BYU and Notre Dame are set to do battle in a clash for the ages in Provo on Saturday. This game has everything any college football fan could want. College Gameday on campus. A beautiful autumn setting. A top 10 matchup with major College Football Playoff implications. Perhaps the two biggest religiously-affiliated programs in college football. It’s BYU and Notre Dame under the lights at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The Irish’s first visit to Provo since 2004.
We exchanged questions with the Notre Dame
site from SB Nation, “One Foot Down.” Patrick Sullivan was kind enough to answer questions and engage in some friendly banter ahead of the big showdown.
Which individual matchup will be most important to the outcome, and which Notre Dame player should BYU fans be watching closely?
Sullivan, One Foot Down: Not sure this really qualifies as an “individual” matchup, but I’m going to say it anyway — the most important matchup, in my humble opinion, is the Notre Dame offensive line and what kind of push they can get in the running game against this BYU defensive front.
I’m not telling you guys anything you don’t already know when I say this Cougars defense is really, really good. They’re 11th in the country in yards per play allowed, T-8th in scoring defense, and top-20 in yards per carry allowed. The Irish, meanwhile, have been up and down a bit in terms of their effectiveness running the football. They’ve improved in the last few weeks thanks to the emergence of true freshman Jonaz Walton (362 yards and 2 TDs on 8.4 yards per carry over the last 3 games), although I’ll readily admit they haven’t exactly been facing a slew of tough defenses when that stretch included both Purdue and Stanford.
But even with that improvement, ND is just 38th in the country in yards per carry, as they’ve really struggled to make up for the losses of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price to the NFL while also still working on getting a talented offensive line full of new starters (or guys starting at new positions) to start to really jell. They started the year primarily playing some nice backs who can do good and productive things (Nolan James, Aneyas Williams), but the explosiveness and game-breaking ability has been missing with those two shouldering the workload. Walton may be the key to fixing that (he had touchdown runs of 97 and 40 yards last weekend), but he’s a true freshman going up against the best defense that he and this offensive line have seen this year. The only comparable rushing defense they’ve faced was Wisconsin (24th nationally in yards per carry allowed), and the Badgers held ND to just 3.5 YPC and 111 yards on the ground, saved only by Williams finding success in the second half as the Wisconsin defense got worn down.
So, all of that is a long-winded way of saying that I think that matchup could be pivotal for this game. Even though CJ Carr is REALLY good, the Irish passing game is limited a bit by some questions at receiver, and so a somewhat productive rushing attack is likely still a necessity for Notre Dame to find a ton of offensive success. I would say watching Walton closely will be important, but also I will say James can be sneaky-effective and annoying in terms of finding a way to get 5-7 yards when he should have been stuffed, so those two guys are the ones to watch behind that line.
What’s the biggest strength of this Notre Dame team, and what has impressed you most about its performance this season?
Sullivan, One Foot Down: Speaking of run defense, the biggest strength for this Irish team actually appears to be their run defense thus far! Coming into the season, we all assumed it would be the secondary and the pass defense, considering they’ve been top-10 in basically every important metric there for the last 3 seasons. But with starting safety Brauntae Johnson out and a few lapses where they gave up a big passing play, they haven’t quite been as stifling as expected. Note, though, that assuming he returns from the concussion that kept him out against Stanford, cornerback Leonard Moore IS as good as advertised, his counterpart DJ McKinney has been excellent as well, and the Irish still have some really strong safety play thanks to Adon Shuler and Luke Talich.
Still, where ND’s defense has shined is in shutting down opponents’ rushing attacks completely. The Irish are 3rd nationally in yards per carry allowed (2.1) and giving up less than 50 yards per game on the ground. Opponents have rushed for exactly one touchdown on them in six games! Now, again, I don’t want to go crazy here in propping this performance up — none of ND’s first 6 opponents are in the top 50 nationally in yards per carry (although you could argue facing the Irish influenced that a bit). But even so, they’re doing exactly what you would want an elite front seven to do against bad rushing attacks – bottling them up, stuffing them, and forcing opponents to try to beat Leonard Moore and Co. through the air. Not a bad strategy.
So that’s been most impressive to me – we knew the secondary was great and the linebackers were elite athletes, but we were all a little unsure about the defensive line and how strong the Irish would be against the run. But they have a deep DT rotation, great athletes at defensive end in Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young, and the linebackers (Drayk Bowen, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa) and safeties (Shuler especially) have been heat-seeking missiles in run support. Considering they’re down a starter at DT and the aforementioned Johnson at safety, plus with Viliamu-Asa missing some time, it’s really been a lights-out run defense performance to-date for Chris Ash’s defense in his second year running things.
Is this a national title or bust season for the Irish? What would be an acceptable end-of-season result?
Sullivan, One Foot Down: National title or bust is extreme, even for our psychotic fan base. So many weird things can happen with 18-24-year-olds playing this crazy game in a single-elimination tournament, and God knows how playoff matchups shake out can always throw off a team’s potential to win a title if they just get a bad draw.
With that said, I would say it’s “Semifinals Appearance or Bust,” at least for me personally. Considering the schedule being VERY favorable and knowing how much talent/coaching the Irish brought back (plus what they added in the portal and in blue-chip freshmen), making the Playoff is the bare minimum bar to clear for this season. A failure to do so after what they did last year would be a massive failure by Marcus Freeman, considering the window they have with a QB like CJ Carr. Who knows when they will be able to pair an elite defense with a potential 1st round pick QB again, no matter how well they recruit and spend in NIL.
