Notre Dame Offense Will Have To Showcase More Creativity Moving Forward

Over the last several weeks, we had been advocating to see more creativity from the Notre Dame offense. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and this talented unit were starting to become very predictable. It was becoming more and more obvious how they wanted to start drives, what they would do out of certain formations and what their 'go-to' plays were on 3rd down and in the red zone. 

Some of those issues were masked by putting up gaudy stat lines against inferior opponents. They had 478 total yards of offense against Rice, but only rushed for 118 yards. Notre Dame recorded 444 total yards of offense against Purdue on the road and averaged 7.6 yards per play, but the Boilermaker defense was one of the worst units in the country. They ripped up Stanford for 598 total yards of offense, but the game plan was vanilla and lacked creativity. 

Unfortunately, their refusal to open up the offense against inferior teams resulted in their struggles against BYU on the road. We said this last season about Ohio State, you can't just 'turn it off and turn it on' depending on who you play. Notre Dame is entering a crucial period in the season with their offense and will have to utilize this bye week to generate more creativity on offense but how do you do that? 

It's not a 'one size fits all' type of deal, but there's several different things this offense can do to become a more creative unit because they certainly have the talent. This unit is too static and predictable. They have plenty of talent across the board to be elite and explosive, but Denbrock needs to scheme them more into success which will put that top level talent in a position to be successful. 

First and foremost, they will have to become more diverse with pass game concepts. Notre Dame ran slot fade an absurd amount of times Saturday night against BYU which they caught onto rather quickly. Get more creative utilizing post snap switches and trail routes which will get your players the ball on the run. Quarterback CJ Carr has showcased the ability to put the ball in the spots he wants it. Use that to your advantage. 

When you have a receiving corps made up of athletic, run after the catch guys, use that! Players like Jordan Faison, Bubba Frazier, Jaden Greathouse, Mylan Graham and several others were brought to this program to make this receiving corps more dynamic, but they're being asked to make plays after the catch from a stationary position after running deeps outs, comebacks and slot fade contested catches. Denbrock needs to utilize more movement routes in his concepts. 

There also needs to be more involvement from the tight ends. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the tight ends present little to no threat in the passing game depending on the personnel on the field. It's easier for defenses to key in on the run when they know that No. 87, No. 88, No. 7, No. 85 and No. 24 (when he's in), aren't going to hurt you vertically down the field. 

Through the first seven games, this has been a very rigid and stubborn offense that feels the need to get into the 'perfect play' in order to have success. I still believe that Notre Dame's offensive talent takes a back seat to no defense on their regular season schedule, but the scheme is preventing this unit from showcasing that top-level talent. Get your playmakers into the game, get them the ball in space and put them in position to be successful. 

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