Can the Irish Produce Big Plays vs the Canes?
I don't think football players should ever go into a game feeling scared. They need to be confident in order to accomplish what they want to on the field. However, being cautious is a different story. Being confident while being cautious of what your opponent can do to beat you is probably the best mindset to have.
There is no doubt that Notre Dame is going to go into Hard Rock Stadium and have respect for the Miami team they are facing. They've watched the film and read the scouting reports. They're very aware that this is a good football team they are facing. The defense, in particular, is going to present many challenges.
The Canes are 3rd in red zone touchdown percentage. They have one of the best pass defenses in the nation. They lead the nation in tackles for loss and are 11th in Havoc Rate. It's not going to be easy to beat them with all of the athletes they have on every level of their defense.
But while the Irish coaching staff and offensive personnel understand all that, they also understand that they will have chances to create big plays against Miami. This is the 82nd ranked rushing defense in the nation according to S&P+. They are 65th in the nation in rushing IsoPPP, a statistic that measures explosive plays. They've given up 14 runs of 20 yards or more this season (75th in the nation). There has been a good amount of busts for them when defending the run.
The Canes can get into the backfield and disrupt your running game just like NC State could and did against Notre Dame. They had 9 tackles for loss against the Irish and their defensive line showed why they were so highly touted going into the game. Yet, they still gave up over 300 yards on the ground.
We'll see if the Irish can do the same against Miami, but they should be able to run the ball on them and create some explosive plays on the ground.
What they do really well
Diaz is a very aggressive coordinator. His defensive line is moving a lot and that can cause problems for blocking schemes. That's one of the main reasons why they produce so many negative plays.
Here they are against Virginia Tech with the line slanting to the right and the corner coming with a blitz from the boundary. The tight end misses his block when the end shoots inside of the gap and he ends up blowing up the pull from the guard. The playside guard is looking inside and doesn't see the corner and it ends up as a TFL.
On this play they have eight in the box and Notre Dame can expect to see a lot of this against them. That's why play-action is going to be so important. They didn't even need the extra defender because it was a breakdown by the Virginia Tech tight end blocking on the backside and the center got destroyed by the Miami defensive tackle. That's something you don't expect to see against the Irish, but the additional defender is going to be their way of slowing down the Irish running game.
Where they can be beat
This is something I saw a lot of against Miami. In an effort to disrupt and likely thinking they are going to see a pass, they will run line stunts, sometimes with a blitzer added in. They are thinking about getting to the quarterback rather than stopping the run and get gashed because of it.
Here they are against Syracuse and are stunting the two defensive tackles. All that does is open up things up the middle and the extra defender cannot help them on this play because of it.
They aren't always disciplined with these stunts and here they are getting burned again with the Mike blitzing as well. They have three defenders who pretty much run by the play.
They run this stuff so much and sometimes it hits big. They definitely have the athletes to execute it and cause problems for an offensive line. But with that comes the risk of helping beat themselves like on this screen play against North Carolina.
Maybe the defensive line wouldn't have read it if they were rushing straight up, but they probably would have had a better chance to feel what was coming if they weren't thinking about the movement before the snap.
I don't want anyone to think this isn't a good Miami defense because it is. They are the primary reason why the team is 8-0. I don't think they are an elite defense, though. They have some holes that Notre Dame can attack with how aggressive they are with their scheme.
Miami has been very good at preventing many of these big chunk plays from turning into touchdowns. The Irish will have to change that and that's why someone like Josh Adams is important. He can turn a regular human's 20 yard run into a 70 yard touchdown.
Chip Long has great at finding the weak points of a defense and turning them into big play opportunities for the Irish. He'll have a chance to do the same thing tomorrow when his offense takes on the Canes.