Notre Dame opened the 2019 season with a 35-17 road victory against Louisville, and the Fighting Irish ground attack was a driving force behind the win. Offensive coordinator Chip Long used a diverse game plan to accomplish success with his run game.
Notre Dame mixed up its personnel relatively well in the game, but the 11 personnel grouping was the most used in the game. There were 21 run snaps out of 11 personnel and 11 run snaps out of either a two-tight end (12) or two-back (21) alignment.
When talking personnel groupings, the first number refers to the number of backs and the second number refers to the number of tight ends on the field. The 11 personnel is Notre Dame’s three-receiver set.
Interestingly, Notre Dame’s least successful personnel grouping was its two-tight end alignment. Ideally, when you have more tight ends on the field there should be more success.
Notre Dame had big-play success out of its 11 personnel, but it’s efficiency wasn’t quite where you would want it. The Irish used only the 21 personnel on the first series, but it scrapped that alignment for the run game after junior running back Jafar Armstrong went out with an injury on that series.
