Stacking Up The Notre Dame Defense vs. The Ohio State Offense

The fifth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish are two days away from kicking off their season against the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Our breakdown of the matchup continues with a look at how the Notre Dame defense stacks up against the Ohio State offense.

NOTRE DAME RUSH DEFENSE vs. OHIO STATE RUSH OFFENSE

Advantage: Even

When Ohio State is playing its game the ground attack is a key part of the offense, and that is when the Buckeyes can truly be hard to beat. You saw that in wins over Purdue (263 rush yards) and Michigan State (206 rush yards), but when the Buckeyes struggled their ground attack was a primary reason for that.

Ohio State rushed for just 128 yards (4.1 YPC) in the loss to Oregon and it was held to just 64 yards (2.1 YPC) in the convincing loss to Michigan. In its wins decided by single digits the Buckeyes rushed for 161 yards (4.7 YPC) against Penn State, 110 yards against Utah and 90 yards (3.0 YPC) in the win at Nebraska.

What Ohio State has is one of the most explosive backs in the country in sophomore TreVeyon Henderson. Backup Miyan Williams is a physical runner that also must be accounted for. Ohio State has talented returning up front but there are some moving parts, and the Buckeyes are also learning under a new line coach.

The same is true for the Notre Dame rush defense, which was brilliant in holding Wisconsin to just 78 rushing yards, Purdue to just 57 rushing yards, Virginia to 82 yards, Stanford to 55 yards and Cincinnati to 93 yards. The problem, however, is those games were sandwiched around poor performances like we saw against Florida State (264 yards, 5.5 YPC), North Carolina (224 yards, 5.7 YPC) and Oklahoma State (234 yards, 5.3 YPC).

Notre Dame had a bad habit last season of giving up big plays, which it cannot do against Henderson. A new-look linebacker corps should improve the ground attack, but at the end of the day it's up to players like Isaiah Foskey, Jayson Ademilola, Rylie Mills and the rest of the defensive line to control the action if Notre Dame is going to win this particular matchup.

NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE vs. OHIO STATE PASS OFFENSE

Advantage: Ohio State

Ohio State is going to hold the advantage in the pass game against every team it plays, even with the loss of first round wide receivers Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave. Ryan Day is a great play-caller and he is calling plays for a lot of very talented players.

The trigger man is junior CJ Stroud, who went from being a guy with zero career passes to a Heisman finalist in just one season. Stroud is accurate, smart, shows impressive anticipation for such a young player and he has a strong arm. If the Irish defense can't push pressure on Stroud the defense will be in for a long night.

Ohio State lacks proven production at wide receiver behind star Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but it certainly doesn't lack talent. Sophomores Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka have star potential, and they got a taste of being leading men in the bowl win over Utah.

Ohio State ranks well in the sacks allowed category but its pass protection wasn't always consistent. We saw that in the Michigan loss when it was dominated by the Wolverine front, and the pass protection against Oregon and Nebraska was spotty as well. Foskey and the Irish front four will need to consistently harass Stroud if the defense is going to keep the offense down enough to win.

On the back end, Notre Dame welcomes former All-American Brandon Joseph, who has faced against Ohio State before, and he played quite well in that matchup. Notre Dame needs standout corner Cam Hart to be healthy and play well, but slot corner TaRiq Bracy and junior boundary corner Clarence Lewis could hold the key to success for Notre Dame. If they play well the Irish will have a shot, if they struggle the Buckeyes are going to score ..... a lot.

NOTRE DAME SCORING DEFENSE vs. OHIO STATE SCORING OFFENSE

Advantage: Ohio State

Notre Dame's scoring defense was much like its rush defense last season. When it was on the Irish defense was outstanding, but when it was off it could be beaten. We'll quickly learn if new defensive coordinator Al Golden can bring more consistency. What he has going for him is Notre Dame brings back a whole lot of talent from last year's defense.

Notre Dame's red zone touchdown defense was outstanding last season, while the Buckeyes ranked just 45th in touchdown offense. That will be a very, very important part of this matchup. If Notre Dame can hold Ohio State to field goals the defense will have done its job.

Third down is the best good-on-good matchup of this game. Notre Dame's third down defense was outstanding with Marcus Freeman running the show, and Golden will be tasked with building on that. Ohio State didn't face many third downs last season, but when they did they were as good as any offense in the country at moving the sticks.

Turnovers were also a strength of both units last year, and Notre Dame turned four of its 25 turnovers into defensive touchdowns. If the Irish can get one of those in this game it could give them a shot.

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