Stacking Up: Notre Dame Offense vs. Duke Defense

Stacking Up: Notre Dame Offense vs. Duke Defense

Duke Athletics

No. 15 Notre Dame (6-2) heads to Durham, N.C. this weekend to take on the Duke Blue Devils (4-4). We kick off our coverage of the matchup with a look at how the Notre Dame offense stacks up on paper against the Blue Devil defense

Notre Dame Scoring Offense vs. Duke Scoring Defense

Advantage: Even

Notre Dame’s struggles on offense continued last weekend when the Irish scored just 21 points in a come-from-behind victory over Virginia Tech. There was a time when scoring that many points and racking up 447 yards against a Virginia Tech defense would be considered a quality performance, but against the current Hokie defense it was a disappointment.

The national rankings for Notre Dame continue to decline as the Irish face more and more Power 5 defenses. In six games against Power 5 opponents, Notre Dame has averaged just 24.2 points per game and has topped at least 30 offensive points just twice. In those contests the Irish offense is averaging just 361 yards per game and 5.2 yards per play.

Despite going just 3-6 in the scoring zone against Virginia Tech, the Irish offense remains one of the nation’s best red zone offenses. Until this past weekend’s victory over Virginia Tech, Notre Dame was perfect in the red zone and led the nation in red zone touchdown offense. Even with the rough red zone game against Virginia Tech the Irish still rank fifth.

The big concern for Notre Dame from the win over Virginia Tech was its three turnovers. Two came in the red zone and another was on a pass that was caught at the 2-yard line.

Duke has been a bit up-and-down on defense this season, but when the Blue Devils are on they are quite good on that side of the ball. Its scoring defense numbers are also a bit skewed by its own offense.

Blue Devil opponents have four scoring drives of fewer than ten yards and eight scoring drives of fewer than 30 yards, including four touchdown drives. 

In a 48-14 win over Duke, Virginia had touchdown drives of 40 yards, 34 yards and 21 yards, had field drives of eight yards and five yards, and returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Pittsburgh had touchdown drives of 19 and seven yards, had a field goal drive of nine yards and returned an interception for a touchdown.

If not for those struggles the Blue Devils would likely be closer to a Top 25 scoring defense.

Notre Dame Rush Offense vs. Duke Rush Defense

Advantage: Duke

Notre Dame’s ground game has not been nearly as good as it should be this season, with the Irish ranking No. 72 nationally in rushing yards per game and No. 58 in yards per attempt through eight games.

It seemed the Irish were figuring things out when it played Virginia, Bowling Green and USC in consecutive games. During that stretch the Irish averaged 232.7 rushing yards per game and 5.9 yards per attempt. Running back Tony Jones Jr. averaged 136.3 yards per game during that stretch, but Jones went down in the first half of the loss to Michigan and missed the Virginia Tech game.

During its last two contests, the Irish offense has averaged just 76.5 yards per game and an abysmal 2.2 yards per attempt. Right guard Tommy Kraemer went down for the season during the loss to Michigan and right tackle Robert Hainsey was lost for the year in the win over Virginia Tech. 

Notre Dame has been held to less than 160 rushing yards in five of its eight games.

Duke has been a steady run defense this fall. North Carolina rushed for 205 yards against the Blue Devils two weeks ago (its most recent game), which marked the first time all season that Duke allowed an opponent to top 175 yards on the ground.

Its overall ranking of No. 54 nationally doesn’t show how solid Duke has been against the run this season. What Duke lacks is that one dominant game where it held an opponent to incredibly low numbers, like when Notre Dame held Virginia to just four yards on the ground.

Not a single Duke opponent has averaged more than 4.8 yards per attempt in a game. For context, Notre Dame’s run defense has allowed that to happen three times this season, and three Irish opponents have topped 200 yards rushing.

Duke ranks 34th in the nation in tackles for loss, averaging 6.9 per game.

Notre Dame Pass Offense vs. Duke Pass Defense

Advantage: Even

Like its overall scoring numbers, Notre Dame’s pass game stats have continued to drop as the Irish play more Power 5 opponents. Notre Dame ranks in the Top 50 in every category, but only ranks in the Top 25 in touchdowns and interceptions. The problem is 12 of those 20 touchdown throws came in just two games against New Mexico and Bowling Green.

In six games against Power 5 opponents, quarterback Ian Book has completed just 55.6-percent of his passes while averaging only 5.9 yards per attempt and 10.6 yards per completion. In those games he’s thrown seven touchdowns and has been picked off four times.

Those numbers are well below average.

The positive for Notre Dame has been the one-two punch of Chase Claypool at wide receiver and Cole Kmet at tight end. Both present matchup problems thanks to their size/athleticism combination, and when Book is on his game that duo is incredibly difficult to defend.

Alabama ripped Duke apart in the season opener, passing for 367 yards and four touchdown passes. Through its first three games, Duke allowed six touchdown passes and didn’t pick off a single pass. In its last five games, Duke has as many interceptions (7) as it does touchdown passes (7).

Since the opener against the Crimson Tide, the Blue Devils have limited opposing FBS quarterbacks to just a 51.6-percent completion rate and 6.4 yards per attempt. Duke has given up just 195.8 passing yards per game during that stretch.

Duke has been especially good in recent games, holding Georgia Tech, Virginia and North Carolina’s quarterbacks to just a 43.8-percent completion rate while passing for just 195.3 yards per game. Duke has allowed three touchdown passes while picking off four passes during that stretch.

Junior end Victor Dimukeje is Duke’s top pass rusher, registering 6.5 sacks and 38 total pressures. Defensive tackle Chris Rumph II is a talented interior pass rusher that has 27 pressures and three sacks. 

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