Notre Dame/Wake Forest: Positional Grades
Another week down, another victory for the Irish. Last night’s game was down right ugly at times, but the Irish played well enough to get their sixth win of the year and their sixth W in their last seven games.
Here is a brief rundown of how each position played last night with individual grades. Like I have done in weeks past, I will start with the play from the quarterback position.
Quarterbacks: C
After playing nearly flawlessly in last week’s blowout win over Navy, Tommy Rees took bit of a step back in his development against Wake Forest. He didn’t play poorly, but he didn’t play exceptionally well either. Rees looked good on his two touchdown passes. Then again, it didn’t take much on the Tyler Eifert touchdown, considering there wasn’t a defender within five yards of him. Rees two interceptions were costly because the Irish had good field position at the time they took place. If he protects the football there and his team wins the game pretty easily. The sophomore quarterback continues to have problems with the deep ball and his decision making at times. Rees’ lack of arm strength continues to be a cause for concern as well. The inconsistency of their starting quarterback disables the Irish from taking that next step in Brian Kelly’s offense.
Running Backs: B+
Both Jonas Gray and Cierre Wood got off to slow starts in the first half, but they finished up the game with pretty good numbers. Gray received the most carries that he has gotten his entire career. On 19 carries, the senior had 82 yards on the ground and a touchdown, which tied up the game early on in the third quarter. Cierre Wood didn’t get to touch the ball until ND’s second possession in the first quarter. He finished up with good numbers having 87 rush yards on only 14 carries. The Gray/Wood combo continues to be one of the biggest strengths on this football team.
Receivers and Tight Ends: C+
Coming into the game, you might have thought that the Irish receivers and tight ends were going to shred apart a suspect Demon Deacons secondary, but Wake did a pretty good job. Michael Floyd had only five catches for 44 yards, but his one grab for a touchdown was the difference in the game. Tyler Eifert was big as well grabbing the other Rees touchdown pass, but the rest of the Irish receivers and tight ends were nearly dead silent. TJ Jones had three catches, but had only 16 yards and was taken out of the game because a hard hit. Theo Riddick continues to remain a mystery grabbing only catch for 12 yards. Even John Goodman was more of a factor than the junior receiver. Riddick needs to play better in order to help out Floyd and Eifert when they are being double-teamed.
Offensive Line: A-
For whatever reason, the big boys up front will never get the credit that they deserve, but they continue to be the best and overall most consistent unit on this football team. They got off to a bit of a slow start run blocking, but that changed as the game wore on as big holes were opened for Gray and Wood during the second half. The Irish offensive line also didn’t allow a sack once again. For those keeping track, they haven’t allowed a sack since the Pittsburgh game. Sure the competition that Notre Dame has been playing recently, minus USC, hasn’t been exceptional, but that is a telling stat no matter who the opponent is on the other side of the field.
Defensive Line: B+
In a game where three freshman started the game, the defensive line was pretty darn good all things considering. They had three sacks on Deacons quarterback Tanner Price, but the pass rush still needs to a bit more consistent. Price had too much time at points of the game to throw the football. The Irish d-line got off to a bit of a slow start with the run on the first couple of possessions in the first quarter, but settled down as the game went on. Brandon Pendergrass had only 47 yards on the ground on 17 carries and was held out of the end zone. Wake’s long rush touchdown game from Josh Harris, who had only 11 rushing yards on seven touches. Stephon Tuitt was great against the run once again stuffing the Deacons on several plays and providing nice pressure. The kid is a monster and he is only a freshman.
Linebackers: B
This grade probably would have been a bit better if Manti Te’o was healthier. Because of his ankle sprain that has been causing the junior linebacker some problems, Te’o had the worst game of the year with only five tackles. The Irish ‘backers did a pretty solid job despite Te’o not being 100 percent. They did a nice job against both the pass and the run, but made a few mistakes. Carlo Calabrese made a mistake in coverage on that touchdown pass on Wake’s first possession and Prince Shembo continued to take poor angles on plays, but other then that, another nice job by the ND linebacking corps.
Defensive Backs: A-
For a unit that was much maligned in the beginning of the year, they are no longer being bad-mouthed by the media and the Irish faithful. Off the top of my head, I don’t remember a single mistake by the secondary in coverage. The lone mistake that was really costly both in terms of yardage and on the scoreboard that I can remember came from Calabrese, a linebacker. Gary Gray has really bounced back nicely after struggling in the beginning of the year and Robert Blanton remain’s one of the brightest spots on the defense. The only real bad thing was that the game was too close for Lo Wood to get some much needed playing time.
Special Teams: B
This unit has been up and down all season long, but they might have had their best overall game on Saturday. Both Austin Collinsworth and George Atkinson III were very effective returning kickoffs. Ben Turk was solid punting the football. On three punts, Turk averaged 41.3 per kick, including one that went 51 yards. The only two bad things that I saw was the big kickoff return given up to Lovell Jackson and Goodman continuing to return punts on a regular basis. He continues to hurt this team in terms of field position. With the way Collinsworth looked on kickoffs, he should at least be given a chance returning punts.
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