What To Look For: #2 Notre Dame vs #19 North Carolina

A breakdown of what I'm looking for early in the game to know if Notre Dame is ready to roll

The second-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish and 19th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels square off today in a matchup between two of the best teams from the ACC. For Notre Dame, this is the biggest potential road block between it and a perfect record heading into the ACC title game.

North Carolina is an explosive offense, and Notre Dame will have to be on top of its game to win this tough road game.

We’ll know early if the Irish are ready to do just that. Here are three things I’m looking for on offense and defense that will tell me the Irish are ready to roll.

OFFENSE

1. New-look offensive line is showing no drop off — The biggest concern, and greatest unknown, heading into this game is uncertainty up front. Notre Dame is down two starters (Jarrett Patterson, Tommy Kraemer) and it will look a lot different against the Tar Heels. I’ve also been told by sources that right guard Joshua Lugg might not be at full strength.

There is certainly enough going on up front to make you sweat, and if that unit can ease my concerns - and those of the Notre Dame fans watching on TV - early in the game it will give the offense the fuel it needs to control this matchup.

What does that look like? For one, it will mean the Irish are getting good early movement in the run game and opening up holes for the backs. It also means the line is protecting quarterback Ian Book, limiting mistakes and picking up the aggressive UNC stunts and blitzes.

2. Ian Book is playing with confidence and spreading the ball around — If Book plays as well in this game as he did the previous two the Irish will be extremely hard to beat. That’s true no matter who Notre Dame plays. As good as Book was the last two games, he still needs to prove he can string together more games like that. That, as you know, is what the great quarterbacks do.

Notre Dame needs Book to play confidently, show poise, be a playmaker and spread the ball around effectively. I want to see Book being calm in the pocket, going through his progressions and being willing to aggressively go to his second and third reads, which we saw in the last two games. I want to see Book letting the routes work through before he takes off, and when he takes off he needs to make plays.

Finally, Book needs to e wiling to attack UNC down the field. The Tar Heels are going to try to stop the run and take away the quick throws. If Book can beat the blitz with his arm and attack effectively down the field he’ll put up monster numbers.

3. Irish move the ball effectively out of the gate — Notre Dame needs a fast start, which I talked about in the keys to the game. You can get the full reasoning for this HERE.

DEFENSE

1. Front four is dominating — The front four holds the ultimate key to Notre Dame being able to slow down the UNC offense. North Carolina’s veteran offensive line is sound and has paved the way for the Tar Heels to average 233.5 yards per game on the ground. Early in the game I want to see a Notre Dame front four that is beating the UNC blockers to the point of attack, I want to see a Notre Dame front four that is pushing the UNC blockers back and I want to see a Notre Dame front four that does not allow the UNC backs to get momentum going downhill.

If the Notre Dame front four is shutting down the UNC ground attack that is a big plus, but they have to do more. The front four needs to get pressure on quarterback Sam Howell and not allow him to get into rhythm. If Howell gets comfortable and gets into rhythm the offense will still be quite dangerous.

No unit on the Irish defense can have a bigger impact on this game, and it needs to start early.

2. Irish get early stops — Notre Dame needs to make stops early in the game and not allow the Tar Heels to roll up a lot of early points. UNC has outscored opponents 97-37 in the first quarter this season, and the Irish cannot allow that continue.

That means playing well on first and second down and putting the Heels in third-and-long situations, it means covering well on third-down (and getting pressure), it means hopefully getting a turnover or two, and it means when UNC does get into the red zone the defense must force field goals and not allow touchdowns.

3. Tackling is good — One of the biggest concerns for me in this matchup is that the game plan is sound and the Irish players are where they need to be, but the tackling allows the Tar Heels to make plays after contact. Notre Dame needs to make UNC earn everything it gets, and the poor tackling we saw from the Irish against Clemson cannot happen in this game.

To comment below be sure to sign up for a FREE Disqus account, which you can get HERE.

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! Click on the link below for more

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Parler: @BryanDriskell
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter