What To Look For When Notre Dame Takes On BYU

Breaking down what to look for to know that Notre Dame is ready to handle BYU

Notre Dame (2-2) and 16th-ranked BYU (4-1) kick off in less than an hour. As we've said all week, this is a huge game for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish need a win over the Cougars if they are going to salvage the 2022 season, get back into the Top 25 and stay on track for a major bowl game.

Beating BYU won't be easy, as the Cougars are 7-2 the last two seasons against Power 5 opponents, including a win over reigning Big 12 champ Baylor back in September. Notre Dame is more than capable of winning this game, but the Irish will need to be on top of their game.

We should know early on if Notre Dame has the game plan, the focus and the execution ability to play at their best against BYU. Here is what I'll be looking for early on to know that Notre Dame is ready to go.

NOTRE DAME OFFENSE

Offensive Line Is Getting A Push - The biggest key for Notre Dame in this game is the lines controlling the action, and that's especially true for the Irish offense. I have a hard time seeing Notre Dame winning this contest of the offensive line doesn't build on what we've seen from it the last six quarters. That means giving quarterback Drew Pyne protection, but even more important is the line creating room to work in the run game. If the line can come out early, be assignment correct and move BYU off the ball the Irish offense will gash BYU, move the chains and it will set up some big play opportunities.

Pyne Looks Calm And Accurate - Speaking of Pyne, he's coming off the best game of his career, but it was against a bad North Carolina defense that gave up 290 passing yards in the first half of today's game against Miami. That doesn't take away from what Pyne did, but he has to repeat that against the Cougars, who are much better on defense. He needs to play calm, show poise in the pocket, make good decisions and be accurate with his throws. If he can do that the Irish offense should roll. If he doesn't the offense will have a hard time moving the chains enough to win the game.

Early Down Success - Speaking of moving the chains, Notre Dame needs to be much better on first and second down than it has for much of the season. The third down offense has been mostly bad because the first down offense hasn't been nearly good enough. If the Irish come out early and establish the ground attack and if Pyne is correct and accurate on early downs the offense will move the ball and put up a lot of points. Notre Dame has been quite good in the red zone this season, ranking 10th nationally in red zone touchdown rate. The problem, however, has been getting into the red zone. That's why this point is so important.

Wideouts Are Getting Room - If Notre Dame is going to win the wideouts don't necessarily need to have their best game of the season, but they need to make enough plays to keep the Cougar defense from keying on the ground attack. That means the wideouts need to be better off the line, be crisp with their routes and play with a far greater sense of urgency than we've seen all season. If they do in fact play their best game of the season Noter Dame should roll.

NOTRE DAME DEFENSE

Handle The Mis-Direction/Double Moves - BYU is going to come out early and try to slow down the Notre Dame front four. They will do it with mis-direction runs, jet sweeps, perimeter screens and double moves in the pass game. BYU isn't an overly athletic or explosive offense, but they are experienced, well coached and savvy. If you aren't disciplined this is an offense that can eat you up, but if Notre Dame can be poised, be smart and eliminate the bad mistakes they should be able to keep BYU in check.

Defensive Line Is Getting A Push - Of course, a big part of slowing BYU down also includes the Notre Dame front four continuing its brilliant play from the previous two weeks. Losing Jacob Lacey this week was a blow, but this is a veteran unit and they need to put their feelings aside, focus on executing and come out and play passionate, dominant football. If the defensive line takes this game over the way it did in the second half against California and against UNC the Irish will have a great chance at shutting down the run game and putting pressure on BYU quarterback Jaren Hall.

Secondary Is Ready To Play - This could be part of point number one, but it's worth mentioning. BYU does a great job using scheme, mis-direction, double moves, post-snap switches and movement to create mistakes from defenses. That requires defenses to play disciplined football and smart football while also playing fast football. Notre Dame's secondary has been arguably the biggest strength of the defense this season, and they have to be at their best against BYU and eliminate the mistakes that allowed for the big plays against UNC.

Early Stops - Confidence is a big part of the game, and if Notre Dame can come out and make early stops it builds up the confidence for the Irish on both sides of the ball. It also creates doubt in BYU's mind and allows what I expect to be a pro-Notre Dame crowd to get wild early.

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