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Notre Dame Football
What to Watch vs Miami (OH)
September 29, 2017
3,270
I have to admit, it was weird watching so much of Chuck Martin's team in preparation for this game. I saw a lot of things in his current offense that reminded me of what Notre Dame looked like on that side of the ball in the early Brian Kelly years.
It was a little like watching a video of your former self, but wearing something you couldn't remember ever wearing. They are in a lot of ways this strange combination of Grand Valley State, Notre Dame, and Miami (OH) rolled into one.
What is definitely different is the personnel. Though they haven't been prolific on offense in terms of putting up yards or points this season, they've got some talent that Notre Dame will have to deal with.
It all starts at quarterback with Gus Ragland.
You know if the first thing that comes to mind with a quarterback is the word "winner", then he must be a pretty good player. That is what always comes up when talking about Ragland. He's earned the right to be described as a winner because he has been the catalyst for Martin to turn this program around.
After an 0-6 start to begin last season, Ragland was inserted at quarterback and the Redhawks have proceeded to go 8-3 since then. Over that time period he has a ridiculous 25 to 3 touchdown to interception ratio and was almost perfect in the 4th quarter of games last season. He completed 81.5% of his passes with 11.56 yards per attempt and a quarterback rating of 232.3. I think they call that clutch.
So far this season, he hasn't been as lights out in the 4th quarter to put it mildly. He's completed only 48.6% of his throws for 7.06 YPA and a rating of 111.6. That's a pretty significant drop off and a big reason why they haven't been able to pull out close wins in their two losses.
That's a long way of saying that they need Ragland to be great in order for them to have any chance of winning this game. He has to play like he did to close out last season and that was against obviously lesser competition than he'll face against the Irish.
He's a very good athlete that is a threat as a runner. Notre Dame will have to account for him, but not as much as they did last week with Michigan State's Brian Lewerke. What is most important against Ragland is to keep him in the pocket.
He likes to drift out the pocket even when the pressure might not exactly be right in his face.
Mike Elston doesn't want to take away the freedom of his defensive ends to take an inside move if it's there, but he also has to preach for them to stay disciplined this week because Ragland might just roll right into them for a sack.
When most Notre Dame fans think of Martin and his offense, they are thinking of 50/50 balls. If they get man coverage on the outside, he's always been pro throwing the fade and letting his guys go up and get it.
I've seen a lot of that from Miami this season and they are able to have some success because of their receivers. They've got some big targets who can high point the football.
I think that's part of the reason why Ragland's completion percentage is down this season. He's had to throw a bunch of these types of passes. Sometimes his receivers can make a great catch, but it's not going to be an all the time thing.
They don't have many dynamic receivers that are going to win in man coverage. Part of throwing these passes is having the trust to throw them when the receiver is essentially covered. That's less of an issue when it comes to targeting junior James Gardner.
I would say he is the best pro prospect on Miami's offense. He is 6'4" 216 pounds and is a tough match-up for any corner. He is strong enough to bully people and you can see here that he, for lack of a better term, throws Central Michigan's best corner out of the way to gain separation.
Was this offensive pass interference? Yup, but they didn't call it. He's going to play very physical and attempt to draw penalties the other way too. They have some other weapons on offense as well like slot/running back Maurice Thomas, but in my opinion if they keep Ragland within the pocket and do a good job against Gardner, then the Notre Dame defense should have a very good day.
That may come off as pretty harsh, but it's true. The Miami defense hasn't really been tested yet. They've played three bad FBS offenses and an FCS opponent. They've also played zero Power 5 schools. So while statistically they have been doing well, it's tough to say how good they really are.
I expect to hear linebacker DeAndre Montgomery's name quite a bit on Saturday. He is a strong tackler and his length is an asset in coverage. I think they may choose to blitz him a bit more in this game and a bit more in general. They aren't a heavy blitz team, but with only 3 sacks on the season, I'm not sure they aren't going to take more chances to try and cause some disruption.
I think we could see things like this Cross Dog on 3rd down from them.
I wouldn't be surprised to see their safeties involved more as blitzers too. They have two good ones in Joshua Allen and Tony Reid. Here's Reid coming off the edge against Central Michigan.
When you're going against a team with better talent, you tend to take more risks than you typically would. They will have to play that way on defense because they don't have the athletes to win playing straight up against the Irish.
Allen and Reid should both be very active against the run as well. I don't imagine there will be many times when Notre Dame doesn't see a lot of Redhawks in the box. They need those additional players to try and shut down the running game because they should be over-matched up front.
I like defensive end Doug Costin and he has a knack for batting down passes at the line, but they are undersized up front. Senior defensive tackle Ikeem Allen has a nice first step and has flashed some ability as a pass rusher, but he is only 270 pounds. Nate Trawick beside him is also not the biggest guy.
They all play really hard, but I think it will tough for their front to not wear down if Notre Dame is consistently pounding the football inside.
This is going to be be maybe the most interesting thing to watch all game when the Notre Dame offense is on the field. Senior cornerback Heath Harding is a baller. He could play for just about any program in the nation. He may even be a day two pick in the NFL Draft next spring. I like just about everything about his game.
He's a violent tackler and incredibly instinctive versus the short passing game. He may be a bit short at 5'10", but he plays big. He's simply a playmaker.
I don't think the other corner, DeAndre Daniels, is a bad player. It's just that Harding is an elite player. I'm sure he'll see some balls thrown in his direction, but I'm guessing there won't be a lot. He's had nine career interceptions. It would be smart to limit his opportunities to add his tenth.
I think they are going to target Daniels quite a bit to avoid Harding. I also expect quite a bit of play-action if they are playing aggressive with their safeties to stop the run.
