First of all, let me say how glad I am to be back with you all for another season of Notre Dame football. After one of the most irritating offseasons of all time, not only because of how Notre Dame’s last season ended but because seemingly every day we had to listen to some dingbat’s insane pitch to ruin the sport, kickoff couldn’t come enough. All of Sunday afternoon I paced the house, eagerly awaiting the start of the action at Lambeau. When it finally arrived, I enjoyed approximately 2 minutes
of joyful gratification that was replaced by a half of stress and anger, which gave way in the second half to a mixed state of relief with some continued annoyance. As the Lord intended; we’re so back. Let’s get into three things that drove that roller coaster.
Offensive Line Unit Cohesion
Much was made before and during this game of Notre Dame’s questions at running back, as Aneyas Williams and Nolan James stepped into impossibly big shoes. That difference was apparent in this game as Williams and James were frequently for short gains in the first half on plays where one could have easily imagined Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price escaping and ripping off long gainers. However, properly understood I don’t think this issue primarily lay at their feet so much as Notre Dame’s offensive line.
Wisconsin entered this game with their defensive front as their greatest strength and were clearly determined to put CJ Carr in disadvantageous situations by taking away the run, which meant the Irish offensive front needed to win the battle up front to create room for Williams and James to run. That issue was compounded by the fact that they do need quite a bit more room than last year’s backs to make plays. A new group up front that experienced first-game jitters and communication issues struggled to create that room early. But in the second half, as the big guys up front settled in and critical adjustments were made, most notably Sullivan Absher filling in for Styles Prescod, that line found a groove and we saw the game change. Williams in particular became a bowling ball through the Wisconsin secondary. This year’s backs are not Love and Price and they never will be, but they don’t have to be so long as the Irish front is plowing the road. The second half of this game showed some encouraging signs that we can expect to see plenty of that in the year to come.
Unanswered Questions at Receiver
Less settled was the issue of who Notre Dame’s playmakers will be through the air this season. While Jordan Faison remains consistent and we saw some good tight end play, it’s not clear who is going to be winning contested balls or establishing a true vertical threat for this Irish team. Micah Gilbert made a couple nice catches but never really made a major impact, Mylan Graham finished without a reception, and the great Jaden Greathouse disappearing act made an unwelcome return after one screen early in the game.
The Irish passing game did get going in the second half, though a large amount of that progress was led by running backs who were largely unaccounted for as the Badgers’ secondary sold out to protect the perimeter. We can chalk this up to first-week sync issues and a tentative gameplan for now, but it was disappointing to see so little dynamism through the air against a Wisconsin team that was clearly vulnerable when targeted downfield. If Notre Dame continues to be one-dimensional on the outside, they are going to run into a couple defenses this season that can handle them.
The Secondary Shines
Notre Dame’s defensive performance felt frustrating at times as Wisconsin was able to find creative ways to scheme around obvious talent disadvantages, most notably on a number of screens that yielded long gains and a very well-conceived double move that took advantage of Jayden Sanders’ aggressiveness and resulted in their only touchdown. But in the end, the Irish secondary mostly lived up to its billing when targeted directly.
Leonard Moore, who Luke Fickell stated in the week prior would be targeted, mostly wasn’t and nearly made the Badgers pay on one of the few times he was, just missing a one-handed interception. DJ McKinney clearly put himself ahead for the role of field corner with a solid overall game in coverage, punctuated by a game-icing pick-six. The Irish secondary was also remarkably aggressive and physical in stopping the run. Adon Shuler brought the juice in an incredibly difficult week and made huge plays slowing down the run, as did Moore when Badger runners attempted to get the edge. That the Irish secondary played as well as it did despite Tae Johnson’s injury should be a great sign that the unit will be as good as advertised as the season rolls along.
For all the issues this ended up being a sound win where the Irish found their footing, so let’s all breathe a long sigh of relief after what we just saw – the wait is over, and we’re on to next week to see the Irish play again.
