Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IRISH ANALYTICS BRIAN FREMEAU T he 10‑2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish will take on the 11‑1 Ohio State Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1 in what may be the most antici‑ pated non‑College Football Playoff bowl game of the postseason. The two teams are more closely ranked in the Fremeau Efficiency In‑ dex (FEI) — a college football rating system based on opponent‑adjusted drive efficiency — than any other bowl game this year. The Irish rank No. 6 and the Buckeyes are No. 7 in my pre‑ bowl ratings, but the difference be‑ tween the two teams overall is practi‑ cally negligible. That said, the two teams have very different statistical profiles when we break them down. The Irish played a significantly more challenging sched‑ ule, but Ohio State was significantly more dominant. Six of Ohio State's 11 victories came by 25 or more points, whereas Notre Dame ended up with only two such wins (38‑3 versus Texas Sept. 5 and 62‑27 over UMass Sept. 26). That kind of frequent single‑game dominance was one of the elite team characteristics I discussed back in August as a goal for the Irish. Notre Dame was capable of posting a couple more dominant performances in No‑ vember games against overmatched Wake Forest and Boston College, but it didn't. The Irish did face twice as many top‑50 opponents as Ohio State and posted twice as many victories against that competition level as well. Notre Dame's offense outpaces Ohio State's offense by a fair margin. Com‑ ing into the Fiesta Bowl, the Irish rank among the top 10 teams nationally in available yards (59 percent of yards earned from starting field position to end zone), explosive drives (27 percent of drives earn at least 10 yards per play) and value drives (53 percent of drives reach the opponent's 30‑yard line). Despite the return of most of the weapons from last year 's highly ef‑ ficient national championship offense, Ohio State was significantly less pro‑ ductive this season and struggled to move the ball often. The Buckeyes earned less than 50 percent of avail‑ Notre Dame And Ohio State Are Evenly Matched Junior safety Vonn Bell (No. 11) is part of a Buckeyes defense that was among the best in the nation this season. PHOTO COURTESY OHIO STATE