Keys to Victory For The Notre Dame Offense vs BYU

The 2nd-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the 8th-ranked BYU Cougars square off later tonight in one of the biggest games of the college football season. Notre Dame needs this win to boost its playoff resume, and it would also give the Irish their first road win over a Top 10 team since 2012. 

If Notre Dame is going to win the game the offense will need to be on top of its game. For that to happen the Irish must thrive in five key areas.

1) Start Fast - You know what key number one is, and it's especially important in this matchup. The BYU crowd will be fired up at kickoff, and if the Notre Dame offense sputters early it will only fire that crowd up even more. It also puts the Irish defense in a tough spot as it looks to slow down the BYU offense. Of course, if Notre Dame comes out hot it would not only quiet the crowd, but it would then put the BYU offense in position to play keep up with Notre Dame.

Notre Dame's offensive line and quarterback CJ Carr need to lead the fast start. Winning on the road against a team as good as BYU is made a lot easier if you can dominate in the trenches. That's no easy task against the veteran BYU front, but that's what is demanded of the Irish offense. Opening up run lanes for the backs and giving Carr time to throw are musts early on for the Irish, who will look to control the clock and put points on the board early in the game.

For Carr, getting into an early rhythm is a must. BYU is going to be aggressive coming at him with pressures and it will ask its secondary to man up on the Irish wideouts. Carr needs to get a quick early read on what BYU is throwing at him, make smart decisions and be precise with the football. If Carr can come out hot he'll put the Irish offense in position to roll in this game.

2) Early Down Success Is Key - When Notre Dame is rolling on offense it excels on early downs. Notre Dame was outstanding running the ball on early downs the last two games, racking up 374 rushing yards, averaging 7.2 yards per attempt and posting a 73.1-percent efficiency rate on first and second down. Early down success in the ground game allows Notre Dame to stay on schedule, to move the chains and will quickly get the offense into the scoring zone. 

The pass game has not been as consistent on early downs, but they'll need to get that going against BYU. Carr coming out hot, especially on early downs, will help protect the run game, force BYU to spread out is defense and will get BYU on its heels.

3) Mix Up The Run Game - Notre Dame has done well in its most recent games mixing up its zone looks (Midzone, Outside Zone) with its Gap and Man schemes (Counter, Duo). That must continue against BYU. There are looks that BYU shows that fit better against the Gap schemes, but BYU will also be more prepared for those looks than North Carolina was. Some of their looks also set up better for the zone looks. Against a team this multiple, aggressive and talented you have to be prepared for some negatives and stuffs, but having a diverse run game means the Irish should also be able to gash BYU at times if they are able to catch them in the right look.

Part of success in the run game is also mixing up how they get to certain run game looks. Self scouting the recent performance and finding wrinkles that go against that would be a good idea for the Irish staff. Find some ways with formations and motions/shifts to gain a numbers or leverage advantage, which some teams have been able to do the last couple of seasons.

Of course, at the end of the day the success of the run game will be about how well the line plays, but putting them in the best position possible with your looks and calls is important as well.

4) Be Patient and Creative In The Pass Game - BYU will mix up its coverage looks as well, and I'm curious to see what they do against Notre Dame. One strategy is to play more off coverage, force Notre Dame into throwing its static quick game routes and then drive on the ball to limit gains. They could also choose to play a more tight man coverage and force the Irish receivers to beat them down the field. I think we'll see a little bit of both, which requires Notre Dame to have a game plan that is both patient and creative.

The patience is when BYU is in their softer looks, which require Carr to be patient letting the routes develop and going through his progressions. Part of patience is also about being willing to take the check downs and quick/shallow throws and not forcing balls down the field. When the moment comes for a big shot, take it, but don't force it against this secondary. 

The creativity will go a long way towards determining of Notre Dame can get some chunk plays. Dive into BYU's film this season and last season and you'll see some opportunities for big plays. If your WR can win off the line there's certainly a chance for big plays on the base concepts that Notre Dame likes to run, but they have to be mixed in with some more diverse looks. Post-snap switch routes, running back routes out of the backfield (out of dropbacks and bootlegs), stack/bunch/cluster formations and running some more high-low concepts are all things that can result in chunk plays that can help Carr carve up the BYU defense.

5) Protect CJ Carr - None of that will matter if the offensive line can't give Carr time to throw. BYU will mix up its pressures, especially on third down. They'll show heavy pressure and drop, they'll bring players from depth and they'll look to create confusion by the quarterback. It was a zone fire interception by a linebacker that helped BYU get some momentum against Arizona. 

Protecting Carr is also a coaching issue, by making sure that Carr isn't always just standing behind the center all day, giving him some well called screens to attack the pressures and having some built in hots if BYU is really trying to heat him up.

---------

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter