How Notre Dame plans to stop North Carolina QB Sam Howell’s running game
If you thought the likes of Jordan Travis, Desmond Ridder and Braxton Burmeister presented major problems to the Notre Dame defense as mobile quarterbacks, you're in for a treat when North Carolina takes the field in South Bend on Saturday night.
And not the kind kids get in their Halloween buckets.
Tar Heels quarterback Sam Howell has the most rushing yards of any quarterback Notre Dame has faced so far this season — the aforementioned trio included — or will face in the final four games thereafter. The junior ranks fifth nationally among quarterbacks with 494 rushing yards.
"Sam Howell is difficult to bring down," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. "He's big, he's strong. They're running him a lot more. The quarterback draw in particular is problematic for most because you're trying to defend the width of the field. It creates great space for him to run."
So how does a defense stop him? Disrupt him.
Howell averages just over 70 rushing yards per game, but it hasn't been 70 yards here and 70 yards there. Howell had 35 rushing yards in a season-opening loss to Virginia Tech. He had a measly eight rushing yards in a 23-point loss to Georgia Tech.
The correlation in both of those defeats? Sacks. Howell was sacked six times by the Hokies and eight times by the Yellow Jackets. Howell has been sacked an average of five times in North Carolina's three losses and three times in North Carolina's four wins.
A difference of two sacks per game might seem marginal, but it's not. For instance, teams only allowing one sack per game rank tied for No. 10 nationally in that statistic. Teams allowing three sacks per game rank tied for No. 110.
Notre Dame's pass rush led by junior defensive end Isaiah Foskey, who ranks second nationally with 8.0 sacks, might hold the key to a Notre Dame victory. Get home on Howell, and the North Carolina offense — one that ranks No. 14 in the country at 471.1 yards per game — is not nearly as potent as it can be when maximizing its potential.
Notre Dame sacked Howell six times in a 31-17 victory in Chapel Hill last November. The Irish have a new defensive coordinator in Marcus Freeman, but he'll likely have a similar game plan to that of Clark Lea from a year ago. Get after the quarterback.
As Kelly said, though, the quarterback draw is a concern beyond bringing Howell to the ground when he drops back to pass. Howell has reached double digits in carries in every game this season. He's going to run when the play is designed for him to do so, and he's going to improvise too.
The Notre Dame defense is preparing for that. And having to make some adjustments. Notre Dame has primarily played man coverage in third down situations. It has worked well enough to rank No. 26 in the nation in allowing opponents to convert just 33.98 percent of third-down tries.
North Carolina ranks No. 13 in the country in offensive third-down conversions at 48.86 percent. It helps to have a quarterback like Howell who can scramble to pick up the necessary yardage to move the chains. Quarterback draws are another go-to weapon for UNC on the money down.
Getting caught in man coverage makes it easier for quarterbacks to take off when plays are developing, and it lessens the amount of defensive players who are in a position to tackle the quarterback shortly after the ball is snapped if the play is a draw.
"We've got to be cognizant of it," Kelly said. "We have to run more line games. We have to be able to take away some of those lanes. It does slow down your pass rush a little bit and force you to play a little more zone."
Obviously, Howell's running game hasn't made North Carolina an unbeatable juggernaut. The Tar Heels have had a disappointing season after preseason expectations were to contend for an ACC Championship and maybe even a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Those dreams went out the window in week one and were long gone by the start of October. But if the Notre Dame defense isn't ready for the challenges Howell and the North Carolina offense present, an upset could certainly be in the cards.
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