Ohio State opponent scout: Notre Dame reporter Jack Soble breaks down Fighting Irish
Ohio State-Notre Dame doesn’t happen often, but, when it does, the college football world — and sports world, really — takes notice.
The No. 6 Buckeyes are squaring off against the No. 9 Fighting Irish in South Bend Saturday night.
Lettermen Row reached out to BlueandGold.com beat writer Jack Soble to learn more about this year’s Notre Dame squad that has sprinted out to a 4-0 start in the second year under head coach Marcus Freeman.
Lettermen Row: How would you describe Notre Dame’s offensive identity at this point of the season?
BlueandGold.com Notre Dame beat writer Jack Soble: “It’s incredibly balanced. There’s no better way to say it. They’ve been really good at running the ball, they’ve been really good at passing the ball. Audric Estimé, junior running back, is having a Doak Walker-level season, I would say. I just pulled up the stats: 63 carries, 521 yards, 8.3 yards per carry. He had an 80-yarder that helped with that but, still, very high. He’s a big back, he’s a power back. He has much better speed, long speed, than you would think for a back that size. He’s just been excellent. They have three other running backs, younger guys. Freshman Jeremiyah Love, two sophomores in Gi’Bran Payne and Jadarian Price who have been really good behind Estimé. Devyn Ford, a Penn State grad transfer, they use as a pass blocker a lot.
“The line’s been great run blocking. Joe Alt, I’m sure you’ve heard of him, is a terrific left tackle. One of the best, arguably the best in the country, he’s going to be a very high first-round pick. He’s been everything they expected him to be here in Year Three and more.
“Sam Hartman has been everything they expected him to be, and then some. He has been unbelievable for Notre Dame so far. When he’s thrown 13 touchdowns, no interceptions, 11.8 yards per attempt, there’s not many flaws you can pick out in his game. Their passing attack itself is incredibly balanced. They routinely throw to and complete passes to eight-plus guys every game. There’s no real No. 1 target — if there is, it’s Jayden Thomas, and he leads with 12 receptions, but the gap between him and the second guy isn’t all that big.
“They’re a pretty heavy 12-personnel team. They’ll run two tight ends a lot with Mitchell Evans and Holden Staes, but they have the personnel to do pretty much whatever they want on offense.”
Lettermen Row: You said it. Notre Dame likes to spread the ball around. Who are the receiving targets to know this week?
Soble: “Jayden Thomas, who I mentioned, is a junior. And Jaden Greathouse is a true freshman. They’re very solid. They’ll make every catch — Thomas had one bad drop against N.C. State, but I think that was just a rough day for him. He’s incredibly reliable. Greathouse has been excellent as a true freshman. He has three receiving touchdowns already. He’ll work out of the slot. Hartman went to him on a 4th-and-3 — it was a designed play to a freshman on 4th-and-3, that’s how much they trust him right now. And then, beyond them, they got guys like Chris Tyree, who’s a converted running back. He’s the starting slot receiver now. And Tobias Merriweather is a sophomore. And they’re the explosive, big-play threats. And that’s how they’ve been used this season. Merriweather has a 75-yard touchdown and a 45-yard reception this season. Tyree has a 76-yard touchdown and a 65-yard reception.
“Beyond them, the tight ends have been involved, especially in the red zone. Holden Staes already has four touchdowns right now. He’s a sophomore. Rico Flores Jr. is another freshmen who looked outstanding in fall camp, had his best game this season last week. All those guys are going to be very involved against Ohio State, I’d say.”
Lettermen Row: What would you say are the biggest strengths and weaknesses of the Notre Dame defense?
Soble: “The secondary, specifically the cornerback group is [a strength]. Benjamin Morrison, you’ve probably heard of him, he had six picks last season. He has been everything they could have wanted and more this year. Throwing at Benjamin Morrison is a bad idea, that’s the best way to put it. Cam Hart on the other side is a big, long, physical corner. Would probably be in the NFL right now as like a third-to-fifth-round pick if he didn’t get hurt toward the end of last season to an injury that would have carried over into draft season. So he came back. He has had a good first few games as well. Very physical guy, will help a lot in run support. The safeties have been I think better than most people expected. Xavier Watts is a big name to know there. We all thought he’s gonna have a breakout season coming out of fall camp, and he’s been very good so far.
“The linebackers are solid, veteran group. Marist Liufau is the guy to watch there. He gets a lot of flack from the fan base, especially over the offseason. But this year so far, he’s been one of their two best defensive players I would say. He’s been all over the field. He’s been a lot more aggressive than we saw him last year. A lot more physical as well. So those are the strengths. The back seven is as good as I think they could want it right now.
“The one weakness I think this defense has, and I’ll choose my words carefully here. I like their defensive line. I think there are a lot of guys on there who they can rotate through and feel great about playing them and feel like they’re going to make some disruptive plays, particularly Howard Cross III, a defensive tackle who’s been great the first few games, and Javontae Jean-Baptiste, the transfer from Ohio State, he’s a starter and he’s been exactly what they need at that big defensive end position. I just don’t think they have — as of now, no one has emerged at that that one guy, like Isaiah Foskey was last year. He was a second-round pick of the Saints. He had 11 sacks two years in a row. No one’s emerged as that one guy who you’re like, we know he’s going to get multiple pressures and a sack and just beat his man clean off the ball every game.
