A poster on 247 watched some ND film and typed up a great review of what he observed. I thought it was worth posting here. He did a great job. It's not pay material and I thought it might spur some good talk about the game.

One thing you'll notice if you've read any of the ND boards is that our amateur analysts make their analysts look like they have the football IQ of an orangutang. You won't find anything as in depth or objective on their boards. It's amateur hour over there.

quote:
So I have been watching film on ND all day, doing a little research on their position players and overall tendencies (offensively and defensively).

Defense:

First thing that really jumped out to me was their defensive size in the front 7. They of course run a 3-4 base defense like ourselves. Their 3 down lineman are very big and hold the point extremely well. They rotate 5-6 six guys and the overall size avg. is 300+. The "starters" are 305, 306 on the ends and the nose is about 325. The smallest guys out of the group is 285 and 5/6 is over 300lbs. Again they hold the point very well resulting in small running lanes for the LBs to clean up the tackles.

LBs:

All of their LBs are very similar in stature to that of Trey Depriest (6'2-6'3 240lbs+). They make plays by not getting out of position and are very disciplined when it comes to stopping the run by filling gaps. Te'o is by far the best out of the group due to sheer instincts. He breaks on the ball in coverage and can also peel off coverage to stop a draw, sweep, etc.

Play calling:

From what I gathered they would probably be put in the ultra conservative category with their blitz calling. They play a lot cover 3 with a LB in coverage usually on a TE that is an eligible receiver. They disguise very well and will also run combo coverages when playing zone. I am not a coach by any means and dont know the terminology but they rarely run a total man defense with their LBs 1-1 in coverage. They play a soft zone up the middle but bump and run on the outside with safety help over the top. Again they are so big up on the front they can hold their point to free up the LBs in every facet of the game.

Offensive success vs ND defense:

Several teams over the season have had great success but are not able to sustain that success mainly due to a couple of things. Over confidence and greed has been the killers for these offenses. ND will allow you to plink and plunk the ball on short to intermediate passing routes due to the "soft zone" with LBs. What they do is 100% take away the deep ball. On their behalf its a very good combination because they dont want to adjust coverage with LBs allowing them get out of position to stop the run. The short and intermediate routes allow the LBs to stay around the line to shut down the run. The ace formation, which is our base offense, doesnt bode well with how they like to play defense. In general we will be playing right into the mouth of the defense. They have problems defending the Wr tunnel screens when the offense is trips out left or right. They also have problems with quick slants due to the soft zone. On the flip side running the ball out of the shotgun is very difficult due to the lanes opening slower. We will have to be very balanced in our attack but when we run the ball we have to pound it. No finesse running, just find the hole and get 3-5 yards and line up for the next play. The next key is probably the biggest against ND's defense and that is changing the tempo from fast to slow on offense. Allowing them not to substitute on defense causes them huge matchup problems with coverages. Lets remember they are big in the front but not fast at all. Another tendency I noticed is that even though they dont like to blitz much at all, they will when a QB is picking them apart with the quick routes to try to catch the offense on the slower developing passing routes for a big sack. Again these offenses get greedy when they have seen success in the short passing game. When ND gets the sack in early downs you can forget getting the 3rd and long. The key to this game is staying 3rd and short so we always have options with the run or the pass and not getting our hand caught in the cookie jar trying to stretch the defense on early downs. ND hasnt seen an offense quite like ours, not saying our offense is the best by a long shot but the physicality that we play with will be a great matchup. We will test the waters early no doubt but AJ will have to play well above avg for us to have consistent success. He will not have to have the game of his life but he has to protect the ball like he has all year.

ND offensive players:

Again the O-line averages about 300 across the board so they are not small by any means but they are no where near some of the SEC O-lines either. Gholson is a true dual threat QB about the same size as the Wallace kid from Auburn only much better (I had to poke at them somewhere in here). Anyways they have two experienced RBs in Riddick and Woods. The Wrs are fair at best with avg size but they use the heck out of the big TE's.

The offense itself:

Its multiple to say the least but one constant is that 90% of the time Gholson takes the snaps from the shotgun. They do a little bit of everything from play action with misdirection roll outs to the option read. Gholson is a much better passer when they get him out of the pocket so containment will be a key but dont over pursue or he can leave the defense in the dust with his scrambling ability. The whole offense though is a run first concept with play action over the top much like our own. The RBs are not the big bruisers as they are more finesse backs but when the hole opens they have the speed to go the distance. They usually have 2 TEs on the field, one blocking and one slipping out for big gains. Even though the offense works out of the shotgun the backs get downhill and try to in a hurry. Reminds me of a Malzahn/Morris type run game. Going back to the QB, Gholson is still a very raw passer at best but has the ability to make big plays with his arm when he needs to do so. He doesnt go through all of his progressions most of the time and simply doesnt trust the pocket probably like he should.

Offensive tendencies:

Again run first oriented offense. The backs get downhill with very small creases. They run a shuffle sweep a lot of the times but they are very slow developing. On third down 7+ look for Gholson to take a passing play and flat out keep the ball to pick up the first down, or a straight up QB draw in some instances. They do not have a mind boggling offense by any means but they do execute more times than none.

Alabama defense vs ND offesne:

I will leave this one to the best in the business in Saban/Smart.

Overall:

No way NDs offense is close to UGA's but they are solid by all means. If we can put up a couple of scores and a couple of FGs we should be able to pull this one out. The ND defense is pretty stout so its going to be a challenge. I think 21pts on either side will be the winner of this match up. Sorry it was so long but add to it if you like, thanks.