What did we learn about Notre Dame’s defense in their shocking loss to Northern Illinois?
Well, this is kind of a big game.
Tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. ET, the Purdue Boilermakers will face Notre Dame for the first time in three years in a rivalry that was played yearly from 1946 to 2014. This is a home game for the Boilers and I’m sure Ross-Ade will be loud.
The Fighting Irish are coming off a shocking home loss at the hands of the Northern Illinois Huskies following a season opening win at Texas A&M.
Before we get into areas where Texas A&M had some success in what was ultimately a late Notre Dame win, let’s cover the already infamous loss to Northern Illinois.
Northern Illinois did a lot of things that helped them win time of possession en route to winning the game itself. The Huskies ran the ball exceptionally well up the middle, forcing a field position game even with a missed field goal. Notre Dame’s front seven did not look as advertised and I can see shifty Devin Mockobee and Reggie Love coming in handy with an experienced offensive line in front of them. Center Gus Hartwig will be pivotal in giving The Boilers a chance to hang 200 rushing yards on the Irish like the Huskies mustered.
Notre dame also seems to look pedestrian at times defending throws between 8-15 yards over the middle, so I’d like to see some post routes and I trust Hudson Card’s arm to deliver the ball accurately in such situations. If Purdue has success over the middle, I’d also very much appreciate some tight end drag routes with Max Klare. The drag concept is basically when two receivers run out routes, usually a wheel and a post respectively, and leave the tight end to win over the middle in man-to-man coverage.
The Huskies also did one thing several times that I’d like to see a lot of on Saturday: get the ball to a playmaker with space in the flats and trust the downfield blocking. Sometimes you’ll get three yards, sometimes you’ll get a nice chunk play, but Notre Dame’s defenders seemed to be giving up a little too much space with their assigned man at the line of scrimmage. Quick screens might be our friend this weekend.
I don’t doubt that we can have a balanced attack against Notre Dame, it’s just that (coach speak) this is a game that will certainly require Purdue to succeed in the trenches if the Boilers want to explode offensively.
Where Texas A&M succeeded? Largely in the same areas, but they did lose the game, so we’ll just accentuate here how Notre Dame’s DL looks lost with runs up the middle at times. Use your big blockers, create one gap for Mockabee, and the junior tailback can turn a two-yard gain into eight. Or take it to the house, hopefully.
This should be another field position battle a la the NIU game in which Notre Dame opened as 28.5 point favorites, I’m not expecting a high-scoring matchup, but I think Purdue might just have the right talent and right scheming to give the renewed in-state rivals some fits.