But only making the Playoffs isn’t enough for me – again, with the team they have, and knowing what they accomplished two years ago, I don’t think it’s crazy to expect them to make it to the Final Four, either by earning a bye and then winning a quarterfinals matchup at a neutral site, or by winning a first round game hopefully at home and then winning that neutral site game in the next round.
Of course, I’m not saying they definitely will accomplish that. I was born in 1991, so with my memory of the program basically starting with Bob Davie, I’ve been conditioned to be let down by this program time and again – my senior year was the 2012 season that ended with the beatdown from Alabama and then the Manti Te’o scandal breaking soon after. But I DO think Marcus Freeman is different than the Brian Kellies (Kellys?) and Charlie Weises and Tyrone Willinghams of the world, and that this program has never been better positioned to finally win its first title in almost 40 years. We will just see if they get enough luck/breaks for that to come to fruition.
What part of BYU do you think has the Notre Dame coaching staff’s attention the most?
Sullivan, One Foot Down: I have to think it’s Bear Bachmeier, especially considering there will be no LJ Martin to have to deal with on Saturday night. The Irish faced a pretty strong running QB in Colton Joseph in the opener against Wisconsin and did a great job containing him, but he isn’t nearly the passing threat that Bachmeier is, and so I am really interested to see if they mostly try to spy him with a linebacker and hope to get a good pass rush with just the front four so everyone else can take away big chunk plays through the air, or if they at least occasionally try to send a blitz and hope Bachmeier can’t escape and make them pay.
BYU has been EXCELLENT at not allowing sacks or tackles for loss, so I’m really intrigued to see how Chris Ash calls this game, because Bachmeier could do some real damage through the air if he has too much time back there. Not everyone in this ND secondary is Leonard Moore, and some of them have been burned deep several times over the last couple years. I like hearing that Bachmeier is inconsistent throwing deep, but if he can connect once or twice, with the home crowd going nuts and momentum shifting to BYU, it could really change this game.
The Irish defense limiting the damage Bachmeier and co. can do on the ground, though, would also change the game – because I’m not positive BYU’s passing game is dynamic enough to win this thing without some support from an effective, clock-eating ground game.
How do Notre Dame fans view BYU as a program and the brief history the two programs share? Both are religiously affiliated schools and at one time, BYU was independent like ND is
Sullivan, One Foot Down: I think the Irish faithful largely see BYU as our Mormon brethren within this wild and crazy college football landscape. It was a bummer to see the Cougars have to capitulate to the all-powerful conference realignment game and join the Big 12, but I think ND fans can always appreciate a college in a cold place founded upon faith and ultimately building out some super competitive athletic programs despite how different they are from a lot of the “football factory” schools out there today.
And we certainly appreciate the history of BYU and some of their great teams and players, although you’ll touch a nerve if you bring up Ty Detmer and whether he should have won the Heisman over Rocket Ismail.
But overall, I think we like and respect BYU and the Cougars also earned a ton of points by adding the Irish to the schedule on short notice after USC took the coward’s way out of the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football history. We appreciate that BYU isn’t afraid to play a top program outside of conference play, no matter at what point during the season the game takes place.
Thoughts on making BYU and Notre Dame a yearly affair either in place of the USC game or in addition to it in the future?
Sullivan, One Foot Down: I obviously wanted the USC issue to be fixed so they can be on the schedule annually, as they always have been. So I’m glad that appears to have happened.
But I do think BYU makes for a really competitive, fun annual opponent who’s also usually going to be pretty relevant/resume-building in most seasons, unlike some other regular ND opponents who have fallen off completely and provide no value whatsoever on the schedule (*cough* Stanford *cough*). With conference realignment and playoff expansion making that harder and harder to get on the schedule for an independent, it would be great to rely on BYU as one of those bedrocks of the schedule in addition to re-adding USC.
So yes, I think Notre Dame should definitely add BYU to the schedule on an annual basis going forward, especially because I would love to make it to Provo for a game and won’t be able to make the trip this time around. That’s a college football fan bucket-list type experience.
Official game prediction and score
Sullivan, One Foot Down: I can’t stand how overconfident some ND fans are being about this one – even if they end up being right, going into this one I just don’t think it’s clear and obvious that the Irish will fully dominate or control the game. It’s going to be a raucous road environment, at night, against a team with a good defense and some really nice pieces on offense, even without Martin. But I do think Martin’s absence will limit the BYU offense a lot in terms of consistent production, meaning they will need to rely on big plays or on Bachmeier to constantly move the chains with his feet (and probably take a beating in the process).
Meanwhile, although I think the ND offense will struggle plenty, especially in the first half, I think they’ll find success with stringing together drives led by James/Walton on the ground and by Carr finding Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse through the air for key 3rd down conversions. They’ll stall out a few times and settle for field goals, but ultimately I think their athletes on defense and their strength on offense will win the game, but NOT cover. I could see this one making ND fans nervous into the final minutes, but with the Irish pulling it out with a key stop or turnover late to ice it.
Let’s say Notre Dame 23, BYU 20
