Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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CHALK TALK BRYAN DRISKELL do that in its 17-14 victory over OSU Nov. 21, but that is very rare. Notre Dame's goal in the Fiesta Bowl should be to limit points, and force enough punts and field goals to give the Irish offense an opportunity to perform. In order to do that the Notre Dame coaching staff must put together a game plan that attacks the offense and gives its own players an opportunity to play sound football. Here are the principles to slowing down the Buckeye offense: WIN UP FRONT: The Buckeyes go too fast and are too diverse to be out- schemed. The key is attacking the OSU offensive line and winning the battle up front. Michigan State beat OSU up front and held the Buckeyes to 132 total yards and 14 points. A week later, Ohio State whipped Michigan up front, and the result was 369 rushing yards and 42 points in a win. Look for the Irish to turn All-Amer- icans Sheldon Day and Jaylon Smith loose on the Buckeye guards. PLAY WITH DISCIPLINE: There is a great deal of carryover between defending the triple option — which Notre Dame faced and handled twice this season — and defending OSU's offense. Assign- ment discipline, execution and playing sound football are vital to success. Defenders get in trouble when they try to follow the ball, which is very dif- ficult to do against the backfield mo- tions and misdirection the Buckeyes like to employ. Doing one's job snap after snap, and not chasing the ball, will be of the utmost importance for the Irish defense. CREATE NEGATIVES: Just like the triple option, OSU's offense is far less effec- tive when it gets in heavy pass situ- ations, which makes creating nega- tives on early downs vitally important. When teams have been able to slow the Buckeyes down, they are tackling the ball carriers in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage with greater fre- quency. Minnesota held Ohio State to 28 points due in large part to racking up seven tackles for loss and four sacks. TACKLE WELL: Notre Dame has not been a strong tackling team, some- thing that must change against OSU. The Buckeyes thrive on big plays, which often come on a run or quick pass after a defender misses a tackle in space. This is especially true on the back end; Notre Dame's safeties must play at a high level. Forcing Ohio State to grind out long drives to score in- creases Notre Dame's chances at suc- cess. FORCE THE BALL DOWNFIELD: Michigan State and Minnesota were aggressive with their cornerbacks, which helped limit the screen game, created incom- pletions in the quick pass game and forced Ohio State to throw the ball downfield. The Buckeyes like to go deep, but on their own terms. Forcing them to go downfield in the pass game limits the efficiency of the pass game, and the offense as a whole. ✦ Bryan Driskell has been a football analyst for Blue & Gold Illustrated since April 2015. He can be reached at bdriskell@blueandgold.com.