Bryan explains why the pass offense improving is so important to the offense improving. He then breaks down how Notre Dame can make that happen.
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Let's get into part three and I'm going to work through these next couple a little bit quicker than I did the first two. Otherwise, we're going to be here all day and I know you guys don't have that much time. So let's get this rock and roll it. Yes, no names passed. Run all offense has to get better. There's things. It has to get better. It sounded like it needs to continue evolving and thriving and not having sort of the up and down. We saw so far, but it really needs to be excellent the rest of the way and there's ways to get there. But it's going to be really hard in my opinion for Notre Dame to be the offense and the team they're capable of if you don't see continued growth from the past game. Loved what I saw in certain areas and against Purdue. And so when you talk about how the past game can get rolling, a big part of that is going to be keep doing what you did on Saturday. And this includes some things that we saw with Steve Angeli schematically that I would like to see incorporated earlier in the game as well. But you saw things when Notre Dame was using formations and motions to get Iso's in certain situations to get some easy completions five, six, seven yards going great. We obviously saw some things that they were doing some motions and movements are moving around doing some post snap switch type stuff, which created some mistakes from Purdue in terms of guys loose. Now you need to hit those guys so schematically I liked a lot of things that we saw from Purdue from Notre Dame in that game. And then we saw something in the second half that I'm kind of saying like that's something that they need to do more with the first team. And one of them was just it was the first touchdown pass to Steve Angeli through that looked like an RPO through to me. Now you could argue that maybe that's a penalty if it's not out of doubt if the game's not basically over. But one of the linemen was a little too far down the field but Steve kind of rode that inside zone. They come down tight end runs free he pulls and throws it wide open touchdown. I'd like to see a little bit more of that type of stuff I feel like it's been there at times, not against Northern Illinois because they were doing a pretty good job of keeping that too high look. You know, but get some of these teams are going to play cover one some of these teams are going to play, you know, cover zero come down in the box that's something you might be able to do that. And that's that's more of not just that play, but more of the downfield RPO game. I understand their aims hesitancy to call that stuff so far, because Riley Leonard has not been comfortable going through his reads. And that's not the kind of throw you want to make a whole lot of if a guy's not comfortable with reads, but he's going to have to get better in that regard and more comfortable in that regard and they're going to need to call some more of that stuff because we did see a couple RPO throws that were effective in the game and everything. They had two RPO completions with Riley that went for 22 yards. It's good stuff in the right direction, but they've got to continue to improve the RPO game. And I also would like to see more from the play action game and play action isn't just, you know, riding down and throwing down field shots but it's, it's that's part of it. It's also about movement throws, you know, getting some things where maybe you do some bootlegs things and, and, you know, run some jet sweeps and bring Riley backside or there's some different things that you can do. That builds on it, you know, you've got, you've got the jet sweep action now you've got some things out of that. I would add some run game wrinkles out of that and then off of that you can kind of ride it and then you've got some, you know, some, some gimmicky type plays which I think are needed to really get Riley going because they're easy reads there. Okay, you're doing this to influence the defense. You've got one read it's either here or here. And I would like to see some more of that stuff just to try to put defenses and binds get creative with how you attack off of your run. And part of protecting a really good run game is having some potential big play options in your pass game out of the looks that are effective in your run game. And we haven't seen Notre Dame do a lot of that so far this season and to me that's the next step of evolution in the past game that needs to be there. So mother benefits to running play action passes is a lot of times play action passes are going to have more simplified reads, especially if you max pro. I would strongly consider now that Mitch 11 is being is more active in the run in the past game and we saw more out of, of Eli Reardon as I would strongly encourage Notre Dame to consider, you know, maybe some plaques and throws with a tight end stays in. And Riley has a little bit more simplified reads where it's, it's this to this. And and being more effective that way and it's it's it's not a front to let you know right to left left to right it's a top down read. I'm throwing the post I'm throwing the over I'm throwing the over the post is just a clear I'm throwing the over I'm taking the check down whatever the case may be. Just some things that give him some easy down field reads that hopefully can get him going because you can't do that all season at some point time he's got to be able to drop back read a defense and throw the ball down the field. But he's not comfortable with that right now, not like he was at Duke. And so you need to be able to find some opportunities to give him more simplified read so hopefully encourage him to step and let it go and stop aiming the ball down the field. And that is something I'm working on way too way way a ton this week in practice is getting him to stay in the pocket and step into his throws and not short