Stacking Up: How The Notre Dame Offense Matches Up vs. Georgia Tech

Breaking down how the Notre Dame offense stacks up on paper against Georgia Tech

Notre Dame will look to go 6-0 this weekend when it travels to Atlanta to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech is 2-4 and coming off back-to-back blowout victories. On paper, this is a mismatch on both sides of the ball.

Notre Dame's offense dominates Georgia Tech in just about every statistical category. (Note: rankings are out of 101 teams that have played at least one game)

Notre Dame Scoring Offense vs. Georgia Tech Scoring Defense

Advantage: Notre Dame

Notre Dame hasn't exactly been a dominant offense this season, at least not by the standard one expects from a team that is ranked in the top five. Even last weekend's 45 points against Pitt were aided by a blocked punt touchdown and three short fields thanks to picks by the Irish defense.

Notre Dame has been solid on offense, but far from spectacular. This game, however, is an opportunity for Notre Dame to get healthy on that side of the ball, as it takes on a Georgia Tech defense that has never been good this season, and is coming off an especially brutal two-game stretch.

Georgia Tech has given up an average of 57.0 defensive points per game in its last two contests, losses to Clemson (73-7) and Boston College (48-27). The Yellow Jackets gave up 540 yards per game and 7.1 yards per play in those two defeats.

Clemson and Boston College had 52 points at the half and Boston College had 34 points at the half against the Jackets.

Although Notre Dame's overall offensive output hasn't been outstanding, it's third-down offense has been a significant bright spot. Georgia Tech's defense, on the other hand, ranks 76th nationally in third-down defense.

One area to keep an eye on is the battle of turnovers. Notre Dame has not turned it over much this season, but one thing the Yellow Jackets have been quite good at on defense is forcing turnovers. Georgia Tech ranks ninth nationally with 11 forced turnovers.

Notre Dame Rush Offense vs. Georgia Tech Rush Defense

Advantage: Notre Dame

Notre Dame has one of the nation's best rushing offenses and the Georgia Tech defense has one of the nation's worst rushing defenses.

This is a major mismatch, and the Irish should absolutely dominate this part of the matchup.

Notre Dame has racked up at least 232 rushing yards in three of its five games, and even though it was held to 115 yards last weekend against Pitt, that was almost double what the Panthers allowed per game this season.

Georgia Tech, on the other hand, has given up at least 242 rushing yards per game in three of its six games. Boston College racked up 264 yards on the ground, which was surprising considering the Eagles had yet to top 100 yards on the ground in its first five games.

Expect to see running backs Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree pad their stats this weekend.

Notre Dame Pass Offense vs. Georgia Tech Pass Defense

Advantage: Notre Dame

If Notre Dame is going to genuinely compete for the ACC title, and then the national title, its pass offense must get a lot better.

This is a good week for that to happen, as the Georgia Tech pass defense has struggled all season.

Notre Dame's peripherals are solid, with the offense rankings 34th nationally in yards per pass attempt and 26th in yards per pass completion. Quarterback Ian Book has thrown just one interception all season, but he ranks 60th nationally in passer rating.

Georgia Tech gave up 500 passing yards and seven touchdown passes in its loss to Clemson, and it allowed 417 yards and four touchdowns in the loss to UCF. The Jackets have allowed at least two touchdown passes in each of its last five games.

This is a game where the Irish pass attack can, and should, get healthy.

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