Notre Dame Offensive Line Must Thrive Against NC State

The Notre Dame offensive line has been a bit up and down in 2023, but it must be on top of its game against NC State

There is no doubt that Notre Dame will face a much tougher test on Saturday when it takes on NC State than it has faced in the first two weeks of the season. For the Notre Dame offense, however, the Irish are facing one of the toughest tests it will face all season when it squares off against Tony Gibson's outstanding defensive unit.

Over the last two seasons Gibson has built NC State into one of the best defensive teams in the ACC, if not the entire country. NC State has ranked 11th and 14th in scoring defense the last two seasons, it ranked 19th in total defense each of the last two seasons, and the Wolfpack ranked 22nd and 16th in yards per play in 2022 and 2021.

It will certainly be a test for first year offensive coordinator Gerad Parker, who gets to go toe-to-toe against one of the defensive coordinators in college football.

Arguably no group will face as tough of a test as will the Irish offensive line. NC State has a talented front six in its 3-3-5 defense, but the challenge will be both physical and mental. 

Defensive linemen CJ Clark, Davin Vann and Travali Price are talented players, and they were disruptive in the season opening win over UConn. NC State has two new starters at linebacker, but Payton Wilson is an outstanding player with NFL talent. 

On top of squaring off against a talented group of box defenders, how Gibson uses that group puts a lot of pressure on offensive lines, literally and figuratively. NC State is a hard team to run the football on and it's a very disruptive defense. They put offensive lines in tough positions and they are constantly on the attack.

NC State has ranked 11th and 23rd in rush defense the last two seasons, and Gibson's defense ranked 16th in yards allowed per rush last fall. NC State has also finished 17th in tackles for loss in two of the last three seasons, including the 2022 campaign. This disruption has helped NC State keep offenses in tough pass game spots, which has fueled a pass defense that ranked 19th and 7th in yards allowed per pass attempt the last two seasons.

Last season NC State held six of its 13 opponents to less than 80 rushing yards, and two opponents (Wake Forest, Boston College) had fewer than 20 rushing yards. NC State also had at least nine tackles for loss in four of its last five games of the 2022 season.

The challenge for the Notre Dame offensive line is enormous, and they must be on top of their game. Joe Rudolph's unit was inconsistent at best against Tennessee State, allowing six tackles for loss, and each game in the run game. After a sharp performance in the opener against Navy, the line had too many assignment mistakes and they didn't finish well enough in the run game. TSU forced three tackles for loss in the run game on the first two drives of the game alone.

Two games, two drastically different performances from the Irish line. The rushing numbers looked good, with Notre Dame racking up 221 rushing yards, but that was more about how well the backs played and how the Irish were far superior from a talent standpoint.

If the line doesn't play better against NC State it will be tough for the offense to put the ball into the end zone. 

Gibson uses his defensive line to pressure and attack all game long. They will shoot gaps, they will run stunts and they will look to get offensive linemen to turn their hops, which opens up the linebacker run throughs. Their aggressiveness can also make it harder for offensive linemen who aren't working well together, aren't moving their feet and aren't physical enough to get off the first level double teams. That allows the NC State linebackers to get into the backfield and rack up a ton of negative plays.

All three of NC State's starting linebackers had at least 12.5 tackles for loss. NC State allows their linebackers to play fast, and the push from the defensive line allows them to quickly get into the backfield. Notre Dame's blockers have to get a push against an athletic but smallish NC State defensive line. They'll need to also play fast, work well to the second level and they absolutely have to be more assignment correct against the Wolfpack.

That was an issue for guards Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler last season. Spindler was physical, but he had a few too many assignment mistakes last week, and Coogan seemed to struggle with some of the quickness of the TSU box defenders. That's concerning when looking forward to the NC State matchup. Right tackle Blake Fisher was outstanding in the opener against Navy, but he was far less effective against the Tigers. He and Spindler will have to be on top of their game against NC State, and center Zeke Correll needs to thrive in his matchup against Clark.

Moving the ball effectively against NC State, which will result in touchdowns (and equals wins), requires the offense to have a lot of first and second down success, especially in the run game.

NC State puts a lot of pressure on the middle of the offensive line, so the guards have to be on top of their game. When the right side of the line (Fisher, Spindler) has been on its game they are very, very good. Consistency has been the key through two games. Notre Dame will struggle to have the success it needs if the Fisher-Spindler doesn't play at a high level. Of course, if they do play at a high level it's going to be a long day for the Wolfpack defense.

The good news for Notre Dame is the defense it will face on Saturday is very similar to what it faced in the opener against Navy. As good as NC State was at stopping the run in 2022, Navy was even better. The Midshipmen are also an aggressive, blitz heavy 3-3-5 defense. Although NC State isn't quite as blitz heavy, the structure and philosophy is very similar to what we saw from Navy.

Notre Dame ripped Navy up on the ground, rushing for 191 yards while racking up 6.0 yards per carry. The last time Navy allowed an opponent to go for at least 6.0 yards per carry on the ground was back in 2020. They pushed Navy around, but the ran plan was effective, the linemen played with great timing, they got to the second level quite well and they were assignment correct.

The line took a step back in most of those areas against TSU, so they'll need to correct that this weekend. If they do, Notre Dame will have a chance to thrive in this matchup.

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