Vanderbilt-Notre Dame: Being Early Means Being On Time

The Word of Life mural by Millard Sheets
The Word of Life mural by Millard Sheets

You might have met a teacher, or a coach, or a boss who expected you to be five or 10 minutes early, to begin a day of work sooner than everyone else. Some people subscribe to the idea that while the rest of the world sleeps, you have to be working in order to get ahead. If others are arriving to work at 8:30 in the morning, you have to be there at 8:20.

By Matt Zemek

Being early is what Vanderbilt did last year, chiefly in its first three games, and most particularly in Week 3 against Kansas State. Vanderbilt took care of Middle Tennessee in Week 1, a manageable downmarket opponent in Week 2, and then took down a Power 5 foe in Week 3. When VU smothered Kansas State — coached by Bill Snyder, an icon and one of the great college football coaches of the past 30 years — the Commodores’ prospects seemed bright. It is true that the 2017 season which began with such promise didn’t become what it should have or could have been, but the way the team started the season was as good as anyone realistically could have hoped.

As the page turns to 2018, Vanderbilt is two-thirds of the way to making the same 3-0 journey, but this time, that third piece of the puzzle will be harder to find.

The Kansas State game from 2017 was a home night game, putting the Dores in a favorable position. Kansas State beat a very good Iowa State team to close the 2017 regular season, but Vanderbilt caught the Wildcats at the right time, early in the 2017 journey before Snyder’s team meshed.

The Week 3 game against a big-name school this year is a road game, and it’s not just any road game, either: Visits to Notre Dame Stadium are normal for no team. This is one of the cathedrals of college football, a privileged afternoon for anyone who travels to South Bend. It is not a slight to Kansas State to say this, but merely a reflection of college football reality — and royalty: Wins at Notre Dame confer greater status and cachet upon programs than wins versus almost any other program. A victory in Week 3 of 2018 would give Vanderbilt even more of a catapult into SEC play than Kansas State last year. Striking early and getting a 3-0 start to this season might secure VU the bowl game it couldn’t attain in 2017.

That’s one part of the theme of being early which applies to Vanderbilt in this game.

There are two other parts to this picture, though.

Notre Dame Stadium
Notre Dame Stadium by Tedmoseby.

Here is another “early” note about Commodores-Irish this Saturday afternoon in Indiana: Much as the Kansas State offense struggled early last season, Notre Dame’s offense is struggling early this season. Brandon Wimbush has not been accurate with the ball as the Irish’s starting quarterback, leading to a lot of rumblings that Ian Book could replace him — not Saturday and probably not in Week 4, either, but in the middle of the season if Notre Dame doesn’t begin to meaningfully improve. Yes, there is that much uncertainty in South Bend. Narrowly defeating Ball State at home will do that. Even in the Week 1 win against Michigan, Wimbush was not particularly sharp. The big pass plays Notre Dame made came from receivers making acrobatic catches in air to outfight Michigan defensive backs. Completions were often a product of reactions to the ball, not the accuracy Wimbush displayed, because there wasn’t much accuracy to be found.

The passing game isn’t the only facet of the Notre Dame offense which is suffering. The running game should be able to overpower a Mid-American Conference defensive front, but Notre Dame couldn’t wear down and smash through the Cardinals’ front line on Saturday, a considerable source of alarm. Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly spoke about the need to coach and develop his offensive line at a better level — no coach of Notre Dame can or should avoid the truth when his big uglies can’t push around Ball State.

Derek Mason knows that he is going up against a vulnerable team this week. Victory — assumed to be a remote possibility before the season began — seems a lot more reasonable to imagine for VU as game week arrives.

This leads us to the third and final part of the need for Vanderbilt to be — and excel — “early” on this coming Saturday in the shadow of the Golden Dome.

Though Notre Dame’s offense is generally a mess at this early stage of the season, the one time Notre Dame’s offense has hummed has been early in halves — VERY early, to be more precise.

Try out these various “earlybird” stats about the Irish offense through two games in 2018: Per David Hale of ESPN, Notre Dame’s offense has scored six touchdowns, three of them on the first drives of halves. The other 21 drives have created three turnovers, three touchdowns, and seven punts. Notre Dame has allowed 17 tackles for loss, 116th in the FBS. The offensive line has been a sieve.

Per Pete Sampson of The Athletic, Notre Dame’s start-of-half drives have averaged 10.4 yards per play on 20 plays. The other drives have totaled 117 plays and averaged only 4.4 yards per play.

If Vanderbilt can jump on Notre Dame’s offense early and shut down the one time the Irish do well — with scripted plays or a more precise idea of what they want to do — they could create a prolonged drought for the Irish, which will increase the margins for Kyle Shurmur and the offense while creating the kind of game Mason likes…

… the kind of game Vanderbilt played at home versus Kansas State last year.

Vanderbilt had several games on its schedule this season which figured to be wins. VU is 2 for 2 in those games. This Notre Dame contest figured to be a loss, so if the Commodores can flip it into a win, a bowl bid becomes a much bigger possibility.

Being early — being good early — before Notre Dame wakes up is the key to the whole thing. We will see if the Commodores can start working — and excelling — before their opponent does, and make that stand up in South Bend.

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