from #NotreDame wide receiver Ben Skowronek. pic.twitter.com/5pprHQa7j2
— Carter Karels (@CarterKarels) October 24, 2020
It also moved Book past Rees and into second place by himself in program history in terms of touchdown passes with 62 now for his career.
With a maximum of just eight games remaining for Book after Saturday, it’s beyond unlikely that he ever catches Brady Quinn who had 95 career touchdown tosses for the blue and gold.
For a game that was billed as a defensive showdown, we’ve seen some rather decent offense so far.
For a game that was billed as a defensive showdown, we’ve seen some rather decent offense so far. Fortunately for Notre Dame, it was the team that converted better on its scoring opportunities. The result is a 7-3 Irish lead over Pittsburgh after the first quarter.
Ian Book took control on the game’s opening possession, leading a drive that included using both his running and passing abilities to achieve third-down success. During that drive, Book became the second quarterback in Notre Dame history to eclipse 8,000 total yards in a career, joining Brady Quinn (11,944). It culminated on a 34-yard touchdown pass to Northwestern transfer Ben Skowronek. In the Irish’s fifth game, that’s their longest touchdown reception of the season.
On Pitt’s opening possession, the Irish uncharacteristically surrendered a pair of third-down conversions to start but held serve on the third series of downs thanks to some nice play from their secondary. The Panthers settled for a 45-yard field goal from Alex Kessman. After that, we started to see more of that defensive showdown we thought we were going to get as neither offense was able to do much for the rest of the quarter. We’ve also seen penalties make a difference in the course of the game, which is typical for a game involving Pitt, so keep an eye out for those.
With his first quarter touchdown pass to Ben Skowronek, Ian Book tied his current position coach and play-caller on an all-time list.
In his third season as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback Ian Book has struggled to really get things going in the passing game like we’d hope he would, but he’s still been moving up the all-time charts at Notre Dame as he’s started to pass some of the most legendary quarterbacks in various categories.
In the first possession of Saturday’s game at Pitt it was his current coach and offensive play-caller that he passed on the all-time list of career touchdown passes at Notre Dame.
Book connected with graduate-transfer Ben Skowronek for a 34 yard touchdown pass that gave Notre Dame a 7-0 lead early and moved the Irish signal caller out of a tie with Jimmy Clausen and into a tie with Tommy Rees for the second most touchdown passes in program history with 61.
Ian Book completes the pass to Skowronek for the 34-yard touchdown to put Notre Dame (-10) up 7-0#BarstoolSportsbook
pic.twitter.com/Sa31M6shIT— Bet The Pigskin (@betthepigskin) October 24, 2020
With his next touchdown pass Book will move into sole possession of second place all-time in the Notre Dame record book, but he’ll need a miracle to catch Brady Quinn, who threw 95 touchdown passes for the Irish between 2003 and 2006.
Notre Dame was dealt a huge blow this week as news has come down that they’ll be without wide receiver Kevin Austin for the rest of the year
We found out on Saturday afternoon that wide receiver Kevin Austin was not going to be able to play against Pitt as the Notre Dame Football PR team made the announcement on Twitter.
Along with Austin, starting corner back Tariq Bracy and reserve offensive lineman Josh Lugg were ruled out for Saturday’s fame as well.
As it would turn out, it’s brutal news for Notre Dame in regard to Austin, who was supposed to be the most complete receiver on the roster this season.
Austin missed the first two games of the year with a broken foot that he suffered in fall camp. Unfortunately this week, Austin suffered another injury to the foot and according to The Athletic, will be done for the year.
A source tells The Athletic that Kevin Austin re-injured his foot in practice this week and is expected to miss the remainder of the season.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) October 24, 2020
A major blow to Notre Dame’s attempt to make progress in the passing game.
Austin only had one reception for 18 yards on the season but his potential was a large reason for there be hope that Notre Dame’s passing issues would take off as they’ve struggled to get going over one-third of the way the through the season.
Other wide receivers Ben Skowronek, Lawrence Keys, III and Braden Lenzy have also dealt with injury issues this year that certainly not helped the cause. Perhaps the loss means a chance for the likes of freshmen Jordan Johnson and Xavier Watts to see the field but don’t get it confused, this is a massive hit for a group that was already both battling injuries and struggling to produce.
Kevin Austin is yet to play a down for Notre Dame in 2020 but should provide an instant boost to the Fighting Irish receiving corps.
Late last week Brian Kelly announced that wide receiver Kevin Austin was on track to be able to dress against Florida State. He didn’t then give details as to if Austin would be a full-go, simply dress or what the deal would be.
Then earlier this week Kelly shared that it should be around 15-20 snaps that Austin sees against the Seminoles this Saturday night as long as things continued to progress but did clarify that it was in the hands of the medical team, not of the coaches.
Well it turns out things must have progressed well for Austin as Kelly shared on Thursday how he saw Austin’s week of practice and how he anticipates the wide receiver being used in his season debut this week.
“Yeah, he’s gonna play and he’s had a good week,” Kelly said, “No setbacks. He can certainly help us.
Kelly went on to mention that despite being cleared, you still have to be smart in how he returns to action.
“We want to be careful. He’s only going to be about 11 weeks post, not that we’re putting him in a vulnerable position, but we’ve got to be careful.”
Kelly was also sure to share the reminder that just because he’s cleared, doesn’t mean to expect him to at full speed for all 60 minutes on Saturday night.
“He hasn’t played full speed football in a long, long time, so I think we want to err on caution, in terms of his his snaps this week, and then we’ll go from there.”
Notre Dame’s receivers entered fall camp as a perceived strength but through two games they’re yet to produce. Part of that is clearly due to injuries with Austin not yet playing a down and Ben Skowronek not playing since the first half against Duke because of a hamstring injury.
Of wide receivers, Joe Wilkins leads the unit two games in with all of 44 receving yards on the season. Braden Lenzy has 34 receiving yards in just one game while Avery Davis finds himself third among receivers with 26 yards to date. Davis is also responsible for the only touchdown scored by a Notre Dame wide receiver this year.
Clearly it’s a position group that hasn’t performed up to expectation but it’s obvious that injuries haven’t at all helped that yet.
The addition of Austin adds the most complete receiver on the roster to the game plan and should benefit the other parts of the receiving corps and Ian Book as a result.
Although he may only play 15-20 snaps on Saturday, Austin’s impact should start to be felt very quickly.
