Collegiate Sports

[swanlinbar]

How the Notre Dame offense can beat Alabama
ByALEX SEATS Dec 24, 8:52 PM
2


Notre Dame enters Saturday’s College Football Playoff semifinal matchup against Alabama coming off of a 20+ point loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and projected as nearly a three-touchdown underdog to the top-ranked team. A big proponent of the Crimson Tide’s favorable odds lies within their explosive offense which ranks No. 1 among Power 5 teams and No. 2 nationally in scoring offense with an average of 49.7 points per game.

Stopping a Heisman finalist in Mac Jones with a supporting cast of playmakers like running back Najee Harris and wide receiver DeVonta Smith should prove to be a tall order even for the Notre Dame defense which ranks No. 17 nationally in scoring defense (18.8 ppg) and No. 20 in total defense (335.1 yards per game). Maybe instead, the Fighting Irish should go ahead and fight fire with fire on the offensive side of the ball.

On Wednesday night, college football analyst Trevor Matich broke down how the Notre Dame offense can beat Alabama during ESPN’s bowl postgame show.

"They have to do what Florida did," Trevor Matich said. "They have to figure out a way to just keep up in a track meet, but they don't really have the passing attack that Florida has. What they really need to do is take better advantage of their big receivers and big tight ends. The size of those guys, against Clemson they didn't do that as much. And they tried to just play it straight, throw the ball down the field; it's not gonna work against Alabama just like it didn't work against Clemson. But with the big tight ends — Michael Mayer and Tommy Tremble — and some of those big wideouts, if you throw the ball up high and they're only two or three yards down the field they'll catch the ball and then drag an offender two or three yards. And it's like a run you gain five yards anyway. It's gonna be awfully difficult for them to blast through the Alabama front-seven with their injury at center. And the offensive line right now is trying to find its way because of that. But they do have the matchup advantage of that size. They need to use it more often and better than they did against Clemson."

Alabama narrowly escaped No. 11 Florida last week in a 52-46 shootout for the SEC Championship. The Gators did most of their damage through their passing attack as Kyle Trask went 26-of-40 for 408 yards and three touchdowns; tight end Kyle Pitts with wide receiver Kadarius Toney combined for 15 receptions for 282 yards and two scores. However, Florida was limited to just 54 yards rushing (2.1 yards per rush) and fumbled twice in the loss while Alabama totaled 605 yards on offense, including 418 passing and 187 rushing, and dominated the time of possession.

Notre Dame currently lays claim to the nation’s No. 21 scoring offense (35.2 ppg) and No. 22 total offense (455.2 ypg). In their second contest against Clemson, the Fighting Irish only managed 263 total yards on offense, including just 44 rushing (1.5 ypr), while the defense surrendered 541 total yards to the Tigers, including 322 passing and 219 rushing (8.1 ypr).

“I really haven't had a chance to evaluate how we would game-plan them,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said of Alabama. “Certainly I followed all of their scores and they have been a buzzsaw against everybody, so I would think that there's going to have to be some ball control, which we can play that kind of game.

“And limit big plays right? You got to make them earn it all the way down the field, so those two components will certainly…be part of the game plan. Leaning on our offensive line to have some ball control elements, and then certainly from a defensive standpoint, making sure that we limit, the big chunk plays.”

2
COMMENTS
Get the fastest scores, stats, news, LIVE videos, and more. CLICK HERE to download the CBS Sports Mobile App and get the latest on your team today.

No. 1 Alabama (11-0) takes on No. 4 Notre Dame (10-1) in the College Football Playoff Semifinals at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. ET.

Comments (2)
">247Sports