Stacking Up The Notre Dame Offense vs BYU
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Notre Dame's offense has sputtered for much of the 2022 season, but the unit had a breakout against North Carolina. The Irish had by far their highest point, yards and yards per play totals of the season. Of course, North Carolina has been pretty bad on defense all season, and the 16th-ranked BYU Cougars will present a much different test.
BYU has been a bit up and down on defense this season, but it's an experienced group with talent that can cause problems. If Notre Dame's offense has turned the corner they will thrive in this matchup, but if they revert to their old ways (pre-UNC) this could be a tough matchup.
Let's look at how the Irish offense stacks up against the Cougar defense.
Notre Dame Rush Offense vs BYU Rush Defense
Advantage: Notre Dame
The Irish aren't getting the advantage here just because of the positives it showed against North Carolina, even with the entire season in context they still hold the on paper advantage.
Notre Dame was expected to be a strong rushing team this season due to its talented and deep backfield, and a talented offensive line led by one of the best line coaches in the business. It took a couple of games to get going, but we saw flashes of the line being a strong run blocking unit against California and they kicked the door down while rushing for 287 yards against North Carolina.
The three-headed monster of Chris Tyree, Audric Estime and Logan Diggs dominated against UNC, combining for 264 rushing yards and 6.3 yards per carry. Quarterback Drew Pyne isn't the running threat Tyler Buchner was, but he can move the chains if the opportunity arrives.
BYU has struggled stopping the run for two straight seasons, with the Cougars giving up 159.8 yards per game on the ground in 2022 and 157.1 in 2021. In nine games against Power 5 teams during that stretch, the BYU defense has allowed 180.1 yards per game and it has allowed 219.5 rushing yards per game in its four losses.
The Cougars have some size and their linebackers are talented, so they can have their strong moments in the ground game, but if Notre Dame plays their game this should be an area they dominate.
Notre Dame Pass Offense vs BYU Pass Defense
Advantage: BYU
BYU has been much better as a pass defense the last two seasons despite not being an overly effective pass rushing team. BYU ranks 83rd in sacks per game in 2022 and had just 20 sacks a season ago.
The Cougars have yet to allow an opponent to top 227 yards this season, and only one team (Oregon) top 190 yards through the air. Part of that has been the opposition's ability to run the ball, but the secondary is an underrated part of this defense, and their linebackers are quite good in coverage.
Four of BYU's opponents this season have also been held to less than 6.0 yards per pass attempt. Cornerback Kaleb Hayes is the top cover player, and the Cougars have the length and athleticism to run with tight ends.
Notre Dame's pass game was brutally bad the first three games of the season. Right now, the only success it had was an outstanding performance against a really bad North Carolina defense. So who is Notre Dame as a passing team? We'll find out against the Cougars, that's for sure!
Sophomore receiver Lorenzo Styles finally showed his playmaking ability against UNC, and the Irish need that to continue in order to take some of the pressure off star tight end Michael Mayer. The Irish backs also combined for 88 receiving yards per game in its two wins.
If Pyne can build on his performance against the Tar Heels the Irish will have a chance to win this matchup, but on paper up to this point it is advantage Cougars.
Notre Dame Scoring Offense vs BYU Scoring Defense
Advantage: Even
There are aspects to this matchup that favor BYU and aspects that favor Notre Dame. Combine that with the split in run-pass advantage, it's hard to see who has the advantage on paper.
This is where we will learn if Notre Dame has turned the corner on offense. The Irish are one of the worst third-down offenses in the country, but they are coming off their best performance of the season against the Tar Heels, converting 8-14 for a 57.1% success rate.
One area where Notre Dame has been outstanding this season is turning their red zone trips into scores, and more specifically touchdowns. That's an area where the BYU defense has been below average, but Notre Dame ranks 10th in red zone touchdown percentage.
The issue, however, has been Notre Dame's inability to get into the red zone. While the Irish rank 10th in red zone touchdown rate, the Irish rank 119th in red zone opportunities. That ties into the inability to move the chains on third down.
Notre Dame got into the red zone just seven times in the first three games and averaged just 18.3 points per game. Against North Carolina the Irish got into the red zone five times and low and behold the Irish scored 45 points.
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