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Letter grades for Notre Dame football during their 2020 season, which saw them go undefeated in regular season play, only to lose their final two games.
The season has now ended and we can start to look back on what was a very odd 2020 season of college football. Two of 247Sports analysts Brad Crawford and Bud Elliott, broke down each team in the ACC and gave out grades for their performances.
Both, Crawford and Elliott gave the Irish A’s for the 2020 season, but I wanted to dig a bit deeper and give grades out for each position group and coaching. So here it is, my grades for each Notre Dame unit from this past season.
When Clark Lea stepped off the Notre Dame bus Saturday, he probably didn’t expect Syracuse to present such a challenge to his defense.
When Clark Lea stepped off the Notre Dame bus Saturday, he probably didn’t expect Syracuse to present such a challenge to his defense. In the first half, we saw that at times. A victory that appeared to be such a foregone conclusion didn’t seem like it midway through the second quarter. Then, the Irish woke up, and they now hold a 24-7 halftime lead.
The Orange started their first drive of the second quarter at their own 38-yard line and executed it to perfection. Rather than go for it all on one big play, they successfully relied on a series of runs and short passes. It paid off when Rex Culpepper connected with Anthony Queeley for an 18-yard touchdown to give their team the lead. Dino Babers said that this is his team’s title game, and that’s how it’s played for the most part.
For most of the second quarter, the Irish’s offense continued to have trouble getting anything going. On one drive, they got into Orange territory and appeared to pick up a fourth down, but Michael Mayer’s momentum carried him back behind the marker, and the Irish turned it over on downs. Everyone was waiting for anything to happen to get this unit going.
The Orange inadvertently provided a spark for the Irish when they appeared to force a three-and-out, but Kingsley Jonathan was flagged for roughing the passer. Ian Book made Jonathan pay for his mistake with a couple of first-down completions to Tommy Tremble and Javon McKinley. He put a stamp on the drive with a 28-yard touchdown run to put the Irish back in front. That’s what happens when you give a team like this second chances.
After that, the Irish we’ve come to know finally showed up. Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa sacked Culpepper and forced a fumble that was recovered by Marist Liufau. It took forever for the replay booth to confirm that, but it finally happened. Speaking of things finally happening, McKinley, the Irish’s leading receiver, scored his first touchdown of the season on a 21-yard pass from Book on the first play of the drive.
With time running out in the half, the Orange gave the Irish another opportunity when Cooper Lutz ran into Matt Salerno after Salerno had called for a fair catch on a punt. The Irish took advantage of this latest in a series of Syracuse mistakes by putting together a drive in which they marched down the field as quickly as any offense in college football is capable of. Book’s 21-yard pass to Ben Skowronek put the Irish in field-goal range, but Book decided that wasn’t enough, and he hit McKinley for a 28-yard touchdown pass with six seconds left. All of that took 32 seconds, and the Irish went into the locker room feeling much more confident about their chances of a blowout win.
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)
The third quarter between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh saw the Irish kick it into even higher gear.
The third quarter between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh saw the Irish kick it into even higher gear. They’re holding onto the ball for extended and/or productive periods, and the Panthers either can’t get anything going with the ball or even hold onto it. So it only makes sense that we have a 45-3 Irish lead going into the fourth.
Notre Dame’s defense is living up to its reputation of keeping points off the scoreboard. The unit is well-rested thanks to doing its job quickly and efficiently. We’ve even seen interceptions from Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Nick McCloud, the first of their respective collegiate careers. Owusu-Koramoah, widely seen as the unit’s best player, has made little impact for much of the afternoon, but at least he finally has that first pick out of the way.
The Notre Dame offense had a lengthy first possession of the second half, highlighted by a 41-yard pass from Ian Book to Javon McKinley. Though the drive stalled out at the Pitt 2-yard line, Jonathan Doerer salvaged the drive with a 21-yard field goal. The next time the Irish had the ball, Kyren Williams tried to throw a touchdown pass to Tommy Tremble from 27 yards out, which was unsuccessful but became a positive anyway after a defensive holding call against the Panthers. Two plays later, Book threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Michael Mayer, who had a 23-yard reception earlier in the drive.
That second drive of the half was made possible by Owusu-Koramoah’s interception. McCloud set up the third, this time with a short field at the Panthers 35. This one saw Avery Davis record a 21-yard reception that was added onto after a roughing the passer call. With C’Bo Flemister’s 2-yard touchdown run coming soon after, the rout definitely is on at Heinz Field.
It’s hard to determine who the top receivers are in a game between one struggling team and one that’s played only twice.
It’s hard to determine who the top receivers are in a game between one struggling team and one that’s played only twice. It says a lot about Notre Dame’s young corps when Tommy Tremble leads the Irish with only 104 receiving yards and no touchdowns. If Ian Book doesn’t find a regular target soon, we’re looking at a season in which the Irish player in this post could change every week. Still, Tremble’s numbers are decent given what we’ve seen when the Irish haven’t run the ball.
Florida State goes into South Bend with Tamorrion Terry as its top target, and the numbers here aren’t much better, albeit for different reasons. There’s a quarterback carousel happening in Tallahassee as the Seminoles will send their third starter under center in four games into battle. Different quarterbacks will have different tendencies and different favorite targets, so it’s almost impossible to tell if Terry is the Seminoles’ go-to. Regardless, he’ll have a tough time getting open against the Irish’s defense.
