Notre Dame Offense vs Army #5 ranked defense

 

BRONX, NY. -- Notre Dame focuses on their dynamic run game versus a stout run defense, that hasn't seen an FBS team on the level of the Irish.

The Black Knights are ranked one spot above the Irish as the fifth best team in total defense, giving up only 12 touchdowns. Three of those coming from the run game, against Army's third-best running defense amongst FBS teams.

But there' something to be said about Army not facing an offense like Notre Dame. The Irish run the ball for an average of 216 yards per game, 32 touchdowns, and average 4.3 yards after contact.

But Offensive Coordinator Mike Denbrock isn't overlooking Army because of their lack of strength in schedule.

"Not, not at all. I mean, they're 9-0 no this season. I think they're maybe running on 13 in a row or more. I mean, that's a football team that knows how to win. They know who they are. They know how to how to attack a football game as a team, and obviously, have been very successful doing it. So, this is a huge challenge for us.

That mindset has goes from the sideline to the field, with Quarterback Riley Leonard, having the same outlook and respect for the Black Knights.

"I noticed a lot of guys that are very disciplined, hardnosed guys, as you would expect. They do a lot of different things defensively, particularly in the back end. They'll show up in some different fronts as well, but you can expect a lot of different things and a lot of rotation on the back end, they're not just going to show their show their cards, pre snap.

"They've also been helped by the fact that, you know, they've been ahead in a lot of games and they've made teams play catch up. So, number one, we got to be able to start fast. I mean, they're really good in the first quarter of the game at jumping out the leads. We got to do our part offensively to make sure we stay on the field and score points and then we're built around the run game, so finding ways to do that that are effective against the things that they do that cause you problems is going to be a big challenge," Denbrock added.