Tommy Rees Talks Notre Dame Offense, Play Calling, Tobias Merriweather And More

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - As scapegoats go, Tommy Rees is pretty popular right now. Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator has been nearly everyone’s favorite scapegoat in the wake of Saturday’s upset loss at the hands of Stanford.

The worst statistical team the Fighting Irish will see the rest of this season held them to just 14 points, which is the second fewest they’ve scored this year. The team that had lost 11 consecutive games to FBS opponents hadn’t held a Power 5 opponent to as few points since a 23-13 win over Washington in 2019.

Rees has plenty to figure out as Notre Dame prepares for the second half of what is currently a .500 season. He fielded questions that many have been asking since the puzzling defeat.

Why The Inconsistency On Offense?

The Irish ran for more than 200 yards against North Carolina and BYU and tallied more than 1,000 total yards in those two games. Stanford was allowing 207 rushing yards allowed and around 400 yards of total defense per game, but the Irish managed just 150 rushing yards and 301 total yards. Colgate ran for 159 yards against the Cardinal earlier this year.

"I try to internalize it,” Rees said. "How can I do better? How can I help? What could I have done? You're up all night going through calls that didn't hit. I could have done this. I could have done that. I should have done this. You have to try to just move ahead, continue to put our guys in the best position possible. This is about the players. What we do, our program, what we're about is trying to put those guys in the right spot. That's what I owe them, and that's why we work the way we work. If all the blame is going to go towards me, that's a good thing. Because it means it's not falling on our guys. We'd rather have it that way and continue to push forward and allow them to have success Saturday this week.”

Is It Play Calling Or Execution?

Irish head coach Marcus Freeman has probably used some form of the word “execution” more in the six games he has been the head coach than his predecessor uttered the word “traits” in a dozen years. As in “the offense didn’t execute .... it’s all about execution.” So, how does Rees determine if he has called a bad game?

"If we don't execute a play, it's a bad call — point blank,” Rees stated. "I'll take the shoulder of it. If our guys don't go out there and execute it, then it's not the right call. There are plays maybe that we can hit, sure. But if it doesn't hit, then what good is it to look back and say, ‘Shoot, we had the right call.’ There's nothing there. How can we make sure our guys can go execute? If I shoulder the blame, that's great. It means our players aren’t. We want to continue to push them in the right direction and give them the chance on Saturdays to have success. That's pretty much our process. If there's stuff like we're asking here. Was it a technical issue? Was it mentally are we not there? How do we fix those so that they do happen?

Analyze This

There have been plenty of rumors, innuendo, call it what you want, that Freeman floated the idea to Rees of bringing in an offensive analyst with head coaching experience to help Rees with the offense. Rees was asked about that suggestion.

“First of all, Coach Freeman doesn't need to ask my permission for anything,” Rees explained. “So like any question of that is a joke, because it’s his program. We've had conversations going all the way back to probably last December about the staff. At no point were we ever closed off to the idea of bringing anyone in. But at the end of the day, it's Coach Freeman's decision. We were trying all the way up through training camp to add. We had an offensive analyst spot open. We still have one open, so if any of you guys want to come work 20 hours a week, come on in.

"But we were trying all the way through camp to hire guys with former experience,” Rees continued. “We were hungry to add that. I think anybody that's really spent time around him or me know that that is something we were eager to try to explore and try to make work. I don't know where some narratives come from, but it couldn't have been further from the reality of the situation. We were working with the university and trying to find ways to get some guys here. It didn’t work right now. It doesn't mean it won't work moving forward.”

Starting Faster

Notre Dame has scored a grand total of six points in the first quarter this season. They’ve scored on their first offensive possession of a game just twice. The first was a field goal on the opening drive of the season against Ohio State and the second was a field goal after TaRiq Bracy’s interception against BYU gave the offense the ball in Cougar territory. Six games, six first quarter points and four games without scoring in the first quarter. How can Rees get the offense going quicker?

"There's no doubt I have to call it better, period,” Rees responded. “I have to get Drew (Pyne) in a rhythm, get the line in a rhythm, feel the game, give them confidence right off the bat. If we can do that, we've had that a little bit in like the second quarter. You get into a rhythm and you start feeling it. You get into that to start the second half last couple of weeks and kind of feel that. But we have to make sure that exactly what we're preparing for and what the expectations are on the opening script and how to make sure those guys have confidence going into that.”

Getting Pyne Back On Target

Drew Pyne’s accuracy coming into this season was one of his bigger question marks. He only played in two games last year, but he only completed 50% of his 30 pass attempts in those relief appearances vs Wisconsin and Cincinnati.

After a pedestrian beginning in his first career start against Cal, Pyne was incredibly accurate for two and a half games. He went into the Stanford game with a 72% completion rate, but his 13 for 27 night dropped it to 66.9%. Getting Pyne back on track is now a priority for Rees.

"It's two-fold, right,” Rees asked rhetorically. "When we look at the lack of physical execution, we're going to look at, ‘OK, is it something mentally where we're not in the right spot? Or is it something fundamentally or technically that we need to improve on?’ There are probably times of each as you evaluate a season or a game regardless of who the quarterback is. Those plays that don't hit, you're like, ‘OK, well this, was it our feet on this one? Are our shoulders not set where we need to? Are we mentally not getting our eyes where they need to be quick enough?

"There's going to be 10 other plays throughout the course of the game where you maybe got away with it and you had a completion, but your eyes aren't in the right spot,” Rees continued. “We have to coach those plays the same way we do the ones that don't hit. For every position, is it a fundamental or technique issue? Is it a mental issue that we don't understand? And how do we continue to bridge those so we can limit the variance between them?”

Getting Merriweather Rolling

There was plenty of clamoring for Tobias Merriweather to get his hands on a ball through Notre Dame’s first five games. The freshman receiver played only a handful of snaps again Saturday night, but he had his first two targets and his second one went for a 41-yard touchdown reception.

"We had something we prepared for during the week,” Rees said of getting the ball to the speedy freshman. "We felt like we’d get him matched up on a safety with some cushion. He has the length and the speed and the ability to make those rangy catches. We’ve been working on some things. There were a couple of specific looks that we got to that we had what we wanted. He made a heck of a catch. Drew made a heck of a throw. The unsung part is the protection. Logan (Diggs) came across, picked up the backer and we had time to step up. It was an outstanding moment for him. Continue to find ways to get our guys in the right spots.”

Merriweather mentioned that he has been "tagged" in plays specific to him this season, but now he's getting more plays where he's just a guy out there with more expanded duties, like the other receivers.

"As a young player, part of the tag deal is, okay, let's try to narrow your focus to allow you to go play fast and free,” Rees explained. "The more reps and experience you get, the more you can say, ‘All right, boom, I know this call. We call this all the time. I got it.’ That's just part of the learning curve for young kids to come in. It's no different than Holden (Staes) and Eli (Raridon) as they've gotten more reps. Okay, well, these are the core calls that we can have you in there for. Making a play helps with confidence. You taste that a little bit. We hope that allows Tobias to continue to move in the right direction.”