How Can the Irish Slow Down Darnold?
Even after the first week in the season, they put out rankings for the Heisman. It’s really a useless exercise because so much changes between week one and the end of the season. Two thirds of the way through of the season makes more sense to me. Wouldn’t you know that USC is hitting that point in their season and pre-season Heisman front-runner Sam Darnold looks like a long shot heading into the Notre Dame game this weekend.
He’s currently +4000 on Bovada, which gives him the seventh best odds to win it. That wouldn’t be good enough to get him to the ceremony in New York if the season ended today, but all it takes is a magical performance against a top-15 ranked Fighting Irish team and he will jump right back into that top group with a shot to win it.
It’s the job of Mike Elko and his Notre Dame defense to do everything in their power to kill any Heisman hype that is left for Darnold. That’s not going to be easy to pull off because he is a special football player that already has several big wins on his resume. He’s 15-2 in his seventeen career starts and his numbers speak volumes.
A lot of guys put up big numbers, though, and it’s things that don’t show up on the stat sheet that make Darnold as good as he is. Here’s a look at what makes him so difficult for any defense to defend and also how Notre Dame may be able to slow him and the USC offense down in this game.
He makes throws that other quarterbacks can’t or won’t
One thing we’re seeing with Brandon Wimbush and Ian Book this season for Notre Dame is a reluctance to let the ball go when an Irish receiver is in tight coverage. That’s typical of a lot of college quarterbacks and that’s why Darnold is so unique compared to everyone else. He has no fear when it comes to fitting the ball into tight windows.
Sometimes that will lead to interceptions, but it can also lead to big plays. He anticipates so well with his throws and it’s rare when he doesn’t put the ball in a spot where his receiver can gain some extra yardage after the catch.
He has to throw this ball at the right time with the right velocity to running back Stephen Carr on the wheel route. If he doesn’t it might get picked by the linebacker underneath or the safety over the top. It just isn’t a throw that you see many young quarterbacks even attempt, but it’s routine for Darnold.
He can escape the rush and find a 2nd or 3rd option
Darnold is someone who can win from the pocket and go through his progressions quickly, but I don’t think there is any point where he is more dangerous than when he escapes the rush and his receivers start working a scramble drill with him.
If he is given too much time, then he is going to find someone for a big play like he does on this touchdown to his tight end versus Utah.
He will destroy a defense’s will when he does stuff like this. It’s a helpless feeling and he does it often.
The scariest part for a defensive coordinator is that he can be in a position that isn’t ideal for throwing, yet he can deliver a strike. I’m not sure if it’s overall background as a multi-sport athlete or if it’s a baseball thing, but he can make accurate throws when he is off balance like he is a shortstop trying to turn two. This jump pass against Texas was just ridiculous.
How can anyone defend when a quarterback pulls off something like that?
He has a special on-field connection with Burnett
I don’t know if he and USC’s leading receiver Deontay Burnett are like Rob and Big (RIP) off the field, but they pretty much have a mind meld when it comes to knowing each other on the field. That paid off in a big way against Penn State with the winning touchdown in the Rose Bowl last January and it’s continued this entire season.
He certainly spreads the ball around to multiple players, but Burnett has over twice as many catches as the next leading receiver for a reason. They go off script together frequently when the Darnold’s first option isn’t open.
The obvious next choice in his progression is Burnett like it was on this touchdown.
They love to work the run-pass option game together too. Darnold does an awesome job of reading the linebacker to Burnett’s side and if he senses blitz like he does here, then there is zero hesitation to pull it and hit Burnett on a slant.
Burnett makes Darnold even better and vice versa.
What’s the best way to defend against Darnold?
The one game that stands out in Darnold’s career from the rest of his seventeen starts is the recent loss to Washington State. In many games USC head coach Clay Helton has needed Darnold to elevate his game in order to get them a win and that was the only game in his career where he didn’t do so.
It’s also the only game where he threw for under 200 yards and his QBR was 37.6. He has not played another game with a QBR lower than 50. His completion percentage was a career low of 51.9 as well.
Washington State defensive coordinator Alex Grinch had a great game plan. That was the major reason behind the win in my opinion. I think Mike Elko can take a lot of what Grinch did and use it in order to slow down Darnold against the Irish.
Wazzu rushed five a lot. Even on this play when USC left seven in to protect, there were able to get enough pressure to force Darnold to step up and get rid of the ball sooner than he wanted to.
I think we’ll see five rushers a number of times on 3rd down against USC because the Irish have the kind of players up front that should win enough one on one battles to get to Darnold. Yes, he is good at escaping the rush, but you’d much rather force him to have to improvise because he’ll a few throws a game that he shouldn’t when he is pressured. He plays with fire often and that is a big reason behind his nine interceptions this season.
I really like what Wazzu did here by rushing three with a spy. This was something I saw from them many times. Darnold can take advantage of chaos when he escapes, but this gives him a second thing to worry about when he is stepping up or out of the pocket.
On the particular play, it’s aided because there is a safety that is attacking late. This isn’t a blitz and he isn’t spying as well. I believe this is cover 1 robber, which is man coverage with a deep safety and the other safety “robbing” underneath to try and jump anything over the middle. When nothing is coming across there, that’s when the safety steps up. When things break down, the spy and robber both go after Darnold and it leads to him throwing the ball away.
I love this kind of call because it also defends against all of the slants and crossing routes the Trojans love to throw over the middle of the field.
The other thing that Wazzu did and Texas had success with is well as running a delayed blitz from the inside linebacker. The Will linebacker for Wazzu had a sack that came from depth and was not picked up by the USC offensive line on the last chance of the game for Darnold. The Will forced a fumble and it was game over. Texas had a sack doing something similar as well with their Mike running a delay and coming in for a sack. I’d love to see Te’von Coney or Nyles Morgan do this a few times to get pressure and potentially hit home on these kind of calls.
I think it would also be good to see the Irish play boot very aggressive. I know they don’t want to take away from stopping the run, but Darnold is so dangerous when he rolls out and has time to find someone down the field. This blitz took any time away from Darnold on the boot and bringing that extra guy to defend it would help quite a bit.
Let’s be clear: none of this stuff will work unless Notre Dame is shutting down the running game and playing tight coverage in the secondary. Wazzu’s defensive line did a great job rushing the passer and their secondary didn’t give the Trojans much space all game long. Do those things and attack Darnold the right way with pressure and Notre Dame can keep USC in check like Washington State did. They played great on defense and had the right plan. That’s what won them the game and it can help the Irish win the game this weekend too.