Three observations after rewatching the Notre Dame football Blue-Gold Game: Offense

More points were scored in this year’s Blue-Gold Game than in the previous two editions combined when the Blue beat the Gold, 28-21. Here are three observations on the Notre Dame offense from this past Saturday’s exhibition.

Aamil Wagner can win a starting spot

In a span of a few plays in the first quarter, Wagner hit linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa head-on and picked up a blitz from safety Adon Shuler. Both blocks afforded quarterback Steve Angeli extra seconds to look down the field.

When an offensive lineman has had so few on-field reps, recognizing and picking up pressure is generally the toughest thing to get down. Wagner didn’t have an issue with it Saturday. It’s also a matter of just being athletic enough to stand in front of smaller, more agile opponents. Wagner has that edge over graduate student Tosh Baker.

Baker had his moments, meanwhile, good and bad. At his best, he chipped defensive end RJ Oben and crashed inside on linebacker Drayk Bowen on the same play to spring running back Gi’Bran Payne through a hole of Baker’s creation for a good gain. At his worst, he let walk-on Kobi Onyiuke go right through him like a broken turnstile and false started on back-to-back plays.

There is brute force to Baker’s game, probably on a heightened level compared to what Wagner can provide in that regard. Wagner still stood in the face of defensive ends and held his ground very well, though — he didn’t just look good against guys he had a serious size advantage over.

Notre Dame made multiple changes to the starting offensive line between April and August of last year. Look for Wagner to make a serious push to take Baker’s spot at right tackle.

Tight ends and touchdowns

Eli Raridon scored the first touchdown of the game on an impressive individual play in space. Jack Larsen pancaked Kahanu Kia to set the edge of Aneyas Williams to score the second touchdown of the game. Raridon locked up Junior Tuihalamaka on the same play. Cooper Flanagan back-side cracked Boubar Traore to seal a seam for Kenny Minchey to cut up through to the goal line on the third touchdown of the game.

Tight ends, tight ends, tight ends. Critical to the Notre Dame offense. Still.

There’s been some chatter that Mike Denbrock‘s propensity to spread it out and play less in the box will decrease the value of a position that’s always been paramount at Notre Dame. Not true. Tight ends will still score touchdowns and set them up.

Kia and Traore had very good showings defensively all afternoon. For Larsen and Flanagan to completely shut them down on plays in which points went on the board, that was telling. Denbrock, who doubles as the Notre Dame tight ends coach, has his group locked in on its assignments and playing well.

CJ Carr won the day at quarterback

Watching in real time, it was tough to discount or overlook what Kenny Minchey did with his legs. His rushing statistics were much better than those of either of his counterparts, Steve Angeli and CJ Carr. It wasn’t just the numbers, either. It truly felt like he could do things from a fled pocket that the others could not. That’s probably still true.

But watching the game back, it became clear that low rushing totals at the quarterback spot can be misleading. Carr could have had quite a few himself, but every time he ditched the pocket he ended up attempting a pass downfield. And more times than not, he completed it. That’s solid quarterbacking at its finest.

Carr’s accuracy on the run was better than that of Angeli and Minchey. He also made less mistakes. On on drive alone, Angeli under-threw a wide-open Eli Raridon and was late on an out-breaking route for Jaden Greathouse. Minchey had the ill-advised interception and another bad decision that could have been intercepted by Ben Minich for a pick-six. Carr nearly had a ball picked off by Christian Gray, but that was really his only glaring oopsie.

Carr’s combination of playmaking and smart decision-making made him Notre Dame’s best quarterback in the Blue-Gold Game. It didn’t matter if he was playing for Blue or Gold — he was the only QB who played for both — it felt like something good was going to happen whenever he was on the field for either side. That’s an assuring quality in a QB. You never want to be holding your breath. There wasn’t any of that with Carr, a teenager doing all of this for the first time. You wouldn’t know it.

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