Notebook: How Notre Dame's defense will attempt to slow down Ohio State

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — If the formula for stopping Ohio State’s prolific offense was simple, more teams would have been able to replicate it last season.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and defensive coordinator Al Golden will be the first to tackle the challenge in the 2022 season during Saturday’s season opener at No. 2 Ohio State (7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC).

The combination of talent and experience across its offense gives Ohio State the ability to beat teams in a number of ways. What Freeman doesn’t want is for No. 5 Notre Dame to give the Buckeyes free rein on the ground.

“If you don’t stop the run, they’re running all day long,” Freeman said Monday. “The ability to stop the run is most important. We know they’re very talented at throwing the ball. It’s the mindset. If you can’t stop the run, they can throw it, they can run it, they can do whatever they want to do. You have to be able to stop the run.”

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Ohio State’s rushing attack starts with running back TreVeyon Henderson, who rushed for 1,248 yards and 15 touchdowns on 183 carries as a freshman last season. Despite his success throughout the season, Ohio State did struggle to run the ball at times. Sometimes the lack of running game led to an Ohio State loss. Other times the Buckeyes were able to overcome it with Heisman Trophy finalist C.J. Stroud at quarterback.

Even though Ohio State led the FBS last season in total offense (561.5 yards per game) and scoring offense (45.7 points per game), the Buckeyes finished No. 47 in rushing offense (180.6 yards per game). Ohio State’s worst rushing performance produced 64 yards in a 42-27 loss at Michigan. The Buckeyes also rushed for 128 yards in their only other loss of the season, a 35-28 home defeat at the hands of Oregon.

Ohio State did rush for fewer yards in victories over Nebraska (90) and Utah (110) than it did against Oregon. The passing game carried the offense with 405 yards in a 26-17 win over Nebraska and 573 yards in a 48-45 Rose Bowl win over Utah.

What Notre Dame will need is help from its offense and special teams to put the defense in better situations.

“There isn’t a common theme,” Freeman said. “You look at some of the games they’ve lost in the past couple years, offensively you have to be able to take control of the game in terms of holding on to the football, establishing long drives. That’s going to be something that we have to do if we want a chance to win this game.

“We have to limit their offensive possessions and how do you do that? It’s not just defensively. It’s offensively being able to establish long drives. That will be a challenge for our offense, our defense and our special teams have to be superior.”

Bettors don’t seem to have a lot of confidence in Notre Dame’s ability to put all of that together in Ohio Stadium. As of Monday, major sportsbooks had betting lines with Ohio State as 17.5-point favorites.

Ahead of the NFL Draft in April, Freeman joked on ESPN that a betting line of Ohio State as a 13.5-point favorite should increase so he could use it as motivation. He certainly got his wish.

"Well, I didn't know that,” Freeman said of Monday’s 17.5-point spread. “I'm going to write that down. You said 17.5 points, right? We'll use that in our team meeting today. It's good to know.”

Sophomore Tyler Buchner will make his starting debut Saturday three weeks after being publicly named Notre Dame’s starting quarterback.

Freeman and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees wanted to make that decision early in the preseason to allow the offense to coalesce around him. So how did the last two weeks go with Buchner at the helm?

“He's done a really good job these past couple of weeks of making good decisions, taking care of the football and making plays,” Freeman said. “He's done a good job making plays.

“He's been in a red jersey, so he hasn't been hit yet. But again, it's been good to see his growth. He's just continuing. I look from last year to spring ball to now, his growth as a quarterback, as a leader, as a decision-maker has been really good to see."

The last time the Irish played, Buchner didn’t take a snap in the 37-35 Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State. Notre Dame’s offense sputtered in the second half after quarterback Jack Coan lit up the Cowboys in the first half for 342 passing yards and four passing touchdowns.

Freeman wasn’t entertaining Monday any second-guessing of the decision to not play Buchner against Oklahoma State. A reporter suggested that Buchner could have gained valuable experience against a defense that was once led by current Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Knowles was Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator last season, but he left the program prior to the Fiesta Bowl.

“You can't play a bowl game,” Freeman said, “and say, ‘OK, let's get Tyler Buchner some reps to get ready for the first game next year.' We had to do what we felt like was best for the guys.

“It didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but again, Tyler Buchner got plenty of work last year in terms of helping him prepare for this year.”

Buchner played in 10 games last season, often to give defenses a running threat from the quarterback position that they didn’t have to worry about with Coan in the game. Buchner finished 21-of-35 passing (60%) for 298 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions. He also rushed 46 times for 336 yards and three touchdowns.

Notre Dame entered the week with one significant injury question still lingering: Will starting left guard Jarrett Patterson be ready to play?

That question remained unanswered Monday as Freeman continued to deem him as questionable.

“I expect him to come out this week and practice,” Freeman said. “We'll see as we get closer to game time where he'll be, but I'd say he's questionable right now.”

The fifth-year offensive lineman sprained his right foot in practice Aug. 15. Later that week, Freeman labeled Patterson as questionable for the Ohio State game. He was sidelined from practice the last two weeks to give his foot time to heal.

Senior linebacker Marist Liufau, who missed last season with a serious right leg/ankle injury, was limited at times throughout preseason practice this month, but the Irish feel good about his progression.

"Marist is probable,” Freeman said. “Marist is ready to go. He'll be ready. I don't expect any limitations out of Marist Liufau.”

After a string of injuries early this month, including a season-ending ACL tear for sixth-year wide receiver Avery Davis and a PCL sprain for sophomore wide receiver Deion Colzie, the Irish have remained relatively healthy in the last week-plus. Those who suffered early setbacks, such as wide receiver Jayden Thomas (hamstring) and linebacker Prince Kollie (concussion), are back in position to play.

Freeman told the team to trust him as they navigated a physically demanding early portion of preseason camp.

“It's the only way I know, and it's what I believed it was going to take to really get this team ready to play football,” Freeman said. “But once we got to that point where I said, “OK, we're ready to go, this team is ready physically to play at a game level.’ Now we're smart. Now we got to be smart in terms of getting these guys that are game-ready to get back for the game.

“I'm really pleased with our athletic training staff and the work they've done. It's also a credit to our guys that have worked their tails off in the training room to get treatment and rehab to get them back here. Those guys are ready. They're ready to go."

• Former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly liked to receive the opening kickoff whenever the Irish won the coin toss. Freeman isn’t as tied to one choice always being the preferred choice.

“We'll discuss that on Thursdays,” Freeman said. “If you just ask me right now off the top, if I had to make a decision today, it would probably be to defer — just to try and get that extra possession for the second half. But that changes game by game."

• Only three true freshmen were listed on Notre Dame’s official depth chart for the Ohio State game on offense or defense: linebacker Junior Tuihalamaka and cornerbacks Jaden Mickey and Benjamin Morrison. The depth chart, which was released Monday, runs two or three players deep depending on the position.

Those freshman cornerbacks will be asked to contribute Saturday. Freeman said he’d like to have five or six cornerbacks ready to play against Ohio State’s passing game.

“As far as the freshmen, those guys have the ability to come in here, and they showed us that they can be counted on, that they can play at this level,” Freeman said. “Jaden Mickey and Ben Morrison, both of those two guys are heck of football players. They've been developed the right way. They're both going to come in, and I expect both them to play for us on Saturday."

Click here for an expanded depth chart from Inside ND Sports.

• Want to know more about Ohio State? Visit Dotting The Eyes, the Ohio State site on the Rivals network.

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