Tag: Kyren Williams

Notre Dame vs. Florida State: Second-Quarter Analysis

Well, that’s a bit more like it. Notre Dame still doesn’t look it’s completely shaken the rust from its layoff.

Well, that’s a bit more like it. Notre Dame still doesn’t look it’s completely shaken the rust from its layoff. However, it takes a 35-20 lead over Florida State into the locker room. It has that to be grateful for.

After Javon McKinley caught a 36-yard pass from Ian Book to end the first quarter, the Irish continued their momentum on the drive to begin the second quarter. They gained positive yardage on every play until Kyren Williams scored his second touchdown of the game from the 1-yard line. After that, the game hit a bit of a lull as no points were scored on the next three possessions. It also was nice because it showed how well the Irish defense plays when the offense doesn’t put it in a tough spot.

With Williams already having contributed a bunch, the decision was made to give the ball to Chris Tyree in the backfield. He quickly showed why the Irish have faith in him. The drive took only four plays after he ran for 13 and 45 yards, respectively. The latter of those plays resulted in a touchdown.

Florida State saw how well the Irish were doing on the ground throughout the first half and decided to counter with their own ground game. Led by La’Damian Webb, the Seminoles marched downfield all the way to the Notre Dame 8. They might have gotten farther, but the Irish defended Jordan Travis’ passes well. Ryan Fitzgerald salvaged the drive by kicking his second field goal.

The next drive saw the Irish race against the clock and put together a complete effort. Jafar Armstrong returned a kick 36 yards to the Notre Dame 43, setting up a series of runs from Book. The Irish also were aided by a personal foul penalty from the Seminoles. It all culminated in a a 5-yard touchdown reception from Braden Lenzy with 11 seconds left.

Watch: Notre Dame RB Williams scores second touchdown vs. FSU

Make that two touchdowns in the first half for Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams against Florida State.

Kyren Williams is having a fantastic half of football and he still has over 12 minutes to add onto his 130-yards and two touchdowns. Check out his latest score.

The score give the Irish the lead back in the second quarter, 21-17 over Florida State.

Notre Dame vs. Florida State: First-Quarter Analysis

Those who figured the two-week layoff would hurt Notre Dame against Florida State were correct early.

Those who figured the two-week layoff would hurt Notre Dame against Florida State were correct early. Kyren Williams lost a fumble on his first carry of the game, and it cost the Irish an early field goal. Williams more than made up for it on the Irish’s subsequent possessions. Still, the Irish find themselves behind, 17-14, after the first quarter.

On the first play of Notre Dame’s second possession, Williams took advantage of a nice block from Tommy Tremble and ran 65 yards to the Florida State 10-yard line. That set up an 8-yard touchdown reception for Michael Mayer. One Seminoles punt later, Ian Book made a few nice passes before Williams ran the ball 46 yards to the house to give the Irish a 14-3 lead.

The Irish looked like they would hold that advantage after forcing a three-and-out, but Lawrence Keys III muffed a punt, and the Seminoles were more than happy to take over deep in Irish territory. That’s because all Jordan Travis had to do was call two run plays before running into the end zone himself from 4 yards out.

The Irish failed to pick up a first down on their next possession, really looking out of sync. When the Seminoles got the ball back, they decided to switch from attacking on the ground to doing so in the air. Travis completed three of four passes, targeting leading receiver Tamorrion Terry three times.  The final pass went 48 yards to Terry, who ran into the end zone and gave the Seminoles the lead back.

It was a quarter of both good and bad for the Irish, and most of the bad easily could have been avoided had they held onto the ball. Brian Kelly better figure out how to keep his guys on their toes because that extra time off seems to be taking a toll. At least they have enough time to figure things out. Still, Irish fans are in shock.

Watch: Notre Dame’s Williams rips off second huge run, this one for TD

Watch as Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams scores a long touchdown against Florida State.

Five touches for Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams has resulted in 117-yard and this touchdown.

You think he wanted to make up for the fumble on the opening drive. Sure does and this run helped get back in Irish Nation’s good graces.

Watch: Notre Dame freshman Mayer scores 1st career Touchdown

See Notre Dame freshman Michael Mayer score his first career touchdown to give the Irish an early 7-3 lead over Florida State.

After running back Kyren Williams fumbled his first carry, he held his hands to his head. His next carry, Williams ripped off a 65-yard run, the longest of his Irish career. Two player later, freshman Michael Mayer happened and the Irish took back the lead 7-3.

Congrats to the freshman Mayer on scoring his first Notre Dame touchdown. We hope to see many more over your career.

Tale of the Tape: Top Rushers – Kyren Williams vs. Lawrance Toafili

A pair of dynamic running backs will take center stage when Notre Dame faces Florida State on Saturday.

