Coach’s Corner: Notre Dame Offense

Posted at 8:00am — 9/8/2010

Coach’s Corner: Notre Dame Offense

There will be a number of similarities between Michigan’s spread, developed by Coach Rod, and Notre Dame’s spread, developed by Coach Kelly. This may not be THE battle of the spreads on the college football landscape, but it is close enough and will be enjoyed by coaching types across the country.

Both versions of the spread will attempt to make defenses defend every inch of the field; they both will try to control the tempo and will exploit mismatches.

We will see both offenses use the quarterback read option, although it is not the base scheme at Notre Dame like it is at Michigan.

Both offenses use the empty formation, but this is featured more in Coach Kelly’s offense. We will have a bigger breakdown about how Coach Kelly has used empty in the past.

There will also be many pronounced differences between the two systems: Notre Dame/Coach Kelly will pass the ball more, in normal game situations (discounting must-pass come from behind situations), around 60% pass to 40% run.

Notre Dame will use a tight end lined off the offensive tackle more than Michigan will/does. Notre Dame will also feature a tight end shovel pass that can be very effective at slowing down the bull rush.

Coach Kelly also likes to use the 80/90/sprint out series with a quick passing game designed off of it. It will be imperative that Michigan’s defensive ends maintain contain and limit the quarterback’s (Crist) ability to get to the perimeter.

A quarterback who can successful break contain on the rollouts puts a great stress on any defense.

The key Notre Dame personnel include a potential early NFL draft pick in Michael Floyd, a very good tight end in Randolph, and Notre Dame’s top running back from 2009, speedy Armando Allen. Allen is as good or better than UConn’s Todman and he is a candidate to play on Sunday.

Notre Dame did lose a top quarterback, wide receiver, and a few offensive linemen to the draft.

This will be a much bigger challenge than UConn was for the Michigan defense. Coach Kelly will try and exploit our inexperienced defensive backfield unlike UConn. Watch for Notre Dame to look at both Floyd and Randolph early and often to test the Michigan secondary. This team will go for the home run and should provide answers as to the status of the Michigan secondary.

Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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