on everything snap the ball off he's he's he's slowing down his arm motion when he throws the ball deep. I think you need to snap that ball off more and that's something that you know good only needs to identify and fix with Riley Leonard here moving forward and if he does I think his, his deep game is going to be a lot more effective. And, and when he when he really snaps that ball off and lets a rip I mean you go look at like for example, you go look at his throwing motion from the Manning Academy right the thing that he did this summer we threw that real deep all. And he won the you know air out competition or whatever whatever it is that he did. Forgive what they call it, air it out championship or something like that but when you when you watch him in that I mean he's snapping that ball off he's stepping into it he's using force in his arm and all those type of things. I want to see him do that against more thrown the deep ball so that's something you've got a rep and you've got to really convince him to be more effective about that so like if you watch the mechanics of the deep balls he was thrown in that game. And then you watch how he steps back and just really snaps the ball off vertically. And then you watch him throw the deep ball against against Northern Illinois it's a slower motion. It's a short armed motion. He's not driving into the throw. And that's something that Riley needs to do a better job of he has it in him. I've seen him make throws like that a lot of times at Duke. And practices in Notre Dame, he's not throwing with a lot of confidence because he's not reading with a lot of confidence. And so going to more of a play action game, going to more of some of the hey we get cover one. And you've got bow on one side or or you've got KK Smith or Chris Mitchell on the other side or Jaden great house on the other side. We get a cover one don't be afraid to just check and throw a deep shot there right just not a read it's just okay which match up do I like better. I'm gonna take this route and I would like to see them take a couple field shots on that as well. And jelly read that and they threw or not I don't know if he read that but they called that and he saw it. And he threw a field go route to KK Smith the problem is a really bad throw. He needs to lead him on that particular play because KK had the guy beat by a couple steps. He needs to see that get it out of her top make that throw I know Riley can make that throw and I know Steve I think Steve can make that throw as well I just think he got in his head back shoulder. And so he's trying to throw back shoulder you can't throw a back shoulder when your receivers a couple steps in front of that guys. And if you're going to do that it needs to be right on him where he just goes up. You can't have him stop and do back shoulder what we're going to see what happened in the game he's going to kind of get run through and they're not going to call that flag because they're going to look at it as a really bad football. You know but but throw that thing over top not back shoulders just throw it over top I don't care if it's incomplete just get him into the into the thought process hey it's okay to take that shot. Because you're going to start hitting those shots and and so that think that and I think that's important to because I think another key to this game for Notre Dame when you look at at Miami is is I would love to see this against them. They've got decent corners you know big tall kids that you know you could you take some shots on but you really going to need to get Chris Mitchell and K K Smith and even both columns you're going to need that vertical game to get going a little bit. And especially with the two Z's K K and Chris Mitchell. I'm saying listen if we get this safety over here here's what you're doing Riley it's real simple. We get a one on one out there with our with our corner or their corner against our one of either Chris or K K here's what we're doing. We're going to call this you're going to look that safety you're going to stay right about Collins and look him off or a good second and a half as soon as he freezes on the hash or on you. You're turning and you're launching that sucker down the field to our receivers not a back shoulder you're launching it you throw it up and over the top on the outside. Right and so take those shots, because I think if you can hit a couple of those shots against Miami Ohio. That's a good sign, because I talked about this yesterday. Secondary players are a lot like what Notre Dame face against Northern Illinois, not elite athletes, but tall, long, good experience. Guys it can, you know, give you a give you a look. And if you can hit those throws against them that to me bodes well for your ability continue to build on that so I would take some of those shots. Again, it's an easy read for Riley Leonard he doesn't have to think and my phone the post my phone the over my phone the smash my what am I no it's dude you're throwing to him. Look to safety off throw to him. And that's it. And if you can hit a couple of those, then I think this will allow him to maybe. He just needs a boost of confidence on his downfield throwing game. 