Notre Dame football is missing a very important ingredient in their wide receiver room, and need to find answers
Notre Dame football got their best win of the season so far, defeating the Louisville Cardinals 31-24 at home on Saturday. The Irish program should be excited about this victory, especially against a Louisville team that embarrassed you last season. Revenge was on their mind, and they got it done. There’s obviously a ton of […]
Notre Dame football got their best win of the season so far, defeating the Louisville Cardinals 31-24 at home on Saturday. The Irish program should be excited about this victory, especially against a Louisville team that embarrassed you last season. Revenge was on their mind, and they got it done.
There’s obviously a ton of things to feel great about, seeing continued growth from Riley Leonard at quarterback, and resiliency as a team. One thing that was very apparent, in a bad way, is that this Notre Dame team still lacks players who can seriously affect the game in space. You have a couple like running back Jeremiyah Love and wide receiver Jordan Faison, but there just aren’t nearly enough.
During this contest, we saw a lot of early success from the Notre Dame passing attack, including a hot start from Leonard. Then stagnation set in with the Irish failing to have an answer to an aggressive Louisville defense. Their unit made an adjustment, and turned up to heat to confuse the offensive line and create a ton of pressure.
It appeared that for a while that the Notre Dame offense had no answers. Then eventually, the screen game and short passing game seemed to be the adjustment. In theory, it makes a ton of sense. The problem, you weren’t able to make enough plays in space, or in 1-on-1 situations. Love is the exception, with an official Faison, but otherwise, nothing much.
At wide receivers, you have a lot of the same type of players. Beaux Collins is a nice vertically-oriented outside wide receiver, but he doesn’t specialize in making big plays after the catch. Neither does Jaden Greathouse, who is a very talented pass catcher but more of a middle of the field separator. Jayden Thomas is more of the same.
Who is the wide receiver that threatens the hearts of opposing defenders when they have the football in space? I would argue there isn't one right now.
This is more of a critique for the long term, but Notre Dame will need to find that element in their wide receiver room while Mike Denbrock is calling the offense. They need more players who can win after the catch, especially in the modern era where teams are trying to create and manipulate space so often.
