Keys To Victory For The Notre Dame Offense vs Ohio State

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish offense must thrive in four key areas if it is going to do enough to upset the Buckeyes

Notre Dame takes on Ohio State tonight in what could be the biggest game in college football during the regular season. It will certainly be the biggest game for the Fighting Irish, who are looking to start a new tradition of actually beating top teams.

If Notre Dame is going to win this game its offense will need to play at a very high level. That is something Notre Dame has not done over the last decade. There is certainly a path to success for Notre Dame against an Ohio State defense that struggled much of the 2021 season.

Here are our keys to victory for the Notre Dame offense.

1. Start Fast — It is imperative that the Fighting Irish offense get off to a fast start, and this is true no matter happens with Ohio State’s offense. Should the Buckeyes start fast the Notre Dame offense needs to keep up enough to allow its defense to make adjustments. Ohio State scored 354 first half points in 2021 and 240 points in the second half. When Ohio State dominated opponents it usually did so because it overwhelmed the opponent in the first half.

If Notre Dame’s defense is making a lot of early stops the Irish offense needs put points on the board early and often in order to put some early distance between themselves and the Buckeye offense. It will be hard to keep Ohio State down for four quarters, so putting some early distance would be ideal and help lead to victory.

A fast start also helps Notre Dame keep the crowd from working itself into a wild frenzy as Ohio State builds up a big early lead, which would make it incredibly hard to come back from.

2. Establish The Ground Attack — Keys two and three build on each other to a large degree, but establishing a ground attack is important enough to have as its own point. I am not one of those folks that believes Notre Dame needs to play keep away from Ohio State, that’s not a recipe for success in my view. The recipe for success is ensuring that your offense is balanced, and the way Notre Dame’s offense is structured it is at its best when the ground game gets rolling early.

Early success on the ground - with runs to the running backs and quarterback - means the Irish offensive line is thriving, which is important (see key number three). It also means they are establishing a physical identity (also, see below). There are more practical reasons as well. Notre Dame thriving early with its ground attack forces Ohio State to commit more resources to stopping the run, which means either more run stunts/blitzes and also adding third level or perimeter defenders to the box.

If Notre Dame gets into situations where it can force Ohio State to condense its alignments in order to be tighter to the box it opens up more and more one-on-one matchups in the pass game, and that is where the Irish can create big plays (see point number four).

3. Control The Line Of Scrimmage — Controlling the line of scrimmage isn’t just about running the football, although that is the most obvious manifestation, and also an important key. Controlling the line of scrimmage is also about building an early identity, an identity that is about toughness, power and physically whipping the opposition. Notre Dame needs to quickly move away from the finesse style of play it showed for much of 2021.

Controlling the line of scrimmage also means keeping the Ohio State pass rush off of sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner. If Buchner can get into an early rhythm as a passer it will make the Irish offense very dangerous. From an Ohio State standpoint, the best way to keep Buchner from getting comfortable early is to pressure him. Notre Dame controlling the line of scrimmage keeps this from happening and allows Buchner to have the time he needs to go through his progressions and then step into throws, and also gives the Irish pass catchers time to get open down the field.

There are time of possession benefits to controlling the line, which include not only the run game, but also putting Notre Dame into far more manageable third-down situations. It also will make Notre Dame a more effective team in the red zone, and getting touchdowns instead of field goals is a must if Notre Dame is going to pull off this upset.

4. Create Big Plays — Notre Dame likely will have a hard time putting together enough 8-12 play drives to outscore Ohio State. Yes, putting together some long drives will be important at times, but the reality is Notre Dame needs to score in a lot of different ways, which includes getting some big plays. Whether we are talking about big plays that end up in the end zone, or big plays that get Notre Dame into the scoring zone, big plays are a must.

Dominating the line of scrimmage opens up big plays opportunities in the run game for Buchner and running backs Chris Tyree, Audric Estime and Logan Diggs. If the Irish control the line and Buchner is on the pass game should get opportunities for big plays as well. Of course offensive coordinator Tommy Rees needs to dial up some looks that open up those opportunities, but we sa him do that plenty last season. The key this season will be actually executing in those situations.

Notre Dame ripping off at least four or five plays of at least 40 yards, and perhaps a few more gains of 15-25 yards will likely result in Notre Dame getting into the 30-point or more range, which is where the Irish need to be to win this game.

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