“They have a lot of guys who are disruptive but no one who’s that alpha pass rusher that I think they need to take that step for a good defensive line to become a great defensive line. At least in part for that reason, and because of the strength of the secondary, they’ve blitzed in these first few games. They’ve blitzed a ton. If you look at the splits, I think their inside linebackers are blitzing not half [of their pass snaps] but reasonably close to that. Like Marist Liufau has 58 coverage snaps and 33 pass rush snaps. That’s a lot of blitzing for an inside backer. JD Bertrand, 36 coverage snaps, 17 pass rush snaps. So the linebackers are blitzing about a third of the pass snaps right now, and that’s working so far. Like Freeman said, they’re very much generating pressure with those blitzes. But it’s worth wondering like, is that a viable strategy against Ohio State? Do they do that against the Buckeyes and hope Morrison and Hart and Thomas Harper, the nickelback who’s had a really good start to the season, can play coverage for long enough against Harrison, Egbuka and Stover. Or do they play coverage and bet that their front four can get pressure on their own? It’s a very interesting question. I’m kind of fascinated to see how it plays out.”
Lettermen Row: Are there any other Notre Dame defensive players to keep tabs on this week?
Soble: “The one guy I haven’t mentioned yet is Rylie Mills, the three-technique defensive tackle. He was playing out of position last year at strong side defensive end, which probably wasn’t the best idea, but they didn’t really have any one else who could be as disruptive as he can. So he’s at his natural position right now. He’s put on a little bit of weight to play three technique full-time. He had an excellent fall camp, he’s been maybe not as good as we thought he might be coming out of camp so far, but he’s been pretty good. He’s been a pretty good force in the middle.
“The one defensive quirk that I should probably mention that they have — on third and a passing down, they have what they call a ‘spear’ package, which basically their three-safety dime package. They’ll pull either a defensive lineman or a linebacker from their ‘nickel’ package off the field, put on a third safety, he’ll play close the line of scrimmage. They’ll often blitz or just play man, that third safety will. They will often blitz out of this package. Really just a Cover 0 or a Cover 1 blitz. It’s really helped them get off the field on third down, especially in the red zone, which was a problem area for them last season.”
Lettermen Row: What or who has been the biggest surprise this season?
Soble: “There was concern about the running back room behind Estime heading into the year. With Tyree becoming a receiver and Logan Diggs — who led the team in carries last year — but the team pretty much said Estime’s the No. 1 running back after spring camp, and Diggs left for LSU. So there was a little bit of concern about the running backs. I think the running backs behind Estime had a combined two career carries, and they brought in Devyn Ford, and that number grew to like 60, but he hadn’t played since October. And he didn’t really have a spring camp. He left Penn State to finish his degree. So there was concern about that room, but they have really showed out in these first few games.
“Jeremiyah Love, remember that name. He’s going to be a star I think at the running back position. He’s a top 100 recruit, true freshman out of St. Louis. He’s been very good. Jadarian Price has been awesome when he’s gotten the ball as well. He was supposed to play last year, but he tore his Achilles in June, I believe. But he’s come back from that strong. They’re clearly limiting his carries: (a) because because they can’t cause Estime’s and they have all these other backs and (b) just to make sure they don’t overwork him after the Achilles. But the running back room behind Estime is I think better than than anyone outside the building could have hoped for.”
Lettermen Row: Any notable injuries heading into the matchup?
Soble: “They’re going to be healthier this week than they were last week. Last week, they were without JD Bertrand, the starting MIKE linebacker who who calls the defense. Everyone swears by his importance as the leader on that side of the ball. They need him for the Ohio State game, and he’ll be in. Starting tight end Mitchell Evans — Bertrand had a concussion, Evans also had a concussion — he’s slightly behind Bertrand in protocol, but he should play. DJ Brown, one of the starting safeties, he had some hamstring tightness in the Central Michigan game, he’ll play as well. I Gabriel Rubio, a rotational defensive tackle who I think is pretty important to their run defense more than most realize, he’s been out since the Navy game. He will start practicing for the first time this week, and, if all goes well, he should play. The one scholarship guy who they won’t have available besides a couple of them who were declared out for the season in fall camp — neither of whom were going to be starters — Eli Raridon is a tight end. He tore his ACL last season, still working his way back. The goal at first was Week 1, that didn’t happen. He’s been out since. So they’re working him back slowly. He won’t be available. The rest of the team is very healthy heading into the game.”
Lettermen Row: And, finally, what is your score prediction?
Soble: “I have Notre Dame 31, Ohio State 28. I know it’s bold, given how little Ohio State has lost since Ryan Day took over and going back before that with Urban Meyer. But there’s just something about this Notre Dame team. It has a lot to do with Hartman. There’s just a lot of confidence around this Notre Dame team. And some of that confidence kind of projects in humility when when they go through press conferences. Like they have insisted for so long, like ‘We’re not looking at Ohio State, we’re not we’re not looking at Ohio State.’ When they think the word ‘Ohio State,’ they’re like, ‘pull ourselves back think about Central Michigan.’ And they’ve done that, and they’ve looked about as convincing through four games as they possibly could have. The first half against Central Michigan a little iffy. They only entered halftime up by seven, but they shut the door in the second half pretty pretty well. There’s really not much else they could have proven in the first few weeks. And I just think the difference — McCord’s obviously talented — but the difference in quarterback experience with Hartman playing as well as he’s playing right now, I think that’s going to make the difference.”
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