Kirk Herbstreit shows Notre Dame coach some love

The word “interesting” can barely describe what the experience of watching Notre Dame’s offense has been like through the first seven games of 2021. With an almost entirely reworked offensive line, a new quarterback, a second new quarterback, a third new quarterback, back to the second and first quarterbacks again, and new receivers have meant for growing pains.

With all of that said it’s easy to see why Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees has had his hands full this year. At times I’ve thought he’s done a magnificent job getting what he has from a flawed group. At others, like the play-calling immediately following Bo Bauer’s interception against USC, he leaves you flustered.

But how much of the blame can really go on him when he’s been dealt a far from ideal hand?

Rees grabbed the attention of ESPN’s most notable college football analyst over the weekend for the job he did against USC, even with that mishap I mentioned above.

Kirk Herbstreit named his top coaching performances of the college football weekend and Rees checked in seventh.

The interesting part to me is that looking at stats, Notre Dame was outgained by nearly 50 yards and secured just one more first down than USC on the night. The Bauer interception changed the complete dynamic of that game and made life easier on the Notre Dame offense.

With that said, Rees handled the difficult quarterback situation about as well as he could as Jack Coan played his best game since the opener and Tyler Buchner shined when given the opportunity.

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