Saturday's game felt felt like watching us in reverse.
Notre Dame stopped the run, put points on the board and forced us to throw for the rest of the night. That's our formula, and it got used on us.
We broke down the game on Monday's show and came out of that game more hopeful about the offense than worried about it.
Malachi Toney got hurt at Wednesday's practice, the last padded practice of the week.
Ahmmon walked through what that means from a player's chair: Thursday is jerseys and shorts, Friday you fly out and do a hotel walkthrough, Saturday you play.
The padded days are where you install. So Shannon Dawson had to patch a game plan built around the best player in the country with almost no practice time to do it.
Then there was the front. Notre Dame wasn't doing anything fancy. Ahmmon didn't see many real pass-rush moves. It was bull rush after bull rush, mostly with four and sometimes five, condensing the pocket until Darian Mensah got flushed or threw it away.
"They quite literally just said we're going to shrink this pocket," Ahmmon said. "That's all they did pretty much the majority of the first half."
Our young guys up front struggled to settle in and the run game got clogged. Once Notre Dame scored right before halftime to make it 17-3, the plan to lean on the ground went out the window.
Ahmmon's point here is fair: if it goes to the half at 10-3, you still feel like you're in striking range. At 17-3, and then down 21, you can't sit there and run inside zone.
Over four quarters of a normal game script, I think we'd have taken over on the ground. The big lead changed everything.
Cooper Barkate looked like a WR1. He won on the slants underneath all night, which isn't easy when you have to fight hands off you across the middle, and he caught the fade in the end zone to keep the comeback going.
Elija Lofton finally got the stage. His touchdown kickstarted the whole thing. We've been talking about him for two years, and people clowned us for hyping him up. What we saw against Notre Dame is what we were seeing on Green Tree. A guy who can catch, who's dynamic and makes people miss.
Dre Jacobs showed something too. More flash, more readiness and more true speed than Ahmmon expected going in.
"You showed you can score quality points without your best player," Ahmmon said. "Now when Mali comes back, you plug him in, and you've got other weapons teams have to account for."
The tweets berating Shannon Dawson's gameplanning flew in but Ahmmon pushed back hard, and he's got a point.
"People find it easier to critique Shannon Dawson instead of Hetherman," he said.
"The offense could have scored 30, 31 points, and you've still got to rely on the defense to get a stop."
His case: Dawson lost his best player on the last day of install.
And the offense did adjust. Pass protection got better in the second half, separation came and the passing game got loose. It just came after we were down three scores.
Daylyn Upshaw moved inside, and we thought it would favor his skill set. It didn't. Ahmmon's take was measured. Early on, Upshaw was going against Leonard Moore, who Notre Dame started in the slot, and Moore was everywhere. He's a top-five-pick type of corner who can guard two receivers if he wants to. That can rattle a guy's confidence early.
But Ahmmon expected more. Upshaw is bigger than most slot receivers, and on the balls thrown his way, you want stronger hands and more fight through contact.
"Shannon Dawson's offense kind of starts in the slot," Ahmmon said.
Xavier Restrepo went for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons there. We know Toney's production well. Whoever plays that spot gets targets. You have to get open and catch it with a guy draped on you.
One more roster note from the chat: we're missing a big red-zone receiver right now with Joshua Moore out.
His issue isn't one call. It's the rule. Two feet in, possession, you bring it down for the tuck, then you step out. At what point is that not a catch?
Ruling it incomplete on the field made overturning it nearly impossible. Some people will say we got the calls the last two weeks, so we had it coming. Fine. Just clean up the catch rule and make it concrete.
On offense, the questions about life without Toney got answered better than most people feared. Barkate can be the guy, Lofton is a real weapon and Jacobs brings speed nobody else has.
Now Dawson gets a full week to build a plan around the players he actually has.
We went much deeper on all of it on the full show, and Ahmmon is back on the telestrator later this week breaking down Duke. Subscribe to the CanesInsight YouTube channel and turn on notifications.
Notre Dame stopped the run, put points on the board and forced us to throw for the rest of the night. That's our formula, and it got used on us.
We broke down the game on Monday's show and came out of that game more hopeful about the offense than worried about it.
Why it started slow
Start with the calendar.Malachi Toney got hurt at Wednesday's practice, the last padded practice of the week.
Ahmmon walked through what that means from a player's chair: Thursday is jerseys and shorts, Friday you fly out and do a hotel walkthrough, Saturday you play.
The padded days are where you install. So Shannon Dawson had to patch a game plan built around the best player in the country with almost no practice time to do it.
Then there was the front. Notre Dame wasn't doing anything fancy. Ahmmon didn't see many real pass-rush moves. It was bull rush after bull rush, mostly with four and sometimes five, condensing the pocket until Darian Mensah got flushed or threw it away.
"They quite literally just said we're going to shrink this pocket," Ahmmon said. "That's all they did pretty much the majority of the first half."
Our young guys up front struggled to settle in and the run game got clogged. Once Notre Dame scored right before halftime to make it 17-3, the plan to lean on the ground went out the window.
Ahmmon's point here is fair: if it goes to the half at 10-3, you still feel like you're in striking range. At 17-3, and then down 21, you can't sit there and run inside zone.
Over four quarters of a normal game script, I think we'd have taken over on the ground. The big lead changed everything.
Who stepped up
We scored 24 points on the road without a guy who gives you 100-plus yards and a touchdown or two on a normal Saturday.Cooper Barkate looked like a WR1. He won on the slants underneath all night, which isn't easy when you have to fight hands off you across the middle, and he caught the fade in the end zone to keep the comeback going.
Elija Lofton finally got the stage. His touchdown kickstarted the whole thing. We've been talking about him for two years, and people clowned us for hyping him up. What we saw against Notre Dame is what we were seeing on Green Tree. A guy who can catch, who's dynamic and makes people miss.
Dre Jacobs showed something too. More flash, more readiness and more true speed than Ahmmon expected going in.
"You showed you can score quality points without your best player," Ahmmon said. "Now when Mali comes back, you plug him in, and you've got other weapons teams have to account for."
Don't aim it all at Dawson
Questions about the first-half play calling were fair. Notre Dame put their guys on islands, sold out for the run and we still couldn't do anything.The tweets berating Shannon Dawson's gameplanning flew in but Ahmmon pushed back hard, and he's got a point.
"People find it easier to critique Shannon Dawson instead of Hetherman," he said.
"The offense could have scored 30, 31 points, and you've still got to rely on the defense to get a stop."
His case: Dawson lost his best player on the last day of install.
And the offense did adjust. Pass protection got better in the second half, separation came and the passing game got loose. It just came after we were down three scores.
The slot has to find its way
The one spot that didn't show up was the slot, and in this offense that's a problem.Daylyn Upshaw moved inside, and we thought it would favor his skill set. It didn't. Ahmmon's take was measured. Early on, Upshaw was going against Leonard Moore, who Notre Dame started in the slot, and Moore was everywhere. He's a top-five-pick type of corner who can guard two receivers if he wants to. That can rattle a guy's confidence early.
But Ahmmon expected more. Upshaw is bigger than most slot receivers, and on the balls thrown his way, you want stronger hands and more fight through contact.
"Shannon Dawson's offense kind of starts in the slot," Ahmmon said.
Xavier Restrepo went for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons there. We know Toney's production well. Whoever plays that spot gets targets. You have to get open and catch it with a guy draped on you.
One more roster note from the chat: we're missing a big red-zone receiver right now with Joshua Moore out.
About that catch
Lofton's catch to tie the game was a perfect throw and a perfect catch, and Ahmmon is still sick about it.His issue isn't one call. It's the rule. Two feet in, possession, you bring it down for the tuck, then you step out. At what point is that not a catch?
Ruling it incomplete on the field made overturning it nearly impossible. Some people will say we got the calls the last two weeks, so we had it coming. Fine. Just clean up the catch rule and make it concrete.
Overall thoughts
The defense is still the bigger question.On offense, the questions about life without Toney got answered better than most people feared. Barkate can be the guy, Lofton is a real weapon and Jacobs brings speed nobody else has.
Now Dawson gets a full week to build a plan around the players he actually has.
We went much deeper on all of it on the full show, and Ahmmon is back on the telestrator later this week breaking down Duke. Subscribe to the CanesInsight YouTube channel and turn on notifications.
