Getting Back To Basics Is Key For Notre Dame To Win An ACC Title
Notre Dame was supposed to spend last week getting ready to play Wake Forest, but when the ACC canceled the game it gave the Irish extra time to prepare for Clemson.
There are two ways to go with that extra time. One is to use it to add some additional wrinkles, look for new concepts in an attempt to throw more at your opponent. The other is to get back to basics, to use that extra time to focus more on yourself as a program.
According to Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, the Irish chose the latter.
"We spent a day of practice that had nothing to do with Clemson," Kelly said during his introductory title game press conference. "It had to do with just, I call it lab work, things that you do in the laboratory. Experiment a little bit, work on some things. So we had some lab work to do."
I'm of the opinion that this is the right way for a team like Notre Dame to handle preparation for Clemson. Notre Dame does not have the inferior roster like it has had in the past in some of these games, and it does not lack for its own matchup advantages in this contest.
Kelly has often said in the past that the goal is to focus on being Notre Dame, but that hasn't always worked. That can work against the Tigers, but not the way the Irish played in the final three games of the regular season, or even how Notre Dame played in the first win over Clemson.
Notre Dame had more turnovers in the last four games (6) than it had in the previous six games combined (4). Three of the five worst red zone performances of the season for the offense happened in the last three games.
Two of the three worst third-down performances of the season for the defense also happened in the last three games. Tackling has been spotty at best in recent games, the defense has given up a few too many big plays and the defense is coming off its worst performance of the season when it comes to stopping the run.
Notre Dame beat two ranked opponents during that stretch, and another win came over Boston College, the third best team the Irish beat this season. That says a lot about how good this Notre Dame team is, that it can have those "issues" and still win, including three wins by double digits.
But to beat Clemson in a rematch the Irish will need to be at their best. That means playing a more clean game on both sides of the ball. Taking extra time early in the Clemson prep to get back to footwork drills, proper tackling angles, turnover circuits, hand placement and being assignment correct are things the Irish focused on, and they are important to getting in a place to be at their best.
Taking the time to focus on those things before diving into Clemson specific work was a savvy coaching move, and it's an important first step to getting ready to win a conference title.
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