Notre Dame’s offense has the pieces to be dangerous, but the way it’s being deployed keeps leaving too much on the table. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and the Irish have looked increasingly easy to diagnose, with patterns showing up early in drives, from specific formations and in the money situations on third down and in the red zone.
That predictability has been easier to overlook when the numbers have piled up against weaker opponents. Notre Dame put up 478 total yards against Rice, though the running game was limited to 118 yards.
At Purdue, the Irish still reached 444 total yards and averaged 7.6 yards per play, but that came against a Boilermaker defense described as one of the worst in the country. Against Stanford, they rolled for 598 total yards, but the plan still felt basic and short on creativity.
The approach finally caught up with them on the road against BYU. That’s the danger with an offense that leans on the same answers over and over: it can look efficient until a better opponent forces it to show something new. Notre Dame is now in a stretch where this bye week has to be used to get more inventive, because the current version of the offense has started to feel rigid.
There are a few obvious places to start. The passing game needs a wider range of concepts.
Notre Dame leaned on slot fade repeatedly against BYU, and the defense adjusted quickly. More post-snap switches and trail routes would create movement and get the receivers working on the run.
CJ Carr has shown he can place the ball where he wants it, and that ability needs to be put to better use.
The receiving talent is there to support a more dynamic approach. Jordan Faison, Bubba Frazier, Jaden Greathouse, Mylan Graham and others were added to give this group more burst and playmaking ability, but too often they’re being asked to win from a standstill after routes like deep outs, comebacks and slot fade contested catches.
That’s not using the full skill set of a receiver room built to do damage after the catch. More motion-based routes would help change that.
The tight ends also need to matter more in the passing game. Right now, depending on personnel, they present little threat through the air, and that makes life easier for defenses.
If opponents know No. 87, No.
88, No. 7, No. 85 and No. 24 are not going to stress them vertically, they can crowd the run game with more confidence.
Through seven games, Notre Dame has looked like a team trying to force perfect answers instead of creating easy ones. The talent level remains high enough to compete with any defense on the regular-season schedule, but the scheme has kept that ceiling from showing up often enough. The next step is simple enough to say and harder to execute: get the playmakers in space, feed them the ball, and stop asking them to do everything from a static setup.
In Other News...
Leonard Moore Just Gave Notre Dame Fans A Huge Draft Dilemma
Rob Rangs latest Fox Sports mock draft offered Notre Dame plenty to think about, and Leonard Moore was at the center of it. The projection has the Fighting Irish corner going No. 3 overall to Tampa Bay, a jolt of recognition that underscores just how much pro buzz has built around him while the season still has plenty of football left to play. It also points to a bigger picture for Notre Dame, with Anthonie Knapp, DJ McKinney and CJ Carr all showing up in the first round of the same mock.
Moores draft path is not settled, though, and that is where the intrigue really starts for the Irish. Recent injuries and the fact that the college season is still ongoing leave his next step unclear, so Notre Dame is stuck in the middle of a familiar but tricky kind of wait-and-see moment. If Moore keeps trending like this, he will have a decision to make that could shape both his future and the roster picture around him. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame's Defense Has A Stretch-Run Problem It Must Fix Fast
For much of the first month, Notre Dames defense looked like the kind of unit that could carry the Irish through the grind of the season. The numbers backed it up: through the first four games, the group was stingy against both the run and the pass, holding opponents to just 199.3 total yards and 8.3 points per game while making life miserable on every snap.
The last three games have told a different story, and the drop-off is enough to demand attention during the bye week. Notre Dame has been giving up 282.6 yards and 20.3 points per game in that stretch, with the run fit and coverage issues showing up in the form of more yards per carry and more passing touchdowns allowed. The staff now has a short window to clean it up before the schedule tightens again. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dames Model Just Reentered A Realignment Fight Fans Know Well
Miamis latest realignment conversation is one Notre Dame fans know well: what happens if the sports power brokers redraw the map again and the old conference framework starts to look less permanent? University president Joe Echevarria recently discussed how the school is weighing its football future in light of the proposed Protect College Sports Act, a measure that has introduced another layer of uncertainty around conference expansion and the broader structure of the sport.
For Notre Dame, the angle is familiar because the Irish have long operated outside the traditional conference model, and now Miami is openly considering whether a similar path could make sense if the landscape shifts. ACC schools like Miami have pushed back against restrictions on expansion, with eyes on possible moves to the SEC or Big Ten, but no final calls have been made. For now, the real intrigue is less about where Miami lands than whether the debate pushes one of college footballs biggest brands closer to Notre Dames model. [Read more 🡒]