Film Don't Lie | Notre Dame's Dialled in Defense vs CJ Stroud

The more I have rewatched Notre Dame’s defense against Ohio State, the more fired up I am about the back seven.

CJ Stroud might be the top pick in next year’s NFL Draft. He could be the Heisman winner this season. If he’s not the best quarterback in college football, he’s in the top-two.

For most of the night, Notre Dame made him look mortal. And to ultimately beat them, he had to put on his cape and be a superhero on a few plays that were difference-makers in the outcome of the game.

Before this game, everyone was worried about how the Irish were going to match up with a prolific Ohio State passing game. Many predicted that it wasn’t going to go well. Notre Dame’s pass defense exceeded all expectations with how they performed.

6.6 yards per attempt was the lowest in a single game of Stroud’s career. He averaged 10.1 YPA last season, first among Power 5 quarterbacks. They didn’t make anything easy for him and that’s a credit to Al Golden and the defensive staff and the players for executing at such a high-level.

I know Notre Dame fans were excited about this play because they saw a freshman like Benjamin Morrison close on this football for what would be an incompletion, but look at everything before it that led to it.

Bo Bauer (52) gets outside to take away the wheel route to the running back. Jack Kiser (24) takes over the tight end in coverage who is running down the seam. If Stroud wants to take a shot to the receiver on the outside, he’d be throwing it into double coverage as the safety is helping out over the top.

His only option was that throw he made and that also had two defenders there for it.

OSU averaged 6.8 yards after the catch per reception last season and a lot of that YAC came on crossers. Notre Dame was keenly aware of that and made sure they weren’t going to give those up easily.

This is 3rd down and that’s exactly where Stroud wants to go with the football, but it’s taken away as a two-high safety looks shifts into a cover 1 with a robber call. TaRiq Bracy (28) has the slot receiver in man to man, but even if there is separation, the safety (the robber) comes down to take that option away from Stroud.

He’s forced to go to his next read and you can see how his footwork is all messed up after not being able to throw to his first read. The ball is inaccurate and incomplete.

OSU only averaged 3.2 YAC per reception in the game.

The windows Stroud had to throw through were so tight. Cam Hart (5) takes away the back in the flat here, but he also has eyes on the quarterback and that means this ball has to be perfect to the tight end to fit this between Hart and DJ Brown (2).

It was a good throw, but the catch was going to be very difficult. The tight end couldn’t come down with it.

This was a really good play by Stroud to step up to avoid the rush by Rylie Mills (99) and Stroud wanted to throw to the slot here on the out route, but it would have had to be out of his hand before the receiver even made his break because Bracy closes on it so quickly.

It ends up getting completed, but Bracy is all over it. It’s short of the sticks and OSU had to punt. Bracy was outstanding in this game.

This play was a critical play in the game. 3rd and 3 and if Notre Dame gets OSU off the field, they get the ball back with a chance to take the lead in the 4th quarter. This was the start of that long drive that sealed the game for the Buckeyes.

Mills gets pressure again and Stroud had to escape the pocket, but look at the options before that happened. There are no good ones. Everything is covered.

Notre Dame is in a Bear front with Bauer lined up on the edge. He has this wheel route from the back and the only reason this gets converted is because Stroud went Superman with this throw rolling to his left with pressure in his face and the back did a great job of coming back to the football while bringing in a low throw right in front of the sideline.

Other offense Notre Dame faces don’t have Stroud at quarterback and don’t have the skill position talent that the Buckeyes possess. If the Irish continue to play this way in coverage, there are going to be a lot of frustrated opposing quarterbacks all season.

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