Improving Red Zone Success And Creativity Vital To Notre Dame's Success

Notre Dame's bye week couldn't have come at a better point in the season. After rattling off 16-straight wins, all by double digits, the Irish dropped their first Top 10 test since Week 3 of the 2025 season to BYU on the road 28-24. The defense could have, and should have, been able to do more, but the offense wasn't able to capitalize on the opportunities they had either. 

Unfortunately, some of the issues we saw last Saturday night started to showcase themselves earlier in the schedule, but since the talent gap between Notre Dame compared to Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina and Stanford weren't as close as the gap between the Irish and Cougars, some of those issues were as easy to see earlier on in the season. One of their primary issues is red zone creativity and success. 

As we saw against BYU, settling for field goals in a Top 10 matchup could eventually be the dagger if your defense isn't able to hold serve. But these red zone issues have been an issue in South Bend ever since Riley Leonard's departure after the 2024 season. Getting back to being a consistent and creative unit inside of the 20 yard lines has to be top-of-mind for offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock and the Fighting Irish offense. 

Their red zone offense really consists of three concepts. First is running the ball in between the tackles, mixing up GT-counter or inside zone. The second way they look to attack teams is on the perimeter using one of two different plays. The first is lining up two wide receivers to either side of the field with Jordan Faison being in the slot, and using the outside receiver to set a pick for Faison to get open on a speed out. 

The other way they attack the perimeter is utilizing the running back out of the backfield on a slide route, ideally to the field side and not the boundary, and hitting one of Nolan James Jr. or Jonas Walton in the flat. It's simplistic, but that's really the extent of what they do inside of the low scoring zone outside of the occasional wrinkle that ever finds its way back into the rotation. 

As frustrating as it's been, there's definitely changes and improvements that can be made to the Notre Dame red zone offense. First and foremost, they need to do a better job of utilizing all of the limited space they already have to work with. Too many times, we've seen plays run to the boundary and in an area with already limited space, you're putting your offense in a bind. 

Second, there's been virtually no use of the back of the end zone. Everything they look to do is from the goal line to about five yards of depth in the end zone. Stop limiting the already tight quarters you have to work with and use the back of the end zone. That leads me to my third point. 

It's extremely difficult to attack the back of the end zone when your tight end room is a virtual non-factor inside of the five yard line outside of being used as run blockers. Notre Dame has three prime red zone targets at tight end. Cooper Flanagan is 6-6, 253-pounds, James Flanigan is 6-6, 250-pounds and freshman Ian Premer is 6-6, 240-pounds.

The only routine targets we've seen to a tight end in the red zone has been to 6-3, 250-pound Jack Larsen who is a good athlete, but when he's covered by BYU's tallest linebacker, Isaiah Glasker, who is 6-5, is that really the smartest schematic decision? Having said that, Larsen was open on the play and CJ Carr needs to deliver a better pass, but all encompassing, the tight ends need to be utilized more in the red zone. 

Here's the bad news: nothing they do now is going to change the outcome of the BYU game. But the good news: these are very, very easy changes to make schematically and personnel wise. Notre Dame still has all of its goals in front of them. Beat Miami, handle business the rest of the regular season and you're in the 2026 College Football Playoffs. But if they're going to live to the standard, beat the Hurricanes and compete for a title, then scoring in the red zone and improving the creativity inside of the 20-yard line is imperative. 

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