Stacking Up: The Notre Dame Defense Has The Edge Over The Florida State Offense

A look at how the Notre Dame defense stacks up against the Florida State offense

Notre Dame has played outstanding football on defense the last three seasons, but Sunday is the first chance for us to see what the Marcus Freeman version of this defense will look like. Notre Dame squares off against against a young but talented Florida State squad. 

Let's take a look at how the defense stacks up against the Seminole offense.

NOTRE DAME RUSH DEFENSE vs. FSU RUSH OFFENSE

Advantage: Even

Despite ranking 104th nationally in tackles for loss allowed, and 112th in sacks allowed, which means a lot of negative yards, Florida State still rushed or almost 200 yards per game and ranked 23rd nationally in yards per rush. Florida State running backs Jashaun Corbin and Lawrance Toafili averaged 6.4 yards per rush last season, and quarterback Jordan Travis led the team in rushing yards and averaged 5.8 yards per attempt despite being sacked more often than most quarterbacks.

If Florida State's young offensive line can limit the number of negatives it allowed last season it could become a very potent ground attack. Speaking of that young offensive line, Florida State has three redshirt freshmen in the starting lineup, but this isn't your typical group of redshirt freshmen. In normal seasons a redshirt freshman is a player that either didn't play the prior season or played four or fewer games before redshirting. Florida State's three redshirt freshmen combined for 19 starts, and all three made at least five starts.

That means despite being young the trio actually has quite a bit of experience for a group of second year players.

This should be an intriguing matchup because Florida State's line struggled in many ways last season, but they were good at getting movement in the run game. Notre Dame is coming off its best rush defense season since 2012, but Cincinnati's 2020 run defense under Freeman was even better.

Can the Irish front four be disruptive and make stops behind the line? Can Drew White get back on track after an inconsistent 2020 campaign? Will JD Bertrand be able to grow up quickly in his first start? Those are the three questions I have about the Notre Dame run defense from a personnel standpoint. If the answers are positive this is a matchup Notre Dame should win.

The other aspect is Notre Dame being assignment correct. First-game mistakes against this Florida State team could result in big runs from the backs and quarterbacks. If Notre Dame can play a clean game and limit big gains it should be able to make stops and keep the Seminoles in check.

NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE vs. FSU PASS OFFENSE

Advantage: Notre Dame

Notre Dame saw a big drop off in pass defense last season, going from third in pass yards allowed per attempt in 2019 and second in 2018 to 47th in 2020. Notre Dame also went from fifth and sixth in pass efficiency defense to 34th. 

The Irish will look to improve despite having two new starters in the secondary and an overall unproven group outside of Kyle Hamilton at safety. Houston Griffith, a former Florida State commit, struggled against the Noles last season so he'll be looking to make up for that this season. This is our first chance to see what kind of value he can bring to the pass defense, and I'm most intrigued of the matchup of Griffith against tight end Camren McDonald and the FSU backs. Florida State head coach Mike Norvell loves throwing to backs, something Notre Dame learned first-hand going all the way back to a matchup against Arizona State back in 2014.

Florida State will test the Notre Dame cornerbacks on the perimeter and this will be our first chance to see Cam Hart at cornerback. We'll learn a lot about him right away, and you can expect the Seminoles to test him early and often.

This game ultimately comes down to the pass rush. Florida State was an abysmal pass blocking unit last season. Notre Dame is expected to have an outstanding defensive line this season, and if that's true the unit should dominate on Sunday night. If they don't this game will be a lot closer than expected, and it could be a bad sign for the Irish moving forward.

NOTRE DAME SCORING DEFENSE vs. FSU SCORING OFFENSE

Advantage: Notre Dame

Yes, Florida State will be much improved on offense this season. Yes, the Seminoles have some talent, especially in the backfield. But the reality is this is still a matchup Notre Dame should dominate. Notre Dame has better players across the board, so it comes down to execution, and playing good situational football.

That means being strong on third-down, like the defense was last season. That means forcing Florida State to go for three instead of giving up touchdowns when the Seminoles get into the red zone. It means making stops should the Irish offense turn the ball over like it did last season.

I'm also curious to see if Notre Dame can be more disruptive when it comes to turnovers, another areas where the Irish have an on-paper advantage over Florida State.

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