The Notre Dame football team is reeling after a devastating loss to Miami this past Saturday night in a prime-time showdown.
But should we have been able to see this kind of performance coming?
If you look a little closer at the games leading up to the Irish meltdown vs. the Hurricanes, you’ll notice some major flaws in the offense.
Brandon Wimbush and Josh Adams have been banged up, the receivers have failed to live up to expectations and even the offensive line is starting to wear down as the season has progressed.
Outside of the two losses they have suffered vs. Georgia and Miami, Notre Dame has scored at least 33 points in all eight games, including reaching 49 three times and 52 in another.
Can Notre Dame rebound? The task ahead to finish strong will be a challenge as Navy and Stanford will test the defense with excellent rushing attacks.
But if Brian Kelly and his coaches can fix these three things, the Irish just might remain a Top-10 team this season.
Searching for skilled WRs
Balance can be a good thing, but at this level of play, you need someone to really standout in the passing game. Notre Dame has played all season without what you would refer to as a No. 1 receiver.
Chase Claypool has 26 catches for 363 yards, with Equanimeous St. Brown also snagging 26 grabs for 357 yards. Great balance, but not eye-popping numbers.
St. Brown had almost 1,000 yards last season and appeared to be a future NFL prospect. Now, scouts will question his desire and ability to separate after failing to record more than 70 yards receiving in eight games, including single digits twice.
Claypool had a big game vs. Wake Forest, catching nine balls for 180 yards, but didn’t even crack 20 receiving yards in six other games, including three of his last four around the breakout showing.
Worrisome Wimbush
After starting the year very strong, including a 184-yard passing and 106-yard rushing showing vs. Temple, it looked like Wimbush was going to be the next good quarterback for Kelly and the Irish.
However, Wimbush has struggled, especially as of late.
He missed an October game vs. North Carolina, but rebounded the next week with 226 total yards in a dominating performance vs. Southern Cal. Wimbush again had a good game vs. Wake Forest, throwing for 280 yards and running for another 110, but there continues to be a glaring issue.
Completion percentage.
On the season, the first-year starter has completed 112-of-220, good for 51 percent. Five times, though, he has failed to reach even that number, including a 10-for-21 performance vs. Miami this past weekend.
As mentioned previously, the Irish are lacking at the receiver department, but we also can’t get a great judge on those players when Wimbush is completing under 50 percent of his throws.
Something’s up with Adams
Even if he is less than 100 percent and dealing with non-football related issues, Adams should be able to do better than this.
The Notre Dame offensive line features two likely first round NFL Draft picks in Quinton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey.
But after racking up 607 yards during a four-game stretch heading into November, Adams has failed to remain at his best.
Against Wake Forest, the junior ran for 22 yards on five carries. Last week against the Hurricanes, the former Heisman contender was held to 40 yards on 16 carries.
Adams also hasn’t scored a touchdown since October, a month in which he hit the end zone five times.
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It’s also good to note that this is the most carries in a short amount of time for Adams at the college level. Last season he had 158 carries, five more than he has right now, but that was spread out over more games.