Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: ARMY 36 NOV. 23, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE ARMY RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE Remember Navy week, when the story was, " This isn't your father 's triple-option team?" When Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman pointed out that the Midshipmen are dangerous from shotgun and throw the ball more and better than ever before? When the typical narrative of "You have to make your possessions count" was quickly debunked by Navy's run-and-gun, big play- hunting scheme? Yeah, forget all that this week. Army is your father's triple-option team. The Black Knights are a quarterback-running, orbit-motioning, time of possession-dominating, mean, lean, Wing-T machine. Their scheme is traditional, but they do it better than anyone in recent memory. Army leads the nation in rushing yards per game (334.9), which is a given. What makes the Black Knights special is their efficiency. They're third in the country with 6.2 yards per carry. The more impressive number, though, might be their stuff rate (percentage of plays in which they lose yards or gain zero). It is 8.8 percent, according to Sports Info Solutions, which ranks No. 1 in the nation by more than 4 percent over No. 2 (New Mexico) and more than 6 percent over No. 3 (Penn State). Any discussion of Army's run game begins and ends with senior quarterback Bryson Daily, who has 174 carries for 1,062 yards (6.1 yards per carry) and 21 touchdowns this year. But it also has sophomore running back Kanye Udoh, who has 128 carries for 856 yards (6.7 yards per rush) and 9 touchdowns. Junior slot back Noah Short has been a marvelous pitch man, with a whopping 10.7 yards per rush. As far as the blocking goes, the Black Knights are strong across the board but particularly on the edges. Senior left tackle Connor Finucane and senior right tackle Lucas Scott have earned Pro Football Focus run-blocking grades of 84.7 and 86.5, respectively. As is the case with any triple-option team, eye discipline is going to be huge for the Irish. They let Navy signal-caller Blake Horvath break off two big ones including a touchdown, but those were the gun runs, not the Wing-T stuff. The Midshipmen got theirs (when they weren't fumbling) but Notre Dame did a solid job with their option game. However, a big part of that was the sturdiness and havoc-creation of graduate student defensive tackle Howard Cross III. He appears likely to miss this game with an ankle sprain. If he's out, Army has the edge. Advantage: Army ARMY PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE Army passes less than half as much as Navy does, but Daily can throw. He has completed 29 of 51 passes for 644 yards with 7 touchdowns and 1 interception. He's also been sacked only once, but both the sack and the pick came in Army's most recent game, a 14-3 win over North Texas Nov. 9. The quick game is not in Daily's repertoire, as he averages more than 22 yards per completion. Most of his reads are extremely simple, because defenses respect the run for obvious reasons. Sophomore running back Kanye Udoh has totaled 128 carries for 856 yards (6.7 yards per rush) and 9 touchdowns this season. PHOTO COURTESY ARMY ATHLETICS On PaPer