Stopping The Run Is Priority No. 1 For Notre Dame
When you play an offense like Alabama the game plan isn’t really about stopping it. Rather, the objective is to simply slow it down enough and come up with the necessary stops to give your own offense chances to win the game.
When thinking about how to slow down the Alabama offense, it would be easy to talk about the need to focus on trying to contain the pass game that is led by star wide receiver DeVonta Smith and quarterback Mac Jones, a pair of Heisman Trophy finalists.
The key to slowing down Alabama, however, isn’t about stopping the potent pass attack, it’s about stopping the run game. Do that first and the Note Dame defense might have a chance at keeping the pass game in check. The reality is If Notre Dame is going to have any chance to win this game it cannot allow Alabama to be balanced, and the best way to make Alabama one dimensional is to stop the run game.
It might sound crazy, but the best way to keep Alabama’s points down is to get Jones to throw it more, not less.
In games where Jones threw more than 30 passes the Alabama offense was still tremendous, averaging 45.9 offensive points per game, but in those contests the run game averaged just 4.9 yards per game and 7.4 yards per play. In games where Jones threw fewer than 30 passes, Alabama averaged 49.5 offensive points per game, and the run game averaged 5.4 yards per play and the offense averaged 8.7 yards per play.
In games where Jones threw more than 30 passes the offense averaged 10.3 yards per pass attempt and 13.3 yards per completion. In games where he threw fewer than 30 times the offense averaged 13.0 yards per pass attempt and 18.5 yards per completion.
The reality is if Alabama gets its ground game going it will keep the offense in constant big-play opportunities in the pass game. Alabama can be aggressive throwing downfield, knowing the opposition’s linebackers and safeties will be more occupied coming down against the run.
Stopping the run simply to stop the run isn’t what I’m talking about here, and it must be done the right way. Stopping the run by committing extra resources to the box will result in Alabama not running the ball much, but Jones will have a field day throwing the ball.
This is about the Notre Dame defense stopping the run the way it has all season. It means bouncing back after back-to-back poor performances against Syracuse and Clemson. Here are the four keys to making that happen:
1. Defensive Line Must Be Disruptive And Disciplined — When Notre Dame is shutting down the run, which it did almost the entire 2020 season, it’s because the defensive line is playing at a high level. That means the line is winning off the snap with quickness and leverage, it means the line is penetrating up the field and getting the hips of blockers turned, it means the defensive ends are setting the edge with force and it means the linebackers aren’t getting touched.
When the defensive line is playing at a high level the line of scrimmage is consistently reset in their favor, they are making plays behind the line and the running backs are being forced to make quick, early cuts. That allows the athletic linebackers to fly to the ball.
When the line struggles it means they are doing too much peaking into the backfield and getting driven off the ball, and it means they aren’t gap sound at the point of attack. If the line doesn’t play at a high level nothing else I’m going to write about will matter much.
2. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah And Kyle Hamilton Must Be Stars — To win a game like this Notre Dame needs its stars to play like stars. Ends Daelin Hayes and Adetokunbo Ogundeji are part of that, but I already talked about how the line needs to play at a high level.
Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and safety Kyle Hamilton need to be at their best, and if they are it gives defensive coordinator Clark Lea the ability to shut down the run in a way that doesn’t expose the pass defense nearly as much.
Owusu-Koramoah can be a major force against the perimeter runs and the perimeter screen looks. If he’s making plays early it forces Alabama to game plan away from him, which then allows Lea to counter with looks that attack that adjustment from the Tide.
Hamilton might be the biggest key. Hamilton’s range and playmaking ability is such that Notre Dame is able to insert him into the box late and after run has been determined. He can cover ground faster than most safeties, so even when he commits later to the alley he can get to the ball carrier near the line of scrimmage, which makes the run game very potent.
Allowing Hamilton to attack the run game from depth also allows him to be in position to better play the intermediate throws that Alabama likes to attack with in the throwing game.
3. Linebackers Must Be Aggressive And Smart — When Notre Dame has had issues against the run this year another ingredient has been subpar play from the inside linebackers. That means the Buck position is being too passive and the Mike linebackers are being aggressive, but not gap sound. That results in the defense getting gashed on cut backs, or bounce plays, much like we saw against Clemson.
Notre Dame’s Buck linebackers must be aggressive, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Lea uses them to attack downhill with designed stunts early in the game. A big game from Drew White and Bo Bauer is a must if the Irish are going to keep running back Najee Harris and the Alabama run game in check.
4. Tackle Well — This one is easy, Notre Dame has to make Alabama earn every yard it gets in this game. Don’t let 2nd-8 opportunities turn into 2nd-4 because of a missed tackle, or a 3rd-8 turn into a 3rd-4. When you arrive at the ball bring the ball carriers down immediately. No yards after contact can be allowed in the run game or pass game.
Obviously this whole plan is moot if the Tide destroy Notre Dame through the air, and that’s certainly possible, but if Notre Dame is beating the Alabama ground game with its base defense it allows Lea to mix up his coverage looks more effectively, and that is how the Irish can make enough stops to stay in, and hopefully win this game.
Note: The video at the top is courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics. In it, Lea talks about how his run defense can get back on track after a couple of poor performances.
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