What Notre Dame OC Gerad Parker said about calling the infamous fourth quarter screen pass vs. Ohio State

The local South Bend media got a different Gerad Parker on Tuesday. Normally as chipper as can be, the Notre Dame offensive coordinator was a bit more subdued during his weekly media session.

That’s understandable. His Fighting Irish offense just put up 14 points in a three-point loss to Ohio State three days ago.

“These are the hard ones,” Parker said. “It’s easy to come in here after four wins after the way we started, right? These are hard on you guys. They’re hard on us.”

Parked quipped that he could go through all the calls from the game with the media, map them out, and there would be plenty that, had they gone in Notre Dame’s favor, would have resulted in a different outcome.

“If they go the other way, it’s easy for you guys to write a lot of good things,” Parker said. “And instead, it was just, ugh. And there was a couple of ‘yes we dids.’ In a game like that, it’s what it is.”

One of those close calls was a late screen designed for Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price to take the ball to the north end zone and effectively end the game. Parker talked about that play call and more Tuesday. Here is some of what he said.

On calling a screen on second and 15 with less than 2:30 left; was it called as a game-ender?

“I appreciate you guys doing your homework to see it. Let’s see it for what it is. You want to know the truth? We can hand this off, what was unfortunate was the execution on the one right before it, if we get that thing finished, then you guys, everybody, we’re good. [Ohio State defensive end JT Tuimoloau] made a nice play on it. I thought it was a fair one that would get complete. Didn’t get completed. So then I get the brunt.”

On possibly trying to throw the screen to the side Tuimoloau was not on

“We did, we just got stuck on a hash. We knew he’d played ’em well. We were hoping we’d get a float to it and go. They brought pressure, which made it easy for him to fall out. That made it easier for him to fall out. You were hoping you’d get a non-pressure look that made it easier and not have to deal with him. But he certainly has a knack for it.”

On Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman rolling out and not picking up a first down on fourth and one

“First off, you go through things you want to get called depending on who your defense is and who you are, we felt good about that being our first short yardage as we were coming into that game. And they played it well. He came out of the well. He did everything right. And then there are scenarios as a staff, we have to keep on reminding our guys, what are the rules of engagement? When do you reach a ball out to make sure you get things? When you’re on the sideline, when it’s fourth down, when it’s end of game or when it’s two-point. We just have to keep on reviewing it. That would be like when you would coach to say, ‘OK, what could we make sure of? Go ahead, it’s safe to extend the ball and make sure there because you’re out of bounds.”

On the play of the Notre Dame offensive line vs. Ohio State

“For that offensive line to do what they did, if you go back and look and see the efficiencies of what was done and how they played and what we put on them, it’s pretty impressive. They expect it. They’re dialed in. They’re awesome. It says a lot about who they are. They embrace it. That’s who they are. That’s what it all starts, with who we are. It’s certainly been impressive for them to start like this. We got a long way to go, but it’s an impressive start.”

On a lack of deep shots for the Notre Dame offense vs. Ohio State

“I think there are two things. One, very calculated for sure. You saw it get lifted, and I tried to be calculated to get it lifted, we just didn’t hit. We got the one pass interference or hold on the one, and we missed a couple that were right there. If you hit on those, it changes. But you have to be careful of when you take them. You’re always thinking about risk-reward and efficiencies and not being lost yardage, which we did a lot of. But there is a balance of how much calculated are you to the risk of it to stay ahead of the chains so to speak. And you have to risk it. Those are things I will evaluate myself week in and week out. As I do that, we’ll make sure we take enough risks to put points on the board because we all know 14 is not enough.”