Opponent Film Review: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Powered By WePlayed)

Boston College faces off against Notre Dame on Saturday in the latest installment of the Holy War. Notre Dame has been impressive this year, with only two losses, to Georgia and Michigan. But what makes them so dangerous? Using the game film app WePlayed, run by former Boston College offensive lineman Paul Zukauskas, I reviewed some Notre Dame game film to see what they do well. The three ND games I scrubbed through were games against Georgia, Louisville and Duke.  Watch my highlights and accompanying notes here

* First and foremost on offense, Notre Dame has a very strong offensive line. Tony Jones Jr, is a solid running back, but doesn't do much in terms of being flashy or strong. But the offensive line and tight ends make holes for him and make his life pretty easy. Against a poor defensive line like Boston College, they could be in line to make some big plays.

* Ian Book was not as impressive on film as his stats made him seem which lines up with some of the criticism of his play . He isn't horrible accurate deep, but he doesn't need to be as he has some very talented weapons who can make big plays for him. He stares down wide receivers, and proceeds to run quickly when his first read isn't there. Irregardless, he has a lot of those qualities that kill BC's defense: he can run the ball, and can hit short stuff that turns into long passes.

* Cole Kmet is one of the best tight ends I have seen this year. He is huge, with good hands and can just go up and grab Ian Book's passes. I don't know how Boston College is going to attack him because he is too big for a cornerback to cover, but John Lamot and Joseph Sparacio will get burned by his speed and quickness. 

* The player who popped most on the tape was wide receiver Chase Claypool. He is a wide receiver, but is built like a tight end. Great hands, really physical who can use his size to out-body smaller defensive backs. Ian Book just needs to get the ball in his hands and he makes plays. 

* Chris Finke is the type of wide receiver that takes a small dump pass from Ian Book and against a defense like Boston College he makes it a big play. If BC is sloppy on tackling or screws up alignment/assignments, he could turn a small gain into an explosive play. 

* On defense the player to watch is linebacker Drew White. He reminds me of a poor man's Luke Kuechly. Just a fundamentally sound player, who can make a big hit, has good instincts and will be one hell of a challenge up the middle for BC's offensive line and AJ Dillon/David Bailey. Get him in a gap and he is not missing many tackles. 

* Notre Dame's secondary is very impressive. They were very stout against the screen and short passes, and didn't allow much in terms of yards after catch. They are the type of secondary that cause a good amount of coverage sacks.