First Half Analysis: Notre Dame Leads BYU 18-6

Notre Dame has dominated BYU in many ways in the first half but leads just 18-6 at half time. Here are my thoughts of the first 30 minutes of the game.

NOTRE DAME OFFENSE

*** The early run game plan was puzzling. BYU has a big front and active linebackers, and teams that have had success running on the Cougars did so with a mix of outside and inside. Early on Notre Dame went away from the zones that have worked so well in recent games and ran a lot of Duo and Power, and there wasn't a lot of early success.

*** Once they started running a bit more stretch and hit a couple of quick outside throws to the perimeter it not only opened up room to run on those wide zone plays, it also widened BYU out defensively and then opened up room inside for the Inside Zone and the power runs that weren't as effective early on.

*** Quarterback Drew Pyne had two bad misses early when he missed Logan Diggs on third-down near the goal line on an inside breaking route, and on the next series he also missed a wide open Jayden Thomas down the seam for what would have been a big play. He ended up scrambling and throwing to Thomas late but the throw was broken up.

*** Pyne settled down in a big way after that and ripped BYU up, finishing the first half 13-17 for 163 yards and a pair of scores. Even more importantly he threw the ball down the field, hitting a seam throw to Lorenzo Styles, a wide fade to Micheal Mayer for a touchdown, and he threw a back shoulder throw to Thomas for a touchdown. It wasn't a pretty ball to Thomas, but Pyne gave his wideout a chance to make a play and Thomas made a great play on the ball.

*** I'm shocked at how little attention BYU paid to Mayer early in the game. He was open multiple times, and the few times they did cover him Pyne threw the ball out to Mayer and he was able to make big plays.

*** The Irish running backs are showing good patience and getting downhill well. The way BYU is attacking downhill I could see Notre Dame using a bit more play-action in the second half and throwing the ball over the top and also behind the linebackers.

*** My biggest gripe with the first half play-calling, outside of the early run scheme, was the 4th-and-1 call. Going 11 personnel and widening the formation out allowed BYU to out-number Notre Dame in the box. If you're going to run it downhill there they needed to add more offensive players to the box. They didn't and BYU stuffed it.

*** Notre Dame has dominated BYU for the most part, out-gaining them 259 yards to 67 yards, but the misses in the red zone have kept the score closer than it should be.

NOTRE DAME DEFENSE

*** BYU has been able to run it right at Notre Dame for its early game success. The interior players were getting pushed around a bit early and the back up ends weren't setting the edge effectively. BYU went away from that a bit, and Notre Dame's interior defenders did a better job later in the half of holding their ground.

*** Notre Dame started TaRiq Bracy as the outside corner in this game as part of a 4-3 personnel alignment (4-2-5 look). That put Bracy in a one-on-one on the first play, and the pressure forced BYU QB Jaren Hall to underthrow a ball. Bracy had perfect inside coverage and kept his eyes back, which allowed him to see the throw and pick it off. Bracy played very good in the first half outside of one play. He has locked down the BYU receivers, but he over-played the motion on BYU's touchdown, which allowed him to. get beat outside.

*** Defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola got moved off the ball a bit early, but he settled in and was very good in the second half. He had a great penetration on a red zone run, which forced the back inside and his brother made the tackle. He also had a great pressure on the sack by driving the guard right into the quarterback.

*** Linebacker Jack Kiser made a great play on that sack for the safety, and he's had a very good first half. Kiser has been good in coverage, and he was all over a tight end on the first defensive third down of the game, which forced the quarterback to look deep, where he had no one open. This has been an issue for Kiser in the previous two games, so it was good to see him thrive in this area in this game.

*** Overall the defensive line has been very disruptive in the pass game. They aren't really dominating BYU from the standpoint of coming off and getting sacks, but they are getting a very good push and driving linemen back into Hall's feet. That's limiting their sacks, but it's also clogging up run lanes and not letting Hall scramble.

*** Mike linebacker Bo Bauer was also better in the second quarter against the run, filling hard, especially in the red zone.

*** The Notre Dame secondary, so far, has been all over the BYU wide receivers. They have been quite sticky in coverage and Hall simply has had nowhere to go with the football.

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