CJ Carr’s command and a rising receiving corps powered the Irish to a dominant thirteenth straight victory, overcoming persistent ground game struggles to stifle the Spartans.
Notre Dame improved to 3-0 on the season and won its 13th straight game after its 27-10 convincing win over Michigan State (2-1). It wasn't always pretty, especially on offense, but the Irish led the entire game and won yet another game by double digits. All of Notre Dame's 13 wins during its current streak have been by at least 10 points.
Here are my key takeaways from the victory:
1) Run Game Struggles Continue - Notre Dame had its best rushing performance of the young season with its 161 yards against the Spartans. The yardage total is a solid effort, but a deeper dive shows the run game is still a concern for Notre Dame. Notre Dame averaged just 3.7 yards per carry, which means the offense has yet to achieve 4.0 yards per carry in a game. Consider that Notre Dame averaged at least 5.3 yards per carry in each of the last three seasons. Even the struggling 2021 offense and all its offensive line issues averaged 4.1 yards per carry on the season.
Notre Dame showed some new wrinkles in the game, from the center pull snaps to the Midzone tendency beater where the back got the ball from the call side. That was a positive, certainly, but the overall lack of production and push from the offensive line remains a major issue. Notre Dame's emphasis on East-West runs also remains a bit of a head scratcher, but that got better in the second half.
If you're looking for a couple of bright spots, or signs that improvement is just around the corner, you got some of that in this game. Sophomore running back Nolan James Jr. finished the game with 121 rushing yards and a score in the win. James needed 26 carries to get there, due in large part to the aforementioned blocking woes, but his individual performance was strong and a positive sign.
The other bright spot is how the line blocked on the final drive of the game, which put the gam away. Notre Dame got the ball with 5:02 left in the game and it used all 5:02 on the drive, and it was all James. He carried the ball eight straight times for 52 yards (6.5 YPC), and seven of the eight runs were efficient runs. The line got arguably its best consistent movement of the season, even with Michigan State fully aware that Notre Dame was going to run the ball. James was patient, ran with authority and took advantage of the improved blocking to ice the game.
If the line can consistently play the way it did to end the game, and James continues to be featured more, the Irish ground game could quickly turn things around .... and it absolutely must do that.
2) CJ Carr Can Carry The Offense - What makes the early season performance even more puzzling is why Notre Dame continues to force feed the run game with quarterback CJ Carr performing at such a high level. It seems obvious that head coach Marcus Freeman and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock want the run game to be the focal point of the offense, and it's hard to understand why. Not only is the run game struggling, but Carr is playing at a high level.
Carr is completing 72.6-percent of his passes and is averaging 9.9 yards per attempt to start the season, and in the last two games he's completed 34 of 44 passes, which is good for a 77.3-percent completion rate. When you consider Carr had two throw aways and three drops among those 10 interceptions and its clear he's playing at an elite level. His deep ball accuracy last night was arguably the best we've ever seen from him, and his overall ball placement was outstanding in the win over the Spartans.
Yet with Carr performing as well as he has, the offense seems to want to ground teams into submission, and then Carr is the complement to that ground game. It's understandable that the staff wants to get the ground game going, but a counter argument could be made that the pass game being more of a focal point would take some of the pressure off of the line and backs, and force teams to expand their alignments and prevent them from keying as heavily on the backs and line as we've seen so far this season.
3) Wide Receiver Group Keeps Improving - Part of that success from Carr is the improvement we've seen from the wide receiver group since the opener, and that continued last night. With Michigan State focusing on shutting down the run and slowing down Jordan Faison, junior receiver Micah Gilbert was given a lot of one-on-one opportunities, and he took full advantage. Gilbert went for 61 yards on the first play of the game and finished with career highs in catches (8) and yards (170). It was the most receiving yards by an Irish receiver since Chase Claypool went for 180 against Wake Forest back in 2017.
It was the second straight quality performance from the Irish wide receivers, which is an encouraging sign. With the receivers producing and Carr playing at such a high level, the Irish staff would be wise to start building the offense more around the pass game. That doesn't mean the run game isn't important, but the best part of the offseason so far this season is the part that isn't being taken full advantage of so far, and that was true against Michigan State as well.
4) Tight Ends Missing From The Pass Game - Speaking of not taking advantage of something, the Irish tight ends are an afterthought in the pass game. After just three targets and one catch in week two, the Irish tight ends weren't targeted once last night. Of the three targets, only one went to Cooper Flanagan or James Flanigan, and five-star freshman Ian Premer has yet to play a meaningful down. It's puzzling that when you have an elite quarterback like CJ Carr, the offense would refuse to have a position like tight end be such an afterthought in the pass game.
Michigan State seemed to know that and didn't focus much on the tight ends in the pass game, and it also allowed the linebackers to fly downhill, knowing the tight ends wouldn't do any damage behind them.
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