Dallas, TX – The ASU offense flexed its collective muscle last Saturday night en route to putting up 62 points on a very fast (if not poorly-coached) USC defense.

The number of weapons that were called upon by OC Mike Norvell would make any Defensive Coordinator lose sleep while game-planning to limit the Sun Devil attack.

ASU will face a completely different scheme loaded with different types of athletes today when they line up against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Dallas.

Shamrock Series 2013.

Irish Defensive Wall Built to Stop the Run

The Irish defense employs a true 3-4 defensive front with much larger players who are coached to be gap sound and tough against the run. This is the same type of approach they take against the  traditional midwest power-running teams found on the majority of their schedule.

No 3-4 scheme can be successful without a hulking nose guard that has the responsibility of eating up space in the middle while taking on multiple blockers and creating gaps for linebackers to fill and make plays.

How the Sun Devil Offense Can Crack the Code

The Devils will still attempt to run the ball between the tackles for yardage, but more importantly, it will keep the Notre Dame inside linebackers home.

Rushing yards against 2012 All-American Notre Dame nose guard Louis Nix (6-2, 342) won’t come easy, but the Oklahoma was able to get leverage on Nix with double and triple teams forcing him to play with a higher pad level while successfully moving him off the ball.

ASU has gained the majority of its rushing yards running outside on fly sweeps, and baiting defensive ends to crash down to stop the inside run while getting around the corner for big plays.

The speed ASU possesses at their skill positions will be a mismatch for the Irish front seven, but only if they can force the slower interior Irish defense to stay honest and not allow their collective size to be a factor.

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Coach Norvell has been able to overcome what had been underwhelming run-game performances by the offensive line in the first three games of the season by using misdirection and giving defenders false keys/reads for their responsibilities.

I expect that more plays designed to isolate Irish defenders on speedier ASU personnel will be called.

Notre Dame plays a diverse schedule, but they will not have faced a faster offense with the number home run threats than they will this week.

Can Notre Dame Contain Jaelen Strong and the Sun Devil Receivers?

They will undoubtedly play bracket coverage on ASU WR Jaelen Strong, as did USC last weekend.

As a result, this poses multiple weaknesses for the Irish secondary.

Having to blanket a safety over the top of Strong’s deep routes opens up space underneath and in the middle of the field for routes that TE Chris Coyle and DJ foster were able to exploit on play action passes.

The back shoulder fade route to Strong is indefensible even with a safety guarding the deep route, and QB Taylor Kelly has been masterful at throwing that route.

It was easy to see how ASU exploded in the second half against the Trojans on Saturday.

Much of that had been set up by play-calling in the first half. The fly sweeps that RB’s Deantre Lewis and Marion Grice took for long runs were out of formations that USC had seen early, but with an alternate player getting the carry.

The rushing yardage that Taylor Kelly had was a by-product of Coach Norvell insisting on running the ball between the tackles (even if with seemingly limited success), ultimately forcing defensive ends to crash down the line to repeatedly stop it.

In the second half, it was just a matter of Kelly reading the DE, and tucking it for big yardage. That philosophy of “taking what the defense gives you” will still be in place, but it’s not by chance.

The ASU offensive scheme FORCES the defense to “give” those opportunities with clever, if not deceptive early play-calling.

The chess match begins at 4:30 PM (MST) at AT&T Stadium.

AT & T Stadium.