Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1039349
30 OCT. 29, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED What Worked Making Money Plays: Even the best teams have off days, and the Pitt matchup was an off game for Notre Dame in many regards. The Irish came out on top be- cause, even though there were costly miscues and poor play in some areas, they had a number of players make game-changing "money" plays. After surrendering a touch- down drive on Pitt's initial pos- session, the Irish defense buck- led down, forcing three straight three-and-outs, and each drive ended because of a strong indi- vidual play. Senior defensive tackle Jerry Tillery stuffed a Pitt run on third-and-three to force a punt on the second possession of the game. On the next two posses- sions, junior defensive end Ju- lian Okwara had crucial third-down pressures that forced incompletions. On Pitt's first offensive possession in the third quarter (it opened the half with a 99-yard kickoff return touch- down), junior cornerback Julian Love had a clutch pass break up that forced a field goal attempt the Panthers missed. Notre Dame was still down 14-12 in the fourth quarter when the Panthers advanced to the Irish 47-yard line and had makeable third-and-two. How- ever, Okwara tackled Pitt senior run- ning back Darrin Hall for a three-yard loss on a screen pass to force a punt. The Irish offense responded with a touchdown drive, with junior quar- terback Ian Book hitting senior wide- out Miles Boykin perfectly over the top for a 35-yard go-ahead touch- down pass. Pitt had two possessions after Notre Dame took a 19-14 lead, and Okwara combined with classmate Khalid Kareem to shut down both series with impact pressures. Defense Limits Big Plays: Pitt had mostly struggled this season on of- fense, but one area it had excelled its first six games was generating big plays. Coming into this game the Panthers had ripped off six plays of at least 58 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown run and a 68-yard pass that set up another score in the 44-37 overtime win over Syracuse Oct. 6. Pitt had two plays of at least 31 yards on offense in each game it played prior to heading to South Bend. Notre Dame shut down the "explosives" in the game. Pitt's lon- gest play from scrimmage was a 17- yard run in the fourth quarter, and its longest pass play was a 16-yard completion in the third quarter. Only six of Pitt's 60 plays from scrimmage went for more than 10 yards, and the inability to hit the home run resulted in the Panthers scoring just seven points on offense. Second-Half Adjustments: Offen- sive coordinator Chip Long had to be frustrated with the first-half per- formance, which featured a difficult time getting anything going against the Pitt pressures. At halftime, the young coordinator made a couple of crucial adjustments that revitalized the offense in the sec- ond half. After struggling with the drop- back throws and downhill runs in the first half, Long went to a read play on the initial play of the third quarter that got the running back working fast to the outside, which then opened up a 15-yard vertical run lane for Book. Long also moved the pocket a bit more in the second half, using bootlegs and play-action throws to generate big play op- portunities. There were also adjustments with the pass pro- tection schemes, which helped slow down the Pitt pressures. Long started using his outside receivers to work quick inside routes underneath the slot re- ceivers. Back-to-back comple- tions on these routes resulted in a third-and-six conversion and a 16-yard touchdown pass that made it a 14-12 game. Those adjustments helped Book settle down and got the offense rolling in the final 30 minutes. What Didn't Work Run Game Woes: Notre Dame had a rough game running the football. The Irish finished with just 124 gained yards and a season low 80 net yards, the fewest since last year's game two loss to Georgia when it had 55. Pitt brought a number of run stunts that were designed to out-number the offense at the line of scrimmage. Its plan was to shut down the run and force Notre Dame to throw deep, something it struggled to do. Notre Dame's blockers were not able to handle the various line stunts that Pitt threw at them in the game, which allowed far too much penetration and shut down any chance the Irish had at establishing a ground attack. Book Doesn't Handle First Half Pressure: The line wasn't the only group that struggled to handle the first half pressure. Book found himself look- ing more at the rushers than he was looking downfield for open receivers. There were a number of wideouts coming open on downfield routes in the first 30 minutes, but Book's inabil- ity to keep his eyes downfield and un- willingness to stand firm in the pocket and throw resulted in him missing open players or running into sacks. ✦ Pitt Game: What Worked And What Didn't CLOSER LOOK BRYAN DRISKELL Bryan Driskell has been a football analyst for Blue & Gold Illustrated since April 2015. He can be reached at bdriskell@blueandgold.com. The Fighting Irish had a tough time running the football against the Panthers, finishing with just 80 net yards as a team. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA