Notre Dame Fighting Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock was blamed by the Athletic’s Pete Sampson for the receiving corps' underwhelming performance in the team’s 27-24 loss to the Miami Hurricanes last Sunday.
A mailbag reader asked Sampson if concern was warranted for the Fighting Irish position group. Sampson shifted the blame away from QB1 CJ Carr, and receivers Malachi Fields, Jordan Faison, Will Pauling, and Jaden Greathouse, and onto the second-year offensive coordinator.
“I’m still optimistic about the receiver group, even if Sunday night probably didn’t change a lot of hearts and minds. Malachi Fields caught all three of his targets. Jordan Faison grabbed five of six. Will Pauling was targeted just once, which ended with a pass interference penalty against Miami. Considering the lack of deep routes — all six of Faison’s targets were under 10 yards and four were behind the line of scrimmage — the jury is out,” Sampson wrote.
“It’s not the fault of Notre Dame’s wide receivers that offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock’s gameplan didn’t trust the offensive line to protect Carr while also keeping the quarterback away from throws into traffic over the middle.
“Even the receiver who didn’t show up in the box score doesn’t feel like a major cause for panic. You watched Jaden Greathouse go for 100-plus yards against Penn State and Ohio State in the College Football Playoff last year, right? Considering he’s a slot receiver who typically runs routes in the middle of the field where a first-time starter might not want to throw, Greathouse getting shut out seems more like a disappointment than an abject disaster.”
Sampson sees the defense having the opposite problem. The talent isn’t there where it once was, and the blame can’t be placed on Chris Ash – even if missing Al Golden is a natural response to “The U” putting up 27 on the Fighting Irish.
That’s the plight of losing six NFL players from the depth chart. Whether or not Marcus Freeman and Mike Martin attacked the Transfer Portal hard enough will soon be revealed.
A one-score loss to the No. 5 team in the country may not be as season-defining as a fanbase that survived an early-season loss to the NIU Huskies to make the College Football Playoff National Championship is treating it as, though.