Tuesday Mid-Morning Report Card - Notre Dame

Sammy was out partying all weekend in South Bend, so I’m tagging in here to grade Georgia Tech’s performance against Notre Dame. Now, I could do this the easy way and just give the whole team an “F” for “F”fort, but don’t worry, we’ll go position by position, because I guess we’re all masochists.

Quarterbacks: C-

I know what you’re thinking. This team lost 55-0, why isn’t everyone getting an F? Well, let’s get this out of the way here. I think a lot of the failings of the offense on Saturday were do to the offensive line, so I’ll talk about them when we get to that section, but let’s talk about Yates.

Jordan Yates certainly did not have a great day, going just 14-of-28 for 96 yards and an interception. However, I don’t think it would have made a difference if (insert your favorite quarterback) was playing quarterback for Georgia Tech. The Notre Dame defense was constantly in Yates’ face for the entire game, so there is no way that he was going to not have a bad day.

When Yates was able to work with a clean pocket, which was rare, he performed well, achieving a 1.06 EPAnopressure. Unfortunately, there were only two plays before garbage time where Yates wasn’t pressured.

Running Backs: C-

I said in my column on Friday that Tech’s best bet at having a chance in this game was to run the ball. And to be perfectly honest, they didn’t do a terrible job of running the ball, but they certainly didn’t do a great job either. As a unit, they went for 24 carries for 108 yards. Now, if that was just one running back, that would be a good number. Unfortunately, that was three with the QB’s numbers removed to boost the average up.

Wide Receivers: D

I know Sammy normally grades wide receivers and tight ends together, but I’m separating them this week because I actually have something to say about tight end.

As far as the receivers go, they were generally unable to get open at all, and even when they could, they were quickly brought down by tacklers. There was one Tech pass that went for more than 12 yards, and it was not caught by a wide receiver. On a higher note, Ryan King made an appearance and hauled in his first catch of his career.

Tight Ends: C

The person that caught a pass for more than 12 yards was Dylan Leonard, a high school teammate of Jordan Yates, who caught a pass for 22 yards. For that, I wanted to give the TE unit a slightly higher grade than the receivers.

Offensive Line: F-

I don’t feel like I need to say much here. I’m pretty sure Jordan Yates will have nightmares of this game for the rest of his life. The Fighting Irish had six sacks in this game, but Yates probably ran a whole marathon running for his life.

Total Offense: F

You score 0 points, you get an F. ‘Nuff said.

Secondary: F

It was not Phil Jurkovec’s decimation of Tech’s secondary, but Jack Coan had plenty of opportunities against a secondary that just seems to get worse and worse every week, which is incredibly mind boggling as it’s the most experienced group on a team with a defensive-minded head coach with the bulk of his experience coming in the secondary. That probably doesn’t bode well.

Linebackers: F

Save for an early sack by Quez Jackson, the linebackers were almost entirely non-existent. In fact, that sack was Jackson’s only stat of the day.

Defensive Line: F+

I gave the defensive line an F+ because they were able to get some early pressure on Jack Coan, but they were unable to keep it up, and the Fighting Irish had this game in complete control by the time they covered the spread in the first quarter.

Total Defense: F

You get a 17-point spread covered in the first quarter and never recover, you get an F.

Special Teams: D-

The only reason this isn’t an F is because Jahmyr Gibbs had a good return that Tech couldn’t do anything with. Jude Kelley was in for an injured Brent Cimaglia and doinked his lone kick of the game, and I’m pretty sure David Shanahan will need a new leg after how many times he had to punt, and he still didn’t average more than 40 yards a punt. On a slight positive, he did pin Notre Dame inside the 20 on half of his punts.

Coaching: F

You get shut out 55-0, you get an F.

But really, Tech was completely powerless to do anything in this whole game. I understand that Notre Dame is shaping out to be a good team this year and that Tech has had some injuries, but there is no excuse for this poor of a performance in Year 3 under a coach. It is absolutely disgraceful.

Wrap Up

My mom always told me that if I can’t say anything nice, then I shouldn’t say anything at all. So I’m gonna leave it at that.