A pair of dynamic running backs will take center stage when Notre Dame faces Florida State on Saturday. Kyren Williams has done quite well in his first two games as arguably the Irish’s best offensive weapon. While Ian Book has continued to search for chemistry with his new receiving corps, Williams is kicking that can down the road as far as he can. Until Book breaks out, Williams is the player to watch on Notre Dame’s offense.Freshman Lawrance Toafili has taken the lead for Florida State on the ground, and he’s done it without losing yardage on a single carry. Though he and Williams have about the same likelihood to pull off a big play, he isn’t averaging as many yards a game. If the Seminoles are to win, he won’t be able to do it by himself. The idea of a freshman running back singlehandedly willing his team to victory against a top-ranked defense almost is preposterous, but stranger things have happened in college football.

Notre Dame/South Florida Game Predictions

Can Notre Dame do something they’ve only done 12 times the last 30 years? We’ll find out Saturday

When Notre Dame welcomes South Florida to South Bend on Saturday the Irish will be looking to do something for the third year in a row but for what would be just the 12th time in the last 30 seasons.

That is start the year 2-0.

Under Brian Kelly, Notre Dame has done exactly that five of his ten years, including the last two seasons.  From 1990-2009 however the Irish did that just seven times in those 20 seasons under the watch of Charlie Weis, Tyrone Willingham, Bob Davie and Lou Holtz.

It’s not the most difficult of opponents coming to Notre Dame Stadium but then again, we said that in September of 2011 when South Florida visited, too.

So what happens this weekend?  Here’s what the staff at Fighting Irish Wire thinks headed into the game weekend:

First up Geoffrey Clark (1-0)

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4

Tale of the Tape: Leading Receivers – Joe Wilkins vs. Bryce Miller

Technically, Kyren Williams is Notre Dame’s leading receiver, but for the purposes of this post, that wouldn’t be right.

Technically, Kyren Williams is Notre Dame’s leading receiver, but for the purposes of this post, that wouldn’t be right. Instead, we look at junior Joe Wilkins Jr., the junior from North Fort Myers, Florida. Only four receptions is proof that Ian Book isn’t quite used to his new targets yet. However, one reception for 20 yards is proof that Wilkins is capable of the big play, and it’s possible he’ll have more than one such opportunity against USF.

The Bulls’ top receiver, Bryce Miller, didn’t showcase much in his season opener either. To be fair, he suits up for a team that chose to emphasize its run game out of the gate. If he can’t do better against the Irish than what we see above, it’s going to be a long afternoon for him and the rest of his team. An offense simply doesn’t walk into South Bend with a strategy that would have worked better generations ago.

Notre Dame named top offensive line of week

It wasn’t a pretty start but it got dominating as it went on Saturday for Notre Dame’s offensive line against Duke. See how dominating here

It didn’t start very pretty but it sure did end up so as Notre Dame went from three-and-out their first three possessions on Saturday to just three punts the entire rest of the game.

Why?

Part was likely play-calling while shaking off some rust certainly applies but an offensive line that dominated as the game went on was a large part of that as well.

Tuesday saw Pro Football Focus rate the best offensive line units for the college football weekend and Notre Dame topped the charts.

On the first three possessions Saturday we saw Notre Dame gain -5 yards on the ground on seven attempts.  That’s because of the odd rule where sacks count as rush yards in college football and Ian Book was sacked twice those first three drives for a total of 12 yards lost.

The rest of the game Notre Dame ran the ball 36 times for 183 yards, an average of more than five yards per attempts, up significantly from their brutal start.

Also after allowing those two sacks on the first three possessions, the Notre Dame offense allowed just one the rest of the game, a noteworthy improvement.

It wasn’t perfect, especially the start, but the middle and end were a mighty impressive showing for Notre Dame’s big ugglies.

 

Tale of the Tape: Starting Quarterbacks – Ian Book vs. Jordan McCloud

No one can be quite sure what to expect out of the quarterbacks when Notre Dame faces USF in its lone nonconference game Saturday.

No one can be quite sure what to expect out of the quarterbacks when Notre Dame faces USF in its lone nonconference game Saturday. In one corner, you’ve got Ian Book, who was decent against Duke but showed obvious signs that’s he still getting used to his receivers and Tommy Rees’ scheme. Though he and the rest of the offense got it going by the fourth quarter except for Kyren Williams, who did his job throughout, it would be nice to see the quarterback Irish fans have come to know. The Bulls are a perfect opponent against which he can open up a little more.

In the other corner, you’ve got Jordan McCloud, who leads an offense that carried the ball more times than threw it in a 27-6 win over The Citadel. The Bulls might be able to get away with that against a Football Championship Subdivision opponent, but McCloud will need to be the focal point a lot more when facing a quality Power Five team like the Irish. Though McCloud seems to be fairly accurate in his passes, throwing for only 68 yards simply won’t cut it in the environment he’s about to walk into. His career high is 267 yards last year against Cincinnati, and that’s what he needs to shoot for to at least a shot at pulling off the upset.