Notre Dame Defense Needs A Stout Performance Against Ohio State

Ohio State has a first-time starter at quarterback this season, the offensive line is a question mark and the Buckeyes got off to a slow start offensively. But make no mistake, while those things are true, there is no doubt Ohio State is going to bring a very potent, explosive and dangerous offense into Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday night.

There are plenty of teams who would love to get off to a slow start offensively and still be averaging 40 points per game. Ohio State will be at their best on Saturday night, and the Notre Dame defense will need to match the intensity, focus, physicality and execution if the Irish are going to come out on top this weekend.

Notre Dame's ability to keep the Ohio State offense in check is vital to success this weekend, and it's a monumental task. Ohio State comes into this game with one of the best group of skill players in the country.

Notre Dame Rush Defense vs OSU Rush Offense

Statistically speaking, this matchup is very much in favor of Notre Dame. Despite playing a triple option offense in Navy, the Irish have held each of its 2023 opponents to 131 yards or less, and two opponents were held to less than 90 yards on the ground. That includes NC State, who is the best opponent the Irish have faced so far.

Notre Dame has yet to allow a run of at least 30 yards on the season, and the Irish are holding opponents to less than 3.0 yards per carry despite ranking 118th nationally in tackles for loss and only registering five sacks in four games. That speaks to the consistency of success Notre Dame has had in the run game.

Ohio State's ground attack has yet to really get rolling. The Buckeyes rushed for just 143 yards against Indiana and 123 yards against Youngstown State, averaging just 4.6 yards per carry in both games. A 204-yard performance against Western Kentucky (6.2 YPC), but that same WKU defense gave up 374 rushing yards to South Florida and 155 yards to a Houston Christian team that went for just 39 yards on the ground in a 66-7 loss to Tennessee-Martin.

On paper, the Irish should be able to control the Ohio State ground game, and it's certainly a key to victory for Notre Dame in this matchup. This game won't be decided on paper, obviously, and Notre Dame has to deal with what is a very talented backfield that is going to go off at some point this season. Notre Dame needs to make sure this isn't the week that big time back TreVeyon Henderson breaks out, and that physical runners Chip Trayanum and Miyan Williams don't do to this year's defense what Williams did to last year's.

The key for Notre Dame will be winning the battle at the line of scrimmage, and doing so impressively. Interior players like Rylie Mills, Howard Cross III, Jason Onye and Gabriel Rubio will need to be on top of their game. The strength of the Ohio State line is the interior, which has talented left guard Donovan Jackson, talented redshirt freshman Carson Hinzman and veteran right guard Matthew Jones. If Notre Dame can dominate up the middle the Buckeyes will have a tough time getting a lot going.

While the inside is important, the edge is also key to success against an Ohio State ground attack that loves to attack the edges with stretch plays, jet sweeps and reverses. It's a great week for Buckeye transfer Javontae Jean-Baptiste to have the best game of his career, and a breakout game from Jordan Botelho would be huge for the Irish defense.

Wrapping up this portion of the breakdown - pun intended - Notre Dame needs to tackle a lot better against the Buckeyes than we saw last week against CMU. Ohio State's backs are the top of runners that can do major damage if you aren't disciplined and don't tackle well in space.

Notre Dame Pass Defense vs OSU Pass Offense

This is a battle of strength on strength, and who performs the best in this area is going to have a big say on who wins the game. Ohio State is going to make its fair share of plays, but the Notre Dame secondary needs to make their fair of plays as well. The key is making Ohio State work for their yards by limiting big plays, limiting yards after contact and making the Buckeyes get their yards on a lot of attempts. Getting pressure on the quarterback - consistent pressure - is vital to success.

Seems simple enough, right? Well, it's a simple strategy, but pulling it off is extremely hard. Ohio State's wide receiving corps is loaded, with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka being the best one-two punch in college football. But let's be honest, if Ohio State's receiving corps didn't have those two and only had Julian Fleming, Carnell Tate, Brandon Innis, Noah Rogers, Kojo Antwi, Kyion Grayes and Xavier Johnson it would still be one of the best groups in college football.

The Buckeyes also have one of the best tight ends in college football (Cade Stovar) and Henderson is a dangerous weapon in the pass game. There are a lot of weapons that Notre Dame's secondary will have to deal with. Discipline is key, staying with the structure of the defense is key, playing with good angles with key and tackling well in space is key to keeping Ohio State's pass game from ripping you up, and making it less efficient.

Of course, there's no better way to slow down the Ohio State pass attack than pressuring the quarterback. There are multiple layers to pressuring the Ohio State pass attack. The most obvious is getting after the quarterback. Ohio State has only given up three sacks this season, something Notre Dame must reverse. Taking advantage of the tackles is crucial to that success, but with how quickly Ohio State gets the ball out, some pressure must come up the middle as well.

The second layer is being prepared for Ohio State's quick game. Handling this is two-fold. One is pushing the pocket back and not letting quarterback Kyle McCord feel comfortable, even in quick throws. Two is putting hands up and trying to batt down some footballs. Three is being disciplined in coverage and not giving up easy throwing lanes, especially on slants and crossing routes. The longer you can force McCord to hold onto the football by jumping quick routes the better chance you have at getting pressure, and the better chance you have at forcing incompletions in the quick game.

Of course, Notre Dame has one of the nation's best corner tandems in college football in Benjamin Morrison and Cam Hart. If that duo plays like one of the best tandems in college football the Irish will have success. If they don't, Ohio State will put up a lot of yards and score a lot of points.

Notre Dame Scoring Defense vs OSU Scoring Offense

This is a really good defense against a really good offense. Notre Dame more than held its own against Ohio State last season, but the Buckeyes made the money plays, and dominated the money quarter (fourth). Notre Dame cannot allow that to be repeated this weekend.

The third down and red zone numbers above are going to be a very, very important key for Notre Dame. They need stops against Ohio State in the worst way. That means getting third down stops and trying to force punts and obviously turnovers would be huge, but even when Ohio State puts drives together, keeping them out of the end zone and forcing field goals is a victory for Notre Dame every time it happens.

Limiting big plays is another key to success for Notre Dame, but as stated above, when they do happen the Irish need to make sure they don't result in touchdowns.

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