Back in September, I wrote a lengthy newsletter about Notre Dame’s offense and how offensive coordinator Tommy Rees may need to get creative to optimize a unique personnel grouping. My proposal at the time was, as it is frequently at this newsletter, to just run a power spread look with lots of motion.
Firstly, this offensive line should be awesome, and was pretty much as soon as the first quarter ended. They’re experienced, athletic and move well together. Second, new running back Kyren Williams is awesome and should be seeing upwards of 25 touches every single game from here on out. He’s strong, fluid and fits the offense perfectly.
Secondly, there’s some really, really good talent on this offense and pretty much all of it is packed into some absolutely freakish athletes. Tight ends Tommy Tremble and Michael Mayer are both well over 230 pounds and catch the ball well while serving as perfectly capable blockers. Seemingly every halfback on this team can block too. There’s not a ton at receiver, but there’s a distinct theme among these players that Notre Dame really hasn’t seemed to lean into yet.
If you’ve read this newsletter at all, I’m sure you know where I’m going with this: the power spread baby! With all of this talent up front and two massive playmakers at tight end, building an offense around a strong rushing attack and a heavily planned out passing attack with easy and obvious options for Book feels like the best fit for this team.
Well, Notre Dame just beat Clemson in overtime, scored almost 50 points on what we think is a pretty good defense and did it running a really clever version of… that exact offense. I don’t say this to toot my own horn here, because the strengths of this roster were pretty obvious and Rees certainly knew that as well, and was just working to integrate it fully into the playbook.
I say it to point out that Notre Dame’s commitment to its strengths was apparent against the Tigers, and it without question led to that win. Kyren Williams and Ian Book combined for 37 of Notre Dame’s 40 carries, almost all of which came with at least one tight end on the line to help in blocking. Those tight ends didn’t see a ton of opportunity in the passing game (Michael Mayer and Tommy Tremble combined for 8 receptions and 99 yards) but both starters were almost always on the field and were targeted on short, quick passes basically every time Notre Dame passed on third down. This is exactly what I was talking about when I wrote about leaning into the strength of the offense. Notre Dame beat Clemson on Saturday by bulking up the line with tight ends and daring Clemson to match it.
When Clemson didn’t, putting just six players in the box early in the game, Notre Dame took advantage with Williams on the ground, exploiting a numbers advantage to clear a massive lane. It’s never a good sign for a defense when the offense has more players on the line than you have in the box, especially not against this Notre Dame front.
Here, Notre Dame is just zone blocking towards the boundary with two tight ends to the play side, leaving the back side edge defender unblocked and creating a 7-on-5 matchup for the line and those tight ends. Again, not a good sign for a defense.
The Fighting Irish do a brilliant job on the initial rush pickup, with a tight end and the back side tackle slipping into the second-level quickly to pick up the pair of linebackers actually in the box (the tackle actually doesn’t get there in time, but it doesn’t matter, because the rest of the blocking is so good). With such a strong push, Williams just has to win the footrace.
When Clemson did match those numbers, putting seven (or eight, depending on how you view that boundary safety) defenders in the box against Notre Dame’s three tight end (!!!!!) look. With so many defenders dedicating to stopping the run and a very lax secondary behind them to prevent a huge throw down the field, Notre Dame does exactly as it should, and makes things very easy for everyone involved, dialing up a quick route into the flats to one of those tight end. Who’s going to cover him? Nobody. Easy first down, easy throw, even an easy blitz pickup with the help of Williams.
This was the gameplan all night long for Notre Dame. Run well enough from two-or-three-tight end sets to force the defense to respect it, then use those tight ends in the short yardage passing game to chew up easy yards without forcing Book to sit in the pocket for too long or throw down the field more than three or four times.
It worked pretty much flawlessly. Notre Dame put itself into third-and-manageable situations by leaning on that running game to stay on track and then took advantage on those short third downs by giving Book easy throws to the tight ends, who were either unaccounted for against zone or covered by a much smaller defender against man.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t note Williams’ contribution as a pass blocker. Much of Notre Dame’s success in the air was a direct result of what Williams was able to do in blitz pickup, especially given some of the exotic looks that Brent Venables loves to dial up. It’s not as exciting to talk about as bombs down the field or a perfectly executed option, but this is one of the best performances as a pass blocker that you’ll see from a running back this season and Notre Dame absolutely needed every bit of it.
His efforts are apparent here, serving as the lone additional blocker and keeping Book clean for the extra second that he needed to step up in the pocket and hit a deep shot post, but go back and watch those other passing plays I’ve mentioned. In fact, watch the whole game, and just focus on Williams as a pass blocker. He was brilliant. Notre Dame does not win this game without beating Clemson’s blitzes and it was able to beat those blitzes because of Williams’ ability as a blocker.
Even on this play in overtime that helped set up the game winning run, Williams is right there in the backfield, calmly maneuvering against an eight-man rush as one of just six blockers. He looks like an offensive lineman. If he doesn’t kick that linebacker out, Book doesn’t have time to make this throw and Notre Dame is suddenly facing a fourth and short, almost certainly opting for a field goal.
That kind of thing really does matter, especially in this kind of offense, with this kind of quarterback. If Notre Dame is going to seriously compete for a national title, it’s likely going to have to face three straight games (ACC title, playoff game one, playoff game two) with defenses throwing very similar looks at it in blitzing as a way to counter this rushing attack and to force Book out of the pocket. The difference between competing in and even winning those games is going to lie in blitz pickup from the tight ends and from Williams. It’s very hard to ask a running back to play like this in three consecutive games, but if Williams can do that, this becomes a very very dangerous team, running the exact offense that it needs to be running to maximize the talent is has.
Up next: What to watch, week, uhhh, 11? Maybe?