Stacking Up: Notre Dame Defense vs. Florida State
The 5th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish get back onto the field this Saturday when they host the Florida State Seminoles. The Irish will look to improve to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in ACC play.
Notre Dame has played dominant football on defense this season while the Seminoles have struggled. Florida State caught life in the second half of its win over Jacksonville State, and there is certainly plenty of talent on the roster in Tallahassee.
Let's take a look at how the Notre Dame defense stacks up on paper against the Florida State offense. (Note: There are just 74 teams currently factored into the rankings, compared to 130 last season)
Notre Dame Scoring Defense vs. Florida State Scoring Offense
Advantage: Notre Dame
Like the offense, Notre Dame struggled a bit out of the gate on defense in 2020, but the unit quickly got up to speed and it's been dominant in the last six quarters. The shutout against South Florida was just the second for the Irish in the last six seasons (Bowling Green, 2019 being the other).
Notre Dame has played well on all three levels of the defense, and its situational football has been brilliant thus far. Notre Dame has allowed a touchdown in just one of its four red zone opportunities, which thus far is a vast improvement over what we saw in 2019.
The Irish third-down defense was excellent against both Duke (26.7%) and South Florida (13.3%), which is also a jump over last year's quality third-down defense.
Florida State racked up 531 yards and averaged 6.5 yards per play while scoring 41 points against Jacksonville State, but the Gamecocks are a FCS program coming off a 6-6 season. You'd expect the Seminoles to have success in games like that, but the offense struggled early as they fell behind 21-7.
In losses to Georgia Tech and Miami, the offense averaged just 11.5 points and 318.5 yards while going for just 4.2 yards per play.
So what group will we see on Saturday? The unit that struggled in the first 10 quarters of the season or the one that dominated Jacksonville State in the second half.
Notre Dame Rush Defense vs. Florida State Rush Offense
Advantage: Notre Dame
The run defense was an issue for Notre Dame through the first half of the 2019 season, as the Irish gave up 172.7 yards per game on the ground. That included a win over Virginia when the Irish gave up just four rushing yards. In the other six games it gave up 200.8 yards per game.
Things started to change in the final six games, and that has carried into the 2020 season. In its last seven games against non-option offenses the Irish defense has held opponents to just 94.7 yards per game on the ground and 2.9 yards per rush.
The Irish defense has been incredibly aggressive so far on both run and pass downs, and the result has been a highly disruptive rush defense.
Florida State's ground game seems to be finding its stride, a bit. They went for a decent 151 against Miami but went for 263 yards against the Gamecocks.
While the offensive line struggles in pass protection, it has some potential in the run game. This is especially true with Jordan Travis at quarterback. Travis gives the offense mobility and the ability to make plays with his legs.
That takes some pressure off the running back combination of Jashaun Corbin and Lawrance Toafili, a talented duo.
Notre Dame Pass Defense vs. Florida State Pass Offense
Advantage: Notre Dame
Notre Dame was inconsistent against the pass against Duke, but they dominated the poor South Florida pass game. We still don't know just how good this pass defense is going to be in 2020 after being a top-notch group in 2018 and 2019.
The return of Kyle Hamilton and TaRiq Bracy to the lineup is much-needed, but the pass rush has been impactful the last six quarters. This will be an important matchup against a Florida State team that has allowed 11 sacks in three games, and it gave up 48 sacks a season ago.
Getting after the quarterback will b e a must for Notre Dame in this contest. If they struggle to get to the quarterback, Florida State has the talent at wide receiver with players like Tamorrion Terry, Ontaria Wilson and tight end Camren McDonald to do damage.
To read how the Irish offense stacks up against Florida State click HERE.
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