Notre Dame’s offensive sluggishness not all on the line

Then came the home opener everyone associated with the Fighting Irish wants to forget: last Saturday’s 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois, the first Mid-American Conference representative in 11 tries to beat college football’s most powerful independent.

Two weeks into the season, Notre Dame (1-1) is languishing at No. 104 in total offense among Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and while outsiders might want to point fingers at the linemen, coaches believe there’s plenty of blame to share.

“One play it’s a running back, one play it’s an offensive lineman, one play it’s a receiver, one play we’re not making the best decision with the football. We’re all taking turns,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said. “We have to get to the point where one by one, position group by position group, we eliminate ourselves from that equation.”

The attempt to reset begins Saturday, when No. 18 Notre Dame renews its longtime in-state rivalry with a trip to Big Ten member Purdue (1-0), which was off last week.

Denbrock may be right about finding solutions at other positions, but the focal point this week has been squarely on the group that has been in rebuilding mode from the moment its top two players, Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, left for the NFL. Losing Alt’s projected replacement at left tackle, Charles Jagusah, to a season-ending torn right pectoral muscle in August only made the task more challenging.

Right tackle Aamil Wagner, a third-year player, left guard Sam Pendleton, a second-year player, and left tackle Anthonie Knapp, in his first season, each made his first college start two weeks ago against the Aggies.

So the Irish are leaning heavily on center Ashton Craig and right guard Billy Schrauth, a pair of third-year players, to help. And even though it may not appear the Irish made progress last week, head coach Marcus Freeman saw something else while studying video of the Northern Illinois game.

“They did a good job protecting the quarterback,” Freeman said. “We have to trust that they’re going to protect you around the edge; we’ve got to step up and make those throws. I thought they did a good job in the run game, too. There were a couple times we might have misidentified somebody, or they rocked back and made a play in the run game. Overall, I thought our five offensive linemen, they played better week two than they did week one.”

Experience isn’t the only obstacle Notre Dame is facing. The 6-foot-4, 294-pound Knapp acknowledges he’s not built like a traditional tackle, so he’s trying to figure out how to gain the edge against experienced defensive linemen who may be bigger or faster than he’s accustomed to.

Northern Illinois, which had nine returning starters on defense, limited the Irish to 123 yards rushing and 163 passing while intercepting Riley Leonard twice and sacking him twice.

Knapp isn’t making excuses, though. He’s simply trying to navigate the learning curve.

“I try to find every edge I can get,” Knapp said. “I’m not too big. I’m 290-ish, which isn’t the ideal size for a left tackle at Notre Dame. Any edge I can get watching film, a notebook full of what their moves are, what their tendencies are, I try to study that the best I can.”

Denbrock, like Freeman, saw progress last week.

And, like Freeman, Denbrock understands there is more to Notre Dame’s woes than meets the eye. The Irish are one of five FBS teams with no touchdown passes so far this season, and there have been problems with route running and drops by receivers, pass protection (which includes more players than the lineman) and decision making — even if fans increasingly want to point to the linemen.

“It looks like a long and dusty trail right now, doesn’t it? There’s just such incredible inconsistency across the board,” Denbrock said. “I actually thought we made some progress up front. I thought our communication was better. I thought there were spots during the game where we started to feel ourselves as far as the dominant unit I feel those guys can develop into.