Impact Matchups For The Notre Dame Defense vs North Carolina
The second half of the Notre Dame schedule is loaded with potent offenses, and a strong case could be made that North Carolina is the best of the bunch. That means the Fighting Irish defense will have to be on top of its game if it is going to keep the Tar Heel attack in check.
To pull out a victory the Notre Dame defense will need to thrive in a number of areas, which includes dominating certain matches and making sure North Carolina doesn't dominate others. Below are the three matchups I'll have my eye on, and the three matchups I think are most important to success for the Notre Dame defense.
DT #57 Jayson Ademilola, DT #95 Myron Tagovailloa-Amosa vs. OT #72 Asim Richards, RT #74 Jordan Tucker
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman has shown a desire to play a lot of three-down looks against teams that spread out and go with some tempo, and against teams that like to throw. As much as I would love for Coach Freeman to use Isaiah Foskey to attack all game long the reality is the evidence is the talented Irish pass rusher is going to spend a number of snaps in coverage.
In those instances we will see a lot of Jayson Ademilola and Myron Tagovailao-Amosa playing on the edge, and the duo needs to dominate against the North Carolina tackles. Ademilola has been overshadowed by Foskey and safety Kyle Hamilton, but make no mistake he's been outstanding for Notre Dame all season. He'll need to be on top of his game Saturday night.
Notre Dame needs Ademilola and Tagovailoa-Amosa to be stout on the edge against the massive North Carolina tackles, who weigh 325 and 340 pounds. The primary key is being physical on the edge against the run game, limiting the UNC stretch plays and forcing runs quickly back inside.
In the pass game they need to win battles against the UNC tackles, who have been solid but not great in pass protection this season. Notre Dame had trouble getting consistent pressure out of the three-man pressures against USC, which is expected. Against UNC they'll need to be a bit more productive in those situations and add more pressure on the quarterback.
S #3 Houston Griffith, S #2 DJ Brown vs. WR #11 Joshua Downs
North Carolina does a great job moving Downs around the field and getting him into matchups where his speed and playmaking ability can shine. When the Tar Heel coaches look at the Notre Dame defense without Hamilton you can be sure they will want to find as many ways possible to get Downs matched up against the Irish safeties.
With Hamilton in the game the Irish coaches have been able to avoid putting Griffith and Brown in many man coverage situations. That will be much, much harder in this matchup both from the standpoint of Hamilton being out and how North Carolina runs its offense.
Griffith has often struggled in man situations going all the way back to his freshman season, and UNC will try hard to get him into those situations against Downs. Griffith needs to be on top of his game in those instances and Freeman will need to have a plan to give him some help.
Griffith and Brown will also need to be great tacklers against Downs in this game. He'll get several touches in the quick and screen game, and it will be up to the Irish safeties to bring him down in space. If they can somehow combine to keep Downs from making big plays in this game the Tar Heels will have a hard time scoring enough to win.
CB #6 Clarence Lewis vs. WR #3 Antoine Green, WR
Sophomore cornerback Clarence Lewis has had a rough four-game stretch as opponents have made a concerted effort to attack him while also avoiding junior Cam Hart. Lewis will be matched up against Downs at times, which is dangerous, but he'll likely be lined up more frequently against Emery Simmons and Antoine Green.
Simmons is 6-1 and Green is 6-2, and both have similar body types and styles of play to wideouts that have given Lewis problems this season. Simmons has caught just two passes in the last three games but he's averaged 22.1 yards per catch on the season and has a 3-catch, 110-yard game (vs. Georgia Tech) under his belt.
Green also has a 100-yard game (3 catches, 117 yards vs. Georgia State) under his belt and is averaging 23.0 yards per catch this season. He caught just one pass in the most recent 45-42 win over Miami, but that one catch went for 41 yards. He also caught two passes for 50 yards against Georgia Tech.
Neither player are high volume players, or haven't shown to be, but both are big play threats. If Lewis can keep them from making plays in this game it will help avoid the chunk plays UNC needs to beat Notre Dame and also put even more pressure on Downs and the run game.
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