Against Purdue the Notre Dame offense morphed from talented players into a gelling team. The Irish put up 38 points, even managing to successfully execute a snap, hold, and kick on a field goal attempt.
The Irish offense played its first complete game of the season, dramatically improving red zone efficiency, committing zero turnovers, and maintaining their respectable third down efficiency from the previous week.
The defense, however, didn’t fare quite as well. Despite holding Purdue to a season low in red zone efficiency the defense surrendered far too many yards and allowed the Boilermakers to convert on nearly 43 percent of third downs.
Offense
Where to start?
The Irish offense amassed 476 total yards for their best output since Notre Dame faced Navy in 2006. Departing from their previously one-dimensional passing attack, Notre Dame employed a balanced performance gaining 275 yards through the air and 201 yards on the ground on their way to averaging a season high 6.3 yards per play.
The Irish gained 23 total first downs, 13 rushing and 10 passing, with play calling at a near even split. Notre Dame averaged five yards per rush and 7.9 per pass attempt, both season highs.
Another season high was the six rushes of more than 15 yards. In three prior games, the Irish had zero, one, and one rush over 15 yards. Notre Dame’s offense also had five big pass plays result in 153 yards and a 30.6 yards per play average, both season high values.
The offense appeared to move the ball more consistently against Purdue than any previous opponent, mostly due to the emergence of the running game. However, the Irish had 11 big plays for 265 yards, averaging 24.1 yards per play. This comprises 55.7 percent of the total offense, the largest percentage of offense to come from big plays this season.
Notre Dame converted three of four red zone tries into points. The red zone appearances weren’t the gifts of turnovers as they were in the Michigan game, so the increased red zone efficiency is likely the result of improvement in a previously nonexistent running game. The same running game also led to the first decisive time of possession victory for the Irish, who held the ball for 10 minutes more than their opponent.
On third down the Irish built off the Michigan State game and remained consistent, successfully converting nearly 43 percent of the time. However, the Irish continue to put themselves in long yardage third down situations. Notre Dame faced third and five or more yards 10 of their 14 (71.4 percent) attempts. On the season the Irish have faced more than five yards on 75 percent of their third downs.
The Irish offensive line continues to protect quarterback Jimmy Clausen, giving up only a single sack attempt against Purdue. This is an extended good trend for the Irish as they are only surrendering one sack per 32.8 passing attempts. After ranking dead last in sacks allowed last season, the Irish have moved to 22 in 2008. Offensive line coach John Latina should be commended.
Jimmy Clausen had the best day of his young career, completing better than 57 percent of his passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns to three different receivers. For the game Clausen averaged 13.8 yards per completion (compared to 9.1 yards per completion in 2007), a testament to Notre Dame’s consistent ability to throw the ball down the field.
Clausen’s favorite target on the day was freshman Michael Floyd. Floyd hauled in six passes for 100 yards, good for a 16.7 yard per reception average. It is becoming increasingly evident that teams cannot simply double-team Golden Tate. With freshman Kyle Rudolph (three receptions for 32 yards and a touchdown) beginning to become a target in the middle of the field, Clausen has quite a few weapons.
On the ground Armando Allen had a breakout game, rushing 17 times for 136 yards and a touchdown. That’s good for an absurdly high 7.9 yards per carry. Fellow running back James Aldridge came in for mop-up duty and gained 35 yards on eight carries (4.3 yards per carry).
The enthusiasm should be tempered, however. While it was a great offensive output Notre Dame did this against an extremely porous Boilermaker defense. Coming into the game Purdue was surrendering 192.3 yards rushing (4.9 yards per carry) and 234.7 yards passing (9.8 yards per completion) against rather pedestrian competition
Excluding the yards per completion average, the Irish offense really just did what everyone else had already done.
Defense
The defense did not perform nearly as well as the offense.
The Irish defense gave up 462 yards to the Boilermakers, 359 of which came through the air. Notre Dame’s defense even allowed Purdue to average more yards per play than the prolific offense of the Irish.
Purdue’s offense had two big runs and four big passes for 193 yards at 32.2 yards per play. They averaged 6.1 yards per rushing attempt, 6.5 yards per passing attempt, and 12.4 yards per completion.
The 6.1 yards per carry were the highest allowed by the Notre Dame defense this season. Ditto the 12.4 yards per completion. About the only bright spot of the pass defense was allowing Boilermaker quarterback Curtis Painter to complete a relatively modest 52.7 percent of his pass attempts.
The defense also allowed Purdue to convert on almost 43 percent of their third down attempts, a season high. And this happened despite Purdue’s offense facing third down and more than five yards 85.6 percent of the time. Had the defense been able to get the Boilermaker offense off the field the time of possession advantage would have been even greater.
Once again, Notre Dame did not record a quarterback sack on the day. Despite some pressure, a few quarterback hurries, and some batted balls, Notre Dame’s aggressive, blitzing defense has little to show for its high-risk style of play. The Irish rank dead last in the country in sacks. Against better teams the Irish may pay for their gambles.
The Irish defense did, however, buckle down in the red zone. Purdue entered Saturday’s contest converting 90 percent of their red zone appearances into points. Notre Dame held them to just one score in three red zone tries.
David Bruton, Pat Kuntz, Maurice Crum, freshman Robert Blanton, Kyle McCarthy, and Brian Smith all notched five or more tackles for the Irish. Blanton added a 47-yard interception returned for a touchdown as well.
Special Teams
The Irish notched their first field goal of the season on 41-yard attempt by Brandon Walker.
Notre Dame also held Purdue’s dangerous kickoff returners to only 13.9 yards per return while turning in 26.3 yards per kickoff return. That’s good for over 12 yards of net kickoff difference in Notre Dame’s favor.
The Irish continue to perform well in the punting game, netting 42 yards per punt.
Summary
Through four games Notre Dame has shown significant statistical improvement from a deplorable 2007 season. It remains to be seen, however, if they can continue to build on success and maintain consistency in their play. To date, all but two of Notre Dame’s touchdowns have been scored by freshmen or sophomores. This speaks to the youth present on the team.
The Irish are 3-1 in large part because they have protected Clausen and improved their vertical passing game. However, minimizing turnovers, maintaining few penalties (41 yards per game), and a respectable running game are needed to continue winning.
Inconsistent play will cause future miscues, and this team is too young to overcome a host of mistakes, especially those that are self-inflicted.
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