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One thing he's thrown pretty well so far this year is corner routes and and deeper outcuts he had a corner against Texas A&M really good ball. He's he threw a a really in the slot fade to Jaden great house was a great ball I want to see him do that a little bit more. But he threw the deep out cut to Jaden great house at the end of the first half really good ball accurate ball. He's throwing that with a little bit more confidence than he is some of the other throws. And there's some things that you can you're going to see on film that I would like to see hey look you're doing a lot of the burst corner stuff that's great. But but maybe run some smash because I think smash with Jaden great house with your tight ends can be an effective concept against single high safety as well. Especially if you're getting corners that kind of squat down because you what you'll do against like again the danger of smash at times if you're playing a team that's playing off man. And you bend that that corner route a little too much or cover three if the corner back corner back doesn't read it correctly you can kind of throw it to the corner who's going to jump underneath the corner route corner back on the corner route. If you're planning running it's covered to that's where a lot of people run it but you've got to make sure that that corner doesn't bait you and then jump underneath the corner route. I've loved kind of being able to throw smash with against the cover one team as well, because the way it's a one on one route I mean you're throwing the corner route and that particular play. And you're occupying that sake corner back with one of your receivers. If you're getting like a pure man like a pure cover one I like to pivot route with it because the pivot route really forces that corner back to drive on it, and stay up more which gives you more room over the top. But that's a route you're going to kind of take over the top a little bit. And if you're playing against a, you know, a nickel or a safety to come down. If you're playing against an off safety let's say they're playing two man, or, you know, some some version of cover one but he maybe is cheating over top of you. And you may bend it off a little bit but this is a route that you get a shot to get a one on one that a slot, which I think is a route would be great to Mitch 11 or any of the other tight ends. And it would be a route that I'd love to see them give a chance for Jaden Greathouse to go play. And so those are different aspects of things that I'd like to see from this offense to get Riley some easy reads, some shots down the field, and hopefully be able to build some success in the past game. A couple other things is they've done some good stuff with the post snap switch things this past week I'd like to see a little bit more of that as well to kind of get them going. And then the final thing is they've got to do a better job and pass protection. Like Notre Dame's, Notre Dame's offensive line has been spotty and pass pro. And I don't want to say that that's the reason Riley Leonard is struggling I don't I think that's a cop out. But I do often watch him. And you can see that he's not comfortable setting his feet. Normally this is a big picture assessment. I don't know that it's specifically it's if it's necessarily the issue here. But in a lot of instances when a quarterback who has in the past been willing to set his feet is currently unwilling to set his feet. It's one of two things and then Riley Leonard's case I actually think it's both of these. One is he just doesn't have a lot of confidence in himself. I think that's obviously an issue with Riley Leonard thrown the ball down the field. The second problem is he's not comfortable setting his feet in the pocket because he's not comfortable that his offensive line on special on the edge is going to give him time to set his feet and throw. And we've seen that being issued and then of course it didn't help this weekend when he drops back to pass and he's got an open guy it's going to be probably an easy touchdown. He's got an offensive lineman just jumps into his chest like that. That's not going to inspire confidence in a quarterback when you're not even getting hit by anyone and you jump into me. So that the past pro is going to have to improve as good as the line has been at run blocking at times they have not been great in past pro at least they haven't been consistent in past pro. And that's something that's going to have to get a lot better they're going to especially tackle their tackles I think are giving up a lot of ground. And they're not doing it wide they're kind of doing it into the quarterback. And so they're going to have to find some ways to maybe adjust that to try to force maybe a little bit of a wider rush or be more stout at that point in time to protect that but then there's some other things you can do with moving your launch point that maybe think makes them think twice about whether or not they want to come with those hard edge charges right into the quarterback so certainly going to be aspects of the past game that need to improve the quarterbacks got to get better. Certainly the receivers have to get better in the past pro has to get better. And if they can continue to continue to evolve what I what I love about the Purdue game is this is it's not so much the specific routes that were called and they didn't throw enough down the field or it's they were clearly trying to build the game plan around what Riley Leonard is comfortable with. And that's the way to go as opposed to this is who we are. And you've got to get better at it there's it's got to be a little bit of both. And so this was a game that was needed for Riley to gain some confidence. He was not smiling against Northern Illinois he was stressed against Northern Illinois. You watch him against Purdue when he was smiling again right like he's a fun loving goofy kid like he just you need to have him comfortable early. And now it's about okay get him comfortable, but now push him a little bit Riley got to hit a couple of these balls let's okay so fine. Do some things early to get him some shots that he's comfortable with and get him rolling because I'll say this. I wholeheartedly believe that if Notre Dame plays on offense. The against Louisville Georgia Tech Florida State USC any team that's got any kind of pulse. If they play against those teams the way they did against Purdue. They don't lose another game in the regular season. I wholeheartedly believe that. If they're throwing the ball down the field or not you play the way you did on Saturday with the defense you have you're not going to beat every team 66 to seven, but you're going to beat him. But here's the thing. Well let me rephrase you're going to beat every team you play until USC I still think you beat USC. I need to see how good USC offense is. But here's the deal. I don't know and don't believe that it's good enough to then go and win a semi final game against a Georgia, a Bama, a Texas, a team like that I don't know that it's good enough to do that I don't know that if your defense is not able to shut down Tennessee's offense. If it's good enough to out score a Tennessee team that yes they're all fences put up a ton of points, but you watch that Tennessee team. That is an improved defense. There's no doubt that's an improved defense. And I think they got rid of some personalities that maybe make them more of a unit. And of course they have an elite edge rusher on that defense as well so you're you're not going to be able to win the big ones, which I don't know if they like I don't know that Louisville is that. I don't believe Georgia Tech is that I don't think Florida State is that USC might be let's see them play more than two games they might be. I said they're going to be improved let's see just how improved they are this weekend is a step towards that. You know so we'll see how that goes but I think you're going to win the rest. Right I do. I even think you beat USC running that way. I think you can win a first round playoff game playing this way. I think you can win a quarter final game if you get a big 12 or an ACC champ in this quarter finals I think you can win that beat win those games playing that way. I think you're going to win a six to six to seven but you're going to win as long as you're defense because again when I say play like Saturday it's defense as well defense was brilliant on Saturday. But once you get past the quarter finals assuming you don't get a Bama know how state of Georgia Texas a team like that and second round. To really take that next step you've got to be a more dangerous offense. And again you don't have to throw for 350 yards a game but you've got to be able to hit some of these shots and I don't. There's this thought that it's got to be about you got to hit bombs. And I mean that's nice hit some of those but it's not about that sometimes it's like hey let's get the over stuff going let's get the crossers going let's get the over routes going let's run some levels concepts. Clear out the deep defense and bring a deep over route get him going on that regard Riley's hit those several times in the past. Those are deep shots as well those are big questions a defense those are big play opportunities as well because to me the past game getting going is not about the deep game has to improve. You need to have that. But a lot of it's about no you need to be a more dangerous passing offense. Sometimes that's going to be you got to hit a shot outside. You're not going to go the rest of the season not completing a single pass past 20 yards and make and win a national championship. It's not going to happen. But what you do have to do is when you get into this this next look in this next slated games is you have to be able to say listen we've got to be able to create more big plays in the past game. That's the key and big plays aren't always deep shots big plays are also getting guys in space. It's about the quarterback reading the ball. Reading the defense quickly decisively being accurate the ball and making sure you're getting the right personnel in those situations and that's the big thing is they have to be more dangerous in the past game. And that's the reality of it. And if you run like you did look you can run on just about anybody if you get that way. Right. And for the Louisville fan in the chat that doesn't understand what I'm talking about. It's just saying they're going to beat Louisville 66 to 7. Nobody. I literally said that. Okay. So pay attention. Right. But what it is is you're still going to be able to win that game. Not because of, oh you're going to score 66 points, but you're going to be able to score enough points with the way your defense played to beat Louisville to beat USC to beat four say if you can repeat that performance. That's the key, but that's not going to be good enough in my opinion to make the deep run that this team we all felt about coming into the season. So that's really what you kind of get down to. And, and that's really what it boils down to is if you want to take that next step you're going to have to evolve this part of your game. And if they can do that, then I think the offense will really take off. And now you've come in even more dangerous team and now you don't have to have your defense when you a bunch of football games. That's going to be the key, because if you play offense away against Purdue, you're able to control the clock, you're going to be move the ball enough you're going to get the points you need to get to score so okay you don't score 66 against Louisville, but you score 27. You score 30 score 31 if you can play defense the way that they had, and that's going to be the key. That's going to be the key for this team moving forward so, and some of the Louisville fans in the shot me not like that. I don't care. That's the way I see it. And that's what I think this team can do. But the goal for Notre Dame isn't to beat Louisville. It's not Louisville's not on the levels Notre Dame. You've got to be able to go out and get the next big wins and move the, be able to move the sticks and score points against Texas against Alabama against Georgia teams like that, that's going to be the key. And it's going to require another level or two for the past game to get there. And that's going to be the key. So that's, that's really where the offense is. I'm going to do game records next we're going to be real quick of that because I do want to get to the buy sold because we have some great buy sold submissions there before we go folks hit that like but hit the right button hit the notification bell share this podcast. Give us a five star review. And of course if you're not done so already sign up for the message board at boards that are spray down.com. 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