Dallas, TX – The time has arrived and the much-anticipated match-up with Notre Dame comes to a head tomorrow in Dallas at AT&T stadium. 

This week, we will take a look at this Shamrock Series matchup in a three part DieHard Storyline series. This first segment will focus on the Notre Dame offense and the ASU defense.

ASU vs Notre Dame 2013

#22 ranked ASU (3-1) was picked by many to win the Pac-12 South division, while many saw the ND (3-2) BCS Championship Game birth in 2012 as an aberration. 

This will be an epic clash of size vs speed on the biggest stage that the Devils have graced in recent memory. Notre Dame with their size and discipline, will remind everyone of that juggernaut Stanford squad, but minus the speed.

What has the Notre Dame offense done so far this season?

Looking at what Notre Dame did against an Oklahoma team last week, with similar speed as ASU’s front 7, gave a glimpse of what we might see this week. 

Their offensive game plan varied from the previous week when beating similar-size Michigan State.  Play action, rub routes, and crossing routes were the flavor of the day in an attempt to negate the OU athleticism. 

When you mix in very capable pulling guards that can seal blocks on opposing linebackers in the running game, then we might have already seen the recipe for the Irish to be successful. 

Getting the secondary and linebackers out of position will go a long way for ND big plays if ASU can’t maintain gap control and coverage responsibilities.

Against the Irish, Oklahoma showed that their speed, stunting, and blitzing in the front 7 was way too much for the mammoth ND offensive line to handle. That plays right into the hands of ASU, who makes its living pressuring the quarterback into mistakes with a smaller but quicker defensive front.  

In this analysts opinion, the single most important thing that OU did against ND was tackle in one-on-one situations. OU seemed to be in several situations where ND could have exploited mismatches, but the Sooner defenders were sure in their tackling…Something that the ASU defense has lacked even when being in position to make a play. 

Notre Dame golden domers.

The Irish Quarterbacks

Notre Dame QB Tommy Rees (who is a true pocket-passer) is not the most mobile signal-caller in the country. 

Combine that with his propensity to stare down receivers and give secondaries an opportunity to make plays on the ball, and we may see another turnover-prone game with ASU making big plays in the secondary that change the game.

In other words, keep a close eye on ball hawk Alden Darby on Saturday.  

The Irish do their best to mix things up on offense by bringing in “change of pace” QB Andrew Hendrix, who runs a proficient spread option offense against teams that don’t see it every weekend. 

I see this as a non-factor, given that ASU plays against many more efficient spread-option attacks in its own conference. 

ND will line up in double and triple tight-end formations in an attempt to bully the under-sized Devils.  It only makes sense, and any coach from the midwest would do the same thing.  But whether it’s out west in the winter months, or in a controlled environment under a dome, we can negate the “weather” factor in this one. 

ASU Defense Shuffles the Deck

ASU will attempt to counter the running success that Wisconsin, Stanford, and USC had with some changes in personnel to better suite defending the ND rushing game. 

#BeatTheIrish

Senior, Chris Young (6-0, 244) will move back to the Spur LB (hybrid LB/Safety) who plays on the field side of the ball, where he excelled throughout the 2012 season as arguably ASU’s best tackler. 

Taking Young’s place at the Will LB spot is Salamo Fiso, who is a violent force against the run, but is still suspect in his drops in pass coverage. The saving grace for ASU in this move is that ND hasn’t shown the ability to hit underneath receivers for big gains thus far this season. It only makes sense that ASU would scheme to stop the running game and force Rees to beat the Devils with his arm.   

Notre Dame Receivers Lack Big Play Ability

Finally, the Notre Dame receivers aren’t big-play guys that will home-run you like Pac-12 receivers. 

If Rees is forced to throw on the run from being pressured, then it only makes sense that Rob Nelson, JR (who has been steady in man-to-man coverage and open-field tackling), and Osahon Irabor (who is ASU’s best coverage corner) disrupt receiver’s routes at the line of scrimmage to completely negate the ND passing game.

Maybe I’m biased, but I don’t see where or how the Notre Dame can line up against an assignment-sound ASU defense that starts making tackles in space.  Either way, it’s going to be a wild one under the bright lights on a national stage, and we will see everything play out in less than 24 hours from now.