No. 10 Notre Dame beat Duke 27-13 in the team’s season opener on Saturday which was not the prettiest win for Fighting Irish but was nevertheless the team’s first official conference game as a (temporary) member of the ACC. Given the wind conditions and the rain, this expected game was played a lot, as well as the fact that neither team had a special off-fee ason to properly prepare for the big-time college ledge football.
Notre Dame was a great place for the Irish to return to Crane Williams. The team’s new starter ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns, catching two passes for his opening 93 extra yards. Quarterback Ian Book completed a 19-of-13 pass for 263 yards with touchdowns and interceptions.
For the Duke, it was a mixed bag. Chase Bryce, who moved from ACC rival Clemson to the Blue Devils, completed a 20-of-3 pass for 259 yards. Unfortunately, for Duke, he couldn’t get any movement on the ground, running as a team for just 75 yards and averaging 2.4 yards per carry. The Blue Devils were also knocked down by two turnovers, including a slip on the team’s last possession by Bryce.
Here are the five biggest takeovers from Week 2.
1. Williams is set to become Notre Dame’s breakout star: A four-star future outside of St. Louis in the 2019 class, Williams ’offer fur list didn’t look as impressive as you’d expect. When Notre Dame came up with the fur to attract them, most of its Power Five juice came from an outside program of Elite Tires. Even though I had two different school coaches recruiting Williams, they tell me they believe recruitment sites and other programs underestimate it. That coach would probably be right.
Williams has only impressed Notre Dame’s coaches enough to get him a job earlier this season, but the first glimpse against him in the proceedings against Duke suggests he will lead some coaches to apologize for his decision. It was only Saturday production (205 total yards and two touchdowns on 21 touchdowns) but Williams went ahead with the ball. He did an excellent job of reading his blocks, finding paths and speeding through them. Once he was in the open field, he proved to be very elusive.
Notre Dame does not have a 1,000-yard rusher in one season as Josh Ad Dams had a total of 1,430 yards in 2017. Based on what I saw today, the only thing that would stop Williams from getting there in 2020 would be a short schedule or injury. That sounds like the real deal.
2. Tight end Michael Meyer could live up to his nickname. If I had a dollar every time I heard a coaching staff refer to a young tight end just as “Baby Gronk” because of their size, well, I would have to spend a lot of a hundred dollars if I didn’t. So when the NBC broadcast mentioned that Notre Dame’s coach was referring to the mayor as “Baby Gronk”, all I could do was roll my eyes.
But then a mad thing happened.
The mayor did some plays that sounded like Gronk-Esk! There was a third and a 7 when he grabbed a short crossing route, violently handcuffed a potential tackler with a hard hand, shortened his shoulder with a stick, lowered it into the second tuttle, and pushed the first down. It was some Gronk-like stuff! Still, Meyer finished with just three catches for 38 yards and no touchdowns. Also, he did not punch any defenders in the run game. So, it’s not quite Gronk yet.
3. Tommy Reese’s start as an offensive coordinator looks promising: The former Notre Dame quarterback is now running his alma mater offense at the tender age of 28. There was plenty of skepticism about Reese’s move as OC outside of South Bend, Indiana, but Brian Kelly seemed confident in the decision. It’s just one game, but I had a hard time finding fault with anything Reese chose to do on Saturday. What was more about implementing Notre Dame’s offensive problems were plaque all gender. Even with struggles, the unit averages 6.2 yards per game.
Du. The Duke’s red zone failure was his destiny: Overall it wasn’t an excellent day for Duke’s offense (334 total yards, 5.0 yards per game, two turnovers), but he’s likely to be unable to convert. The Blue Devils have three red-zone assets, including three first and target conditions. The Devils finally entered the third-place finish zone before finishing with the first two field goals. Still, 13 points from 21 looms big in a 27-13 game. If Duke had managed the touchdown on those first two attempts, things would have looked much different in the fourth quarter.
Not. Notre Dame is the only team in ACC history to have a full record: 1-0 Always.