Who were the best players on the field in Notre Dame’s 52-0 win over South Florida? The Fighting Irish Wire staff shares their game balls
Notre Dame dominated South Florida in every aspect of Saturday’s game en route to a 52-0 win.
The win was the first shutout by the Fighting Irish since a 52-0 win over Bowling Green last October.
It didn’t hold a whole lot of suspense aside from watching whether or not Notre Dame would complete the shutout of the Bulls.
That all said – here are the Fighting Irish Wire staff’s picks for the game ball recipients in Saturday’s victory.
First – Geoffrey Clark
Notre Dame dominated South Florida 52-0 on Saturday. Here are five quick takeaways from the blowout victory that moved the Irish to 2-0.
Perhaps it was last week’s slow start against Duke and maybe some of it had to do with what happened against South Florida back in 2011 but it didn’t feel like there was a ton of confidence in the ability of the Irish to entirely dominate going into Saturday’s game.
Then kickoff happened and Notre Dame dominated in every part of the game for the next 60 minutes in their — obliteration of South Florida that puts the Irish at 2-0 for the third straight season.
It wasn’t the most compelling of games as the only thing all that interesting in the final two frames was if Notre Dame could keep the shutout in tact.
With that said here are five takeaways from the victory.
Inside em, outside em…through them, over them, whatever you wanted to do to them….
Things have cooled off a little in South Bend. The third quarter didn’t feature nearly as much action as the entire first half.
Things have cooled off a little in South Bend. The third quarter didn’t feature nearly as much action as the entire first half. Still, Notre Dame added onto its lead to take a 45-0 lead over USF going into the final frame, and Drew Pyne will take over for Ian Book during that time.
USF took the ball to begin the second half and looked more like a college football offense. The Bulls converted on third and fourth downs during a drive that got them to the Notre Dame 36-yard line. Despite the improvement, the drive ended when Clarence Lewis broke up a fourth-down pass from Jordan McCloud he probably should have held onto for an interception. The flip side was it gave the Irish better field position for the possession that led to a 22-yard Jonathan Doerer field goal.
The Notre Dame offense continued to look good. A 27-yard pass from Book to Tommy Tremble initially was ruled incomplete, but a replay review gave Tremble the reception and, ultimately, Doerer a chip shot. While it was disappointing not to score a touchdown, it still was something.
Though the offense didn’t reach the end zone in the quarter, special teams did. USF had its second bad long snap on a punt attempt during the game. This time, Trent Schneider didn’t have time to pick the ball up. Osita Ekwonu blocked it towards the USF end zone, where freshman Jordan Botelho recovered it for the score. Botelho, a Honolulu native, weighs in at 6-foot-2 and 248 pounds, so add that play to your “big man scores” playlist.
The former five-star recruit is already making waves in South Bend for the Fighting Irish.
This should not come as a surprise to hear that true freshman tight end Michael Mayer has performed well early on in training camp. The first-year play arrived in South Bend with plenty of hype, that’s usually what happens when you have 5-stars next to your name as a recruit. Not all recruits live up to their billing but so far so good for the Kentucky native.
Irish Illustrated’s Tom Loy doesn’t think Mayer will start but will play a big role for Notre Dame when the season begins. “(Tommy) Tremble is ready for a breakout season at tight end for Notre Dame, but don’t be surprised to see a lot of Michael Mayer this season for the Fighting Irish. From what we at Irish Illustrated have been told, the former five-star recruit is already making waves as a true freshman. His size, hands, route-running, and overall ability makes him a sure bet to contribute right away for Notre Dame this season.”
We saw a true freshman impress on the field last year as Kyle Hamilton made play after play and is expected to take another leap this season as he is set to be in a starting role. Loy see’s Mayer impact “in a similar fashion to when one-time five-star safety Kyle Hamilton arrived on the scene as a freshman last fall.”
Back to back years with big time freshman contributing early is a great sign for Brian Kelly. Not only would the Irish be cashing in on their current recruiting success, they could turn this around and show current high school prospects that you won’t need to ride the pine and earn your stripes. This is fantastic news coming out of fall camp for Mayer, Kelly and Notre Dame Football.
A point system to establish Tight End U by 247Sports doesn’t have the Irish on top. Find out who was and where they placed Notre Dame.
Many of us have automatically assumed that every list that ranks collegiate tight ends always seems to have Notre Dame next to the number 1. Well, that wasn’t the case when 247Sports looked into the matter, in fact they named Iowa as Tight End U.
This is all based on what have you done for me lately, as Barton Simmons explains the timeframe is just for the last 5 years. A point system that awards a first round pick 7 points, a second rounder worth 6 and so on, saw the Irish finish with 11 points, good for a tie for 5th on their list.
With “just” 3 draftees in the last five years: Durham Smythe in the fourth round in 2018, Alize Mack in the seventh round last year, and Cole Kmet in the first round this past draft got the Irish to their somewhat disappointing ranking. The quantity is good however, as the Irish only trail Stanford with their four drafted players in the time span.
Simmons looks at this current unit and sees “some good tight ends left on the roster in Brock Wright and Tommy Tremble but true freshman Michael Mayer is the next guy that could sniff a first-round level career.” Although they weren’t named the best group in the last five years, the future looks bright when you also add in 2021 commit Cane Berrong to the lineage.
There is much debate when it comes to assembling these kinds of lists, arguments are surely to arise when trying to rank positional groups. The great news for the Irish is that these numbers should only improve within the next five years as the current and future group should continue the great tradition in South Bend.
