Notre Dame Football: Report Card Grades for the Irish's First Game

After a shocking 23-20 upset loss to the University of South Florida on Saturday, each position on the field is in need of evaluation.

While there was a lot to like about the play on both sides of the ball, there was even more not to like.

Like I said in my reaction article, Brian Kelly and his staff are back to square one and must figure out what it will take for this team to win football games.

I'll do my part by handing out report card grades, position group by position group.

Quarterbacks

Grade: C+

The quarterback battle that began in spring practices and lasted through the duration of fall camp is back to where it began after Dayne Crist was benched in favor of Tommy Rees in the second half.

Crist looked the same as he did in 2010, as he struggled to make reads at the line of scrimmage and was inconsistent with his accuracy.

The argument can be made that the receivers made him look bad, but there's no question that Crist looked like "a deer in headlights," as my colleague Mike Muratore would say.

After Rees entered the game, the offense began to move at steady, efficient pace, and there was a certain swagger that wasn't there with Crist taking the snaps.

Neither quarterback had a great game, but Rees certainly played better than Crist.

Expect to see Rees be named the starter for next week's game in the Big House.

Rees: 24-34, 296 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT

Crist: 7-15, 95 yards, INT 

Running Backs

Grade: A-

Cierre Wood had an excellent game and finished with 104 yards on 21 carries, along with one score.

He is the first Irish running back to record 100 or more yards in a single game since Armando Allen in 2009.

Wood's performance was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak day. He looked very comfortable with the ball in his hands and demonstrated his ability to run between the tackles as well as stretching the play to the outside.

The minus is credited to Jonas Gray, who fumbled the ball on the USF 1-yard line that was returned by Kayvon Webster 96 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive of the game.

Receivers

Grade: B-

Before I analyze this group as a whole, I'm going to give Michael Floyd a separate grade and that is an A.

Floyd played out of his mind, racking up a career-high 12 receptions for 154 yards and two scores.

However, the other receivers on the depth chart—particularly Theo Riddick and T.J. Jones—struggled from start to finish.

Riddick finished with three receptions for 32 yards while Jones had six receptions for 58 yards. Each player was inconsistent and dropped many passes.

Jones and Riddick must step up in order to take the pressure off Floyd.

Offensive Line

Grade: A

Notre Dame's offensive line quietly went about its business yesterday and did an excellent job of protecting both Dayne Crist and Tommy Rees.

It seemed as if each quarterback had all day to throw the football, so the line deserves all the credit in the world.

The line also opened up some wide holes for Cierre Wood to cut through on his way to a 100-yard day.

The only goal left for the unit is to keep playing consistently throughout the rest of the season.

Defensive Line

Grade: B-

In what is supposed to be an area of strength this season, the defensive line was relatively quiet yesterday.

Seniors Ethan Johnson and Kapron Lewis-Moore received most of the playing time, but young players Louis Nix, Stephon Tuitt and Aaron Lynch all saw the field.

The line itself didn't have a poor performance, but it didn't make much noise, either.

That was partly due to the mobility of South Florida quarterback B.J. Daniels, although the Bulls' run game was stuffed on a number of occasions.

Linebackers

Grade: C+

What bothered me the most about the play of the linebackers yesterday was their inability to contain on the outside.

There were too many easy stretch runs to the outside that the Irish 'backers were slow to pick up on.

Another issue that I noticed was the amount of arm tackling attempted by the linebackers. That's a habit that needs to be eradicated.

Secondary

Grade: C

South Florida was able to take advantage of Notre Dame's soft coverage by running a number of bubble screens to both sidelines.

That short passing game came easily for B.J. Daniels and led to USF's only offensive touchdown of the game.

Robert Blanton and Gary Gray need to play closer to the line and jam opposing receivers off their routes.

The secondary will have a chance to shine next week against Denard Robinson and the Michigan Wolverines in the Big House.

Special Teams

Grade: D

Notre Dame's special teams were awful Saturday's game against South Florida.

Punter Ben Turk struggled mightily with each of his punts. He only averaged 34.2 yards per punt. He's going to have to improve for Notre Dame to win future field position battles.

The guy who made 23 consecutive field goals, David Ruffer, missed his only field goal attempt on Saturday wide left. That's not like Ruffer whatsoever, which leads me to believe the miss was an anomaly.

Theo Riddick muffed every punt return and lost one of those fumbles. In his teleconference Sunday, Brian Kelly said he will be sticking with Riddick on punt returns.

Coaching

Grade: C

At the end of the day, the only thing that matters in football is winning. Brian Kelly failed to do that.

There's no question that he did not have his football team prepared to play yesterday.

Did you ever see an Urban Meyer coached Florida team have a game like Notre Dame did on Saturday? I don't think so.

What about Bob Stoops' Oklahoma teams? No.

Brian Kelly failed to put his team in a position to win. The blame rests with him.

It'll be interesting to see if he can get the team focused in time for the highly anticipated matchup with Michigan next Saturday.

Intangibles

Grade: B

If there's one positive aspect that you take away from yesterday, focus on the heart that this team displayed.

Down 16-0, the players could have easily hung their heads and laid down, but chose to fight. The Irish believed they could win and they know they were the better team on Saturday.

It's important for Brian Kelly's squad to understand that it beat itself.

There's no doubt that the coaching staff will have the team fired up to play Michigan next week and believing it will win.

Also, one thing to watch is the swagger that the offense and seemingly the whole team has with Tommy Rees at quarterback.

Like I've said earlier, Rees has a confidence and "X" factor that Dayne Crist does not.

With Rees as the starter, Notre Dame will be a different team next Saturday.