Show Me The Irishman

Unless Alabama steals Marcus Freeman, it can only help.

13-0. Mama didn't raise no coward.

I'm from Salt Lake City, grew up about a mile away from the University of Utah, and my father is a big time Utah fan. So even though they are my third favorite team behind ND and Utah State, I follow them pretty closely. I think Ludwig would be an awesome hire for us. He has done an incredible job at Utah and I think he'd be a great fit for us here. For context, after they won the 2008 Sugar bowl, the Utes were never able to establish a good passing game. They relied heavily on the run up until 2019. Once they brought Andy Ludwig back to run the offense, he was able to implement a solid passing game. Tyler Huntley, before Ludwig came in, was an average qb that was more of an athlete than a quarterback. However, during his senior under Ludwig he turned into a great qb who was able to make it to the NFL and even played in the pro bowl this year. Below are Tyler Huntley's stats from his jr year and his senior year. These past couple of years the Utes realized that they were not going to out recruit Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Washington for receivers, so what Ludwig did was rely heavily on the tight ends. Rather than a 3-4 receiver set, he would run 2-3 tight ends every play. This allowed them to keep their identity as a power run team, but then still have an effective pass offense with great tight end play (sound familiar?). Last year the two most targeted players were Dalton Kincaid and Brant Kuithe (up until he got injured). If Andy Ludwig does end up becoming Irish, expect us to have a power run offense with a coordinator who finds ways to dial up plays that gets receivers and tight ends open for big plays. I'd be excited to see what he could do with a quarterback like Hartman.

I went to Utah State for my undergrad and I'm still a very big Utah State fan as well. I'm very familiar with Byron and I've seen him play in-person as well. He'd be a great get for the Irish. He's a freak athlete with a great first step that always seems to be in on the play. Although the strongest part of his game is the pass rush, he is surprisingly scrappy against the run for his size. He was able to hold his ground against strong running offenses like Oregon State, San Diego State, and Alabama. My favorite game of his was in the 2021 Mountain West Conference Championship game. He was in on a lot of big stops and was constantly in the backfield applying pressure.

I did my undergrad at Utah State and Just got my masters at ND. Seeing that my previous Alma Mater just played byu, I’m happy to give a breakdown to my fellow Domers of byu’s position groups. I’ll start with the offense: - QB - Jaren Hall. The kid is a first round NFL prospect, and as much as I hate to say it, he’s as good as advertised. He’s mobile, accurate, accurate on the run, and has a BIG arm. I’ve seen videos of him throwing a 70 yard ball coming out of high school. If he has time, he’ll pick us apart. The one flaw in his game is that his accuracy decreases substantially when he’s under duress. Getting a solid pass rush will be critical for the Irish to win. - OL - On paper, they should be one of the better units in the country, but they haven’t done as well this year as their fans hoped they would have. We’ll see if that continues. If they play the same way they did against Utah State, the Irish D-line should win this match up handily. - WR - Their top three guys (in order) are Puka Nakua, who has been injured all year. If he’s healthy, he’ll be their biggest weapon. After that Gunner Romney is their speed receiver, then Keanu Hill is a solid #3. They have some decent tight ends, but nothing like Michael Mayer. Overall this group is decent, but they’re no where near the talent as the what we saw against Ohio State. -RB - they have a good Thunder/Lightning combo with Brooks and David, but they’re only as good as their offensive line allows them to be. I expect them to run some trick plays on us, especially a reverse —> flee flicker play they tend to run once a game. However, if we can win the battle in the trenches. I don’t see byu scoring more than 17 points on us. As for their defense, the strength of their unit is their LB’s. Their D-line is big and are used to absorb blocks to let their LB’s make the plays. However, they’re not quite as big and strong as they were in years past. Ever since their stud NG Khyris Tonga graduated, they haven’t been anