The numbers aren't going to make you feel any better, or dissuade your from the idea Notre Dame outplayed Ohio State on a down-to-down basis and let them off the hook. The Irish firmly won the efficiency battle, and despite the 61-yard TreVeyon Henderson touchdown were dead-even in stats the account for explosiveness like yards [...]
Notre Dame routed Central Michigan after 60 minutes, dominating every meaningful category and flashing more of the deep throws that fans have been dying for since Sam Hartman arrived on campus. Somehow it was still easily Notre Dame's worst performance against the soft early G5s on the schedule - which speaks to just how dominant [...]
Notre Dame dominated Tennessee State as expected, with a a huge second quarter propelling Notre Dame to a game that reached garbage time by halftime. The Irish continued the early trend started in Dublin - crisp execution, nothing too flashy, but methodical drives for touchdowns on offense and clamping down defensively at the first signs [...]
Notre Dame demolished Boston College on a snowy senior day, notching a shutout in the final home game for the second straight year. My goal with every recap is to use advanced stats to shine some light on some less obvious results from each game that maybe fans didn't pick up watching. This is one of [...]
The Irish physically dominated a talented Clemson team with playoff aspirations, running at will and shutting down the Tiger offense. There's already been some efforts to discount the resounding win - as if Clemson was never a real contender, or Notre Dame might not have dominated without a special teams and defensive score. But Dabo [...]
Hope that the Irish had turned a corner after the 0-2 start quickly evaporated on Saturday night, as Notre Dame's horrific offensive effort led to a 2-point loss to a bad Stanford team. Drew Pyne played about as poorly as you can without throwing an interception, missing open shots at long gains, forcing passes late [...]
Sometimes when Notre Dame plays down the level of inferior competition, there are bright spots and data to brush off those concerns. The Toledo game last year is a good example - it easily could have been an embarrassing loss, and was zero fun to watch. But the Irish had higher yards per play, a [...]
Notre Dame dictated the game from start to finish, but USC was on par or better in efficiency and explosiveness. A massive early turnover (worth nearly 10 points in EPA, expected points added) set the tone, and the Irish dominated the Trojans in cashing in scoring chances to hold Southern Cal at arm's length. The [...]
Notre Dame was dominating the efficiency game through 40 minutes, with Florida State surviving on a few massive plays. Then the strategy shifted, the Noles started putting long drives together, and suddenly the Irish were in a coin flip game. Below let's dive into the good (Jack Coan's debut and the passing game), the bad [...]
The Irish labored to put away Duke in the season opener, struggling to find a consistent offensive rhythm and letting up some uncharacteristic explosive plays on defense early. It was reminiscent of last season's unsatisfying opener, with similar advanced stats - a decent win that felt closer than it needed to be and raising questions [...]
Notre Dame finally broke through in Palo Alto, gaining an edge with an explosive offense and a defensive crackdown after the first quarter. The Irish lost the efficiency battle but were more consistent stringing successful plays together and on passing downs, allowing the visitors to create far more scoring opportunities. No garbage time was removed [...]
SP+ predicted a 35-16 Notre Dame win at Louisville. The spread in Vegas was 18 points in many places. But the Irish win to open 2019 didn’t feel particularly fun, did it? Breaking down reasons to be encouraged, concerned, and confused using advanced stats from the season opener. Something not clear? Check out this handy [...]
For the first time this season, Notre Dame dominated an opponent in virtually every category of advanced stats. The Irish were perfect in the red zone leaning on a spread run game, and had the 3rd highest efficiency advantage of any P5 vs P5 game last week. Before garbage time Notre Dame out-gained Wake Forest [...]
S&P+ gave Vanderbilt a 56% post-game win probability based on an advantage in yards per play, more scoring opportunities, and perceived poor turnover luck. An efficiency edge and slightly better performance converting scoring opportunities (even though it was ugly) saved Notre Dame is this one. Confused? Check out this advanced stats glossary. Efficiency Vanderbilt’s defense is [...]
Our eyes told us it was ugly, and the advanced stats confirm that and then some. The Ball State defense put up a havoc rate and run stuff rate against Notre Dame that would have been best in the nation last year! The Irish also struggled to capitalize on scoring opportunities, and were extremely inefficient [...]
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