The advanced stats box score shows a comfortable Notre Dame victory, while the scoreboard and viewing experience against Virginia Tech were extremely unsettling for most of the game. The Irish may have discovered a new offensive identity under Tyler Buchner with rushing efficiency strengths resembling 2020, only with a clear weakness on passing downs where [...]
An inefficient Notre Dame offense reliant on explosive plays through the air met up with an elite passing defense, and Cincinnati's early turnovers and passing attack late held off the Irish for a massive win. While the game was full of self-inflicted errors at home for ND, Cincinnati wasn't perfect either, squandering many scoring chances [...]
Notre Dame averaged 3.6 yards per play on offense, was stuffed on more than a third of its runs, and had the same number of offensive scoring chances as Wisconsin. Jack Coan was injured and Tyler Buchner unavailable, and the Irish averaged 4.2 yards per pass attempt to trail Graham Mertz who threw for 5.7. [...]
The Irish still haven't looked dominant this season, but Notre Dame destroyed Purdue in the explosiveness battle to cement a third straight awkward win. The offense survived ghastly efficiency numbers against a bad Boilermaker defense, including many self-inflicted wounds in the passing game. Defensively, Marcus Freeman and company finally limited big plays and made Jeff [...]
Two straight weeks, two straight heart attacks, 2-0. Notre Dame nearly suffered a massive upset against Toledo despite dominating the efficiency battle, as several concerning storylines from Tallahassee followed the Irish home. For a second straight week, the defense dominated long stretches of the game and wreaked tons of havoc, yet surrendered huge plays to [...]
Notre Dame was dominating the efficiency game through 40 minutes, with Florida State surviving on a few massive plays. Then the strategy shifted, the Noles started putting long drives together, and suddenly the Irish were in a coin flip game. Below let's dive into the good (Jack Coan's debut and the passing game), the bad [...]
With the season around the corner, it's time to check in on Notre Dame's opponents with some advanced stats projections. Which teams pose the biggest threats to the Irish, who are currently favored in 11 of 12 games? Where are the weak points, and what might the computers be missing? If you want to dive [...]
Our annual preseason list of the top 25 Notre Dame football players for 2021 is live! As always this is a collaborative effort with the staff as we discuss and debate who will have the biggest impact on the upcoming season with fall camp underway. How is the balance between offensive and defensive players? Which [...]
The Irish pass defense in 2020 was solid against the soft underbelly of the ACC, spectacular for a half against Sam Howell in Chapel Hill, and was exploited by playoff-level attacks three times. Diving into the numbers shows a unit that declined relative to past seasons, even if excluding the Clemson and Alabama games. Passing [...]
This offseason, we’ll be breaking down the performance of each unit – passing and rushing offense and defense – with a look ahead to 2021 and what this means for the Irish. It's time to examine the run defense, which has been remarkably consistent and solid in the Elko/Lea era. The Notre Dame defense has [...]
This offseason we’ll be breaking down the performance of each unit – passing and rushing offense and defense – with a look ahead to 2021 and what this means for the Irish. Next is the Notre Dame passing game, which overachieved in Ian Book's final year thanks to a mini-leap at QB, a veteran receiving [...]
This offseason we'll be breaking down the performance of each unit - passing and rushing offense and defense - with a look ahead to 2021 and what this means for the Irish. First up is the Notre Dame run game, which brings back a loaded running back room but is working through a complete overhaul [...]
The offseason is a long, dreary landscape. It's cold, February signing day isn't even exciting anymore, and spring practice is a mystery. Still, to keep the lights on at the content factories across this nation, hot takes must be created and burned to keep us warm. This year, however, the pollution from these myths and [...]
When a team is hovering around a three-touchdown underdog, a lot of match-up and scheme questions go out the window in favor of simple ones - How do the Irish stay competitive with a historic Alabama offense? What would the path to an upset victory even look like? What moves give Clark Lea and Tommy [...]
It wasn't the cleanest performance, but a sparkling performance from Ian Book and timely stops by the Notre Dame defense prevented Boston College from posing a real threat. While the Eagles surprisingly created seven scoring chances, they settled for early field goals while the Irish offense piled up touchdowns early (when not fumbling for dramatic [...]
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