Keys To Victory: Notre Dame vs. South Florida
Notre Dame has a significant talent advantage over South Florida, and barring a complete disaster this should be a win for the Fighting Irish. In fact, it should be a convincing win. When you have this kind of game as a program, you certainly do not overlook your opponent, but you should look at it as an opportunity to build and develop your unit with “bigger games” in mind.
With that in mind, there are several areas where Notre Dame must focus on in the South Florida game. If the Irish grade out well in the areas below, fans should start feeling good about the direction of this unit.
One area is the need to start fast, which I broke down in full detail HERE.
The Irish run defense must also thrive, which I also broke down in full detail HERE.
OFFENSE
1. DOMINATE AT THE POINT OF ATTACK — The score of this game, and the yards Notre Dame picks up don’t matter to me as much as how Notre Dame plays and wins. By that I mean from a mentality and physicality standpoint, especially up front. I want to see Notre Dame push the undersized South Florida defensive line around, and play with the force and get the movement we didn’t see against Duke.
Rushing for over 200 yards alone won’t tell me this unit is playing at the level it needs to. The fact is against inferior opponents you can still produce and not play the kind of way an elite team needs to play. I want to see yards against USF, but more importantly I want to see physical dominance.
2. ATTACK DOWN THE FIELD — Notre Dame threw one non-red zone throw that traveled more than 20 yards past the line of scrimmage. That lack of aggression against Duke was a bit of a head scratcher, and my hope is it’s not going to become a pattern. I would feel much better about this football team if offensive coordinator Tommy Rees came out and designed a number of big shots in the first half.
Rees has to know by now that quarterback Ian Book isn’t going to attack vertically unless its part of his primary read, so designing plays calls that are meant to take a shot with the initial read is ideal. It will get Book into rhythm and should help get the wideouts some early confidence.
3. YOUTH MOVEMENT — Notre Dame needs to get its young offensive players involved in the game plan, and I’m not talking about putting them in when the game starts getting out of hand. I want to see freshmen running back Chris Tyree, wide receiver Xavier Watts and tight end Michael Mayer (and possibly Jordan Johnson) involved in the game plan right away. I don’t want to see just two targets for that group in the first half like we saw against Duke.
This is the perfect game to get those young players some work with the “first team” offense early in the game while the game is still somewhat competitive. They will all be needed at some point this season, and they are incredibly talented, so there’s no reason not to play them. Getting them early action and early touches in a game like this could play huge dividends as the season wears on.
DEFENSE
1. CLEAN UP THE GAME ONE MISCUES — Notre Dame’s defense missed too many tackles early in the victory over Duke, and there were a few too many assignment mistakes. Those miscues helped Duke move the ball relatively effectively in the first half, as the Blue Devils racked up 246 yards of offense, including 151 in the first half.
Notre Dame cleaned things up in the second half and dominated, holding Duke to just 88 yards of offense in the final thirty minutes. South Florida lacks Duke’s talent, especially at quarterback, offensive line and tight end. Notre Dame should absolutely dominate the Bulls, and playing clean will ensure that happens.
2. NO BIG PLAYS — That plays right into point number two, and that is limiting the big plays. Simply put, South Florida is not good enough to consistently move the ball up and down the field. The only way they can move the ball enough to beat the Irish is if the Irish offense turns the ball over a bunch (sound familiar, 2011?), and if the defense gives up a number of big plays.
If Notre Dame is aggressive, tackles well and plays clean football against the Bulls they will dominate.
3. MAKE USF ONE-DIMENSIONAL — A key to that dominance will be making the run-heavy Bulls one dimensional. If South Florida gets the run game going early it will create big-play opportunities in the pass game. If Notre Dame shuts down the USF run game and forces them to go to the pass game they will have no chance.
Notre Dame dominating the point of attack will result in the Irish shutting down the run game, and if the Bulls are forced to go to the air the Irish pass rush will put up monster numbers. It will also result in South Florida not only struggling to score enough to will, it will make it hard for the Bulls to score … period.
SPECIAL TEAMS
1. NO BAD MISTAKES — Much like the defense, the only way the Bulls can make this game competitive is if the offense turns the ball over, the defense gives up big plays and the special teams makes game-changing mistakes. Brian Polian’s unit hasn’t really done that recently, so I don’t see that happening against the Bulls, but it is worth mentioning.
2. TRY SOME STUFF OUT — Games like this are good for “working on some stuff,” and that is true for the special teams as well. What that means is maybe turn up the heat and try to attack the punter with a few pressures you want to work on. Perhaps it means getting your punt return game going with a reverse, or setting up/working on a kick return that needs to get sharpened up.
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