It's clear Notre Dame has the talent edge on both sides of the ball in this game. The most interesting thing will be watching how they are going to use that edge to win on both sides of the ball.
It was a little like watching a video of your former self, but wearing something you couldn't remember ever wearing. They are in a lot of ways this strange combination of Grand Valley State, Notre Dame, and Miami (OH) rolled into one.
What is definitely different is the personnel. Though they haven't been prolific on offense in terms of putting up yards or points this season, they've got some talent that Notre Dame will have to deal with.
It all starts at quarterback with Gus Ragland.
Containing Ragland
You know if the first thing that comes to mind with a quarterback is the word "winner", then he must be a pretty good player. That is what always comes up when talking about Ragland. He's earned the right to be described as a winner because he has been the catalyst for Martin to turn this program around.
After an 0-6 start to begin last season, Ragland was inserted at quarterback and the Redhawks have proceeded to go 8-3 since then. Over that time period he has a ridiculous 25 to 3 touchdown to interception ratio and was almost perfect in the 4th quarter of games last season. He completed 81.5% of his passes with 11.56 yards per attempt and a quarterback rating of 232.3. I think they call that clutch.
So far this season, he hasn't been as lights out in the 4th quarter to put it mildly. He's completed only 48.6% of his throws for 7.06 YPA and a rating of 111.6. That's a pretty significant drop off and a big reason why they haven't been able to pull out close wins in their two losses.
That's a long way of saying that they need Ragland to be great in order for them to have any chance of winning this game. He has to play like he did to close out last season and that was against obviously lesser competition than he'll face against the Irish.
He's a very good athlete that is a threat as a runner. Notre Dame will have to account for him, but not as much as they did last week with Michigan State's Brian Lewerke. What is most important against Ragland is to keep him in the pocket.
He likes to drift out the pocket even when the pressure might not exactly be right in his face.
Mike Elston doesn't want to take away the freedom of his defensive ends to take an inside move if it's there, but he also has to preach for them to stay disciplined this week because Ragland might just roll right into them for a sack.
Big receivers and 50/50 balls
When most Notre Dame fans think of Martin and his offense, they are thinking of 50/50 balls. If they get man coverage on the outside, he's always been pro throwing the fade and letting his guys go up and get it.
I've seen a lot of that from Miami this season and they are able to have some success because of their receivers. They've got some big targets who can high point the football.
I think that's part of the reason why Ragland's completion percentage is down this season. He's had to throw a bunch of these types of passes. Sometimes his receivers can make a great catch, but it's not going to be an all the time thing.
They don't have many dynamic receivers that are going to win in man coverage. Part of throwing these passes is having the trust to throw them when the receiver is essentially covered. That's less of an issue when it comes to targeting junior James Gardner.
I would say he is the best pro prospect on Miami's offense. He is 6'4" 216 pounds and is a tough match-up for any corner. He is strong enough to bully people and you can see here that he, for lack of a better term, throws Central Michigan's best corner out of the way to gain separation.
Was this offensive pass interference? Yup, but they didn't call it. He's going to play very physical and attempt to draw penalties the other way too. They have some other weapons on offense as well like slot/running back Maurice Thomas, but in my opinion if they keep Ragland within the pocket and do a good job against Gardner, then the Notre Dame defense should have a very good day.
Defense Ain't Played Nobody
That may come off as pretty harsh, but it's true. The Miami defense hasn't really been tested yet. They've played three bad FBS offenses and an FCS opponent. They've also played zero Power 5 schools. So while statistically they have been doing well, it's tough to say how good they really are.
I expect to hear linebacker DeAndre Montgomery's name quite a bit on Saturday. He is a strong tackler and his length is an asset in coverage. I think they may choose to blitz him a bit more in this game and a bit more in general. They aren't a heavy blitz team, but with only 3 sacks on the season, I'm not sure they aren't going to take more chances to try and cause some disruption.
I think we could see things like this Cross Dog on 3rd down from them.
I wouldn't be surprised to see their safeties involved more as blitzers too. They have two good ones in Joshua Allen and Tony Reid. Here's Reid coming off the edge against Central Michigan.
When you're going against a team with better talent, you tend to take more risks than you typically would. They will have to play that way on defense because they don't have the athletes to win playing straight up against the Irish.
Allen and Reid should both be very active against the run as well. I don't imagine there will be many times when Notre Dame doesn't see a lot of Redhawks in the box. They need those additional players to try and shut down the running game because they should be over-matched up front.
I like defensive end Doug Costin and he has a knack for batting down passes at the line, but they are undersized up front. Senior defensive tackle Ikeem Allen has a nice first step and has flashed some ability as a pass rusher, but he is only 270 pounds. Nate Trawick beside him is also not the biggest guy.
They all play really hard, but I think it will tough for their front to not wear down if Notre Dame is consistently pounding the football inside.
Avoiding Harding
This is going to be be maybe the most interesting thing to watch all game when the Notre Dame offense is on the field. Senior cornerback Heath Harding is a baller. He could play for just about any program in the nation. He may even be a day two pick in the NFL Draft next spring. I like just about everything about his game.
He's a violent tackler and incredibly instinctive versus the short passing game. He may be a bit short at 5'10", but he plays big. He's simply a playmaker.
I don't think the other corner, DeAndre Daniels, is a bad player. It's just that Harding is an elite player. I'm sure he'll see some balls thrown in his direction, but I'm guessing there won't be a lot. He's had nine career interceptions. It would be smart to limit his opportunities to add his tenth.
I think they are going to target Daniels quite a bit to avoid Harding. I also expect quite a bit of play-action if they are playing aggressive with their safeties to stop the run.
It's clear Notre Dame has the talent edge on both sides of the ball in this game. The most interesting thing will be watching how they are going to use that edge to win on both sides of the ball.
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