Report card: Grading Notre Dame football in Irish win over UNLV

Notre Dame is back in the win column. The Fighting Irish beat UNLV, 44-21, in South Bend on Saturday. Here are BlueandGold.com’s grades for the Irish in the victory.

Notre Dame Passing Offense: C-

The good: junior tight end Michael Mayer had another banner day with 6 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. Graduate student Braden Lenzy got involved with 4 catches for 38 yards and a touchdown, but 3 of those came on short forward pitches that technically count as pass attempts and receptions. Junior quarterback Drew Pyne wasn’t ever sacked, so pass protection held up nicely all afternoon.

The bad: Pyne’s erratic performance, his second in a row. He was 14-of-28 for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The INT came on a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage. It floated perfectly into a defender’s sprawling arms, exactly the way Pyne was intercepted against BYU on Oct. 8.

Pyne’s last two starts have been a 180 from his first three when he made all the right decisions and was extremely accurate. Teams go as far as their quarterbacks take them. Pyne isn’t displaying the broadest of shoulders of late.

Notre Dame Rushing Offense: B

Sophomore Logan Diggs ran 28 times for 130 yards, both of which were career highs. The game turned to him because fellow sophomore Audric Estime lost a fumble for the third time in the last four games. Junior Chris Tyree ran 10 times for 43 yards, and even Pyne ran 3 times for 30 yards. Twenty-one of those yards came on a scamper that got the Irish to the goal line to set up a rushing score from sophomore tight end Mitchell Evans.

It wasn’t always pretty, but Notre Dame got to a point in the second half where it could lean on Diggs and the offensive line to move the chains and put the game away. That’s winning football no matter the opponent.

Notre Dame Passing Defense: B+

The Irish faced two quarterbacks in sophomore Cameron Friel and Tennessee transfer Harrison Bailey. Neither of those are UNLV’s No. 1 starter, Doug Brumfield. The Irish made the duo look like backups in holding them to a combined 17-of-33 for 153 yards and no touchdowns.

Notre Dame did not intercept any passes, but the Irish did break up two passes. That’s a start for a defense that went into the game as one of just two in the country averaging less than 2.0 per game. It never felt like the Irish were going to get gashed through the air at any point in the game.

Notre Dame Rushing Defense: C-

UNLV rushed 24 times for 179 yards and 3 touchdowns excluding 4 sacks for a loss of 33 yards. One-hundred and 21 of those yards came on two plays. Courtney Reese had both of them, and they both set up touchdowns.

It was tough sledding for Reese and the Rebels ground game for most of the day, but the Irish have to find a way to eliminate allowing the big play. They also have to find a way to stand tall in the red zone and keep opponents out of the end zone after allowing those chunk plays.  

Notre Dame Special Teams: A+

Arkansas State graduate transfer Blake Grupe missed a 42-yard field goal, but he also made kicks from 43, 27 and 46 yards. Two of the biggest plays in the game were blocked punts by senior defensive end Isaiah Foskey. Notre Dame scored 10 points off the blocks.

Harvard transfer Jon Sot only had to punt twice. He averaged 43.5 yards per kick with a long of 51. Even Northwestern transfer Brandon Joseph had a 20-yard punt return to set up Grupe’s 46-yard field goal make. Special teams often defines the field position battle, and Notre Dame won it in a big way. The Irish had an average starting field position of their own 46-yard line. The Rebels had an average starting field position of their own 27. The game is easier when teams don’t have as far to go to score. Plain and simple.

Notre Dame Coaching: C

Sure, head coach Marcus Freeman can stand up during his postgame press conference and say a win is a win and he’ll take them any way he can get them. But it wasn’t as resounding a victory for the Irish as the final score would indicate.

Notre Dame had issues finishing drives offensively. The big plays UNLV churned out to put points on the board were a concern. The Rebels scored more points Saturday than they did in their previous two games combined.

This wasn’t pure domination by the Irish. There is still much work to be done.