For years the Notre Dame program was fueled by outstanding defenses and occasionally it was fueled by strong offensive lines. What often lacked, however, was the kind of high scoring offense that had the talent, balance and design to play at an elite level on a consistent basis. There were some flashes in the past (see 2015), but overall the Irish have lagged behind other top programs when it comes to offensive football.
That is starting to change under Mike Denbrock, and we are just starting to see how good this offense can be. Over the last three games, the Notre Dame offense has averaged 46.0 offensive points per game, 535.0 yards per game and 7.8 yards per play. The 641 yards against Arkansas is the first time since 2017 (611 vs. Boston College) that the offense has topped 600 yards.
Notre Dame has scored 105 offensive points in the last two games, which is the most points scored by an Irish offense since 1977 when Joe Montana led Notre Dame to 105 offensive points in wins over Navy and Georgia Tech. I don't care what the quality of the defense you are facing, when an offense does something it hasn't done since 1977 it's performing at a unique and special level.
This comes off the heels of a start to the season that was disappointing to say the least. Notre Dame's 24 points in the opener against Miami were fueled by poor play from the line, a bad second half turnover and an overall ability to create any kind of consistency. If not for a couple of big plays the offense wouldn't have even gotten to the 24 points.
It started to turn around in the 41-40 loss to Texas A&M, when the offense racked up 429 yards (6.0 YPP) and 33 offensive points. It was certainly better, but there was clearly still work to do. The offensive line wasn't playing at the level it was expected, the wideouts were getting better but hadn't really broken out yet and the run game was struggling.
Notre Dame had its offensive breakout in the win over Purdue, racking up 49 points and 535 yards (8.4 YPP). Purdue's defense hadn't given up more than 26 points through its first three games, and that 26 points was scored by a USC offense that currently ranks 5th in the county in points per game and is 3rd in yards per game. USC went for 26 points, 460 yards and 6.8 yards per play against the Boilermakers. Notre Dame followed that up a week later with its big time performance that dwarfed that of the Trojans.
The performance against Arkansas was even better, as all 56 of the team's points were scored by the offense. Notre Dame racked up 641 yards and 8.9 yards per play. The first team offense accounted for 557 yards and 9.3 yards per play in just three quarters.
Balance has fueled the last two games. Notre Dame has passed for 712 yards (356.0 YPG) and rushed for 464 yards (232.0 YPG) in its last two games. The pass game started to get going against the Aggies, but the run game didn't show up until the Purdue victory.
It's clear that Denbrock is getting more and more comfortable with his personnel. He has put quarterback CJ Carr in position to shred the last three opponents. Notre Dame's play calling has resulted in the pass game being much more efficient than it was in the first two games. After completing 62.9-percent of his passes in the first two games, while averaging 8.3 yards per attempt, Carr has completed 76.2-percent of his throws in the last two games while going for 13.7 yards per attempt.
What's been impressive is that Denbrock has been able to get Carr going while also getting the run game on track. The quality of the competition plays a role in that, but these are the kind of numbers that catch your eye no matter who you are playing.
After averaging just 114.5 yards per game and 3.4 yards per attempt in the first two games, the Irish have rushed for 232.0 yards per game and 5.6 yards per attempt in the last two games.
Notre Dame will certainly face better defenses in the future, and that will begin this weekend when it hosts Boise State. But none of the defenses left on the schedule are of the quality that Notre Dame faced in the first two games. There's a chance the Irish could continue performing at an elite level offensively.
Defenses now have a lot more film of Carr and will continue getting more and more of a read on what Denbrock wants to do with the run game and protections. Smart defensive coordinators will see that even in the last two games the offensive line has still struggled with blitzes. Arkansas and Purdue decided not to blitz Notre Dame all that much, and I get that. But what the last two games showed is that if you don't blitz you're going to get dominated anyway, so you might as well try heating Notre Dame up in hopes of creating mistakes by the offensive line and the young quarterback.
Denbrock and line coach Joe Rudolph will need to have a plan for that moving forward. Teams will likely start mixing up their run stunts and coverages as well, with the continued goal being forcing Notre Dame into mistakes. What every defense left on the schedule knows is that they don't have the talent and athletes to line up and just defend Notre Dame. Arkansas tried that, and they dared Notre Dame to throw the ball, and Carr went for 293 yards and four touchdowns ..... in the first half!
This is a different Notre Dame team. Not only do the Irish have the nation's best backfield in Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, they also have an extremely talented group of pass catchers that includes Love and Price. If you try and focus on shutting down the run game you are vulnerable to the pass game. If you try to defend the pass - like Purdue did - you are vulnerable to the ground game. At this point forcing Notre Dame into mistakes is really all you can do, and that results in attacking the offensive line.
If Denbrock, Rudolph and the rest of the staff have a plan to handle this moving forward this Irish offense will have a chance to put up record setting numbers this season.
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