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Some early thoughts on Notre Dame
Oct 30, 2022, 5:01 PM
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In one of those almost rare perfect storms, Clemson’s previous opponent played its next opponent, and there are a few takeaways from that contest.
First off, the Irish took a page out of Clemson’s book and ran it right at the undersized Syracuse defensive line. Clemson ran it 60 times for 293 yards, or 4.9 yards per carry. The Irish rolled up 246 yards on 56 carries, or 4.3 yards per rush. The Irish turned it over twice, both on interceptions, but still ran 75 plays for an average of 4.8 yards per play. They gained a total of 362 yards on 75 plays. Clemson had 450 yards on 85 plays, despite the turnovers, and had 5.3 yards per play, or almost a yard more per play than the Irish.
Now, different schemes, different gameplans, I get it. But it is interesting to look and see the teams attacked Syracuse the same way from an offensive standpoint. Clemson was a little more efficient, and without the four turnovers, would have likely blown the doors off the Orange.
Now, let’s look at the Notre Dame offense. Quarterback Drew Pyne is more of a game manager than anything else. He has 29 carries for 107 yards and isn’t really a threat to break a long one. The Irish are really a three-headed monster at running back with Audric Estime (99-558), Logan Diggs (95-431) and Chris Tyree (78-332). They lean on that big offensive line and don’t do a lot of motion and trickery…they just line up and come right at you.
Through the air, it’s all about tight end Michael Mayer, who has 47 receptions for 580 yards. The Irish have 1571 yards through the air, and 1/3 of those yards are his. After his 47 catches, the rest of the team has just 83, with 24 going to Lorenzo Styles. After Styles, not much production, so Pyne looks Mayer’s way almost all of the time. I can imagine that the Tigers will stick Barrett Carter and Andrew Mukuba/Malcolm Greene on Mayer and try and bracket the big guy.
Now, Clemson’s offense versus the Notre Dame defense. The Irish are a solid group, and ranked 28th nationally in total defense (Clemson is 27th). Whereas Clemson is 7th in rushing defense, the Irish are 50th. Notre Dame is 36th against the pass. Linebacker JB Bertrand (48 tackles) and big defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey (7 sacks) are two to watch. Foskey will line up against Jordan McFadden most of the time
Again, a good matchup all around for the Tigers. But on the road, against a good defense and an offense that wants to play keep-away, they can’t turn it over four times and expect to win. It would be nice to see DJ Uiagalelei get the receivers more involved in the offense – Tiger receivers have 11 catches over the last two games, and all of those are by Antonio Williams (7), and Joseph Ngata (4). Beaux Collins and the rest have been shut out.
I’ll tell you this – watching Tennessee’s offense is fun. They go with tempo and they don’t really care how you line up. On 3rd-and-2 they came out in what looked like a running set (where we see the QB run or RB run into the A or B gap), but checked out of that and threw a 20-yard hook. It was beautiful. And they throw the ball down the field and spread the field. I remember when Clemson did things like that, and would love to see that kind of game at Notre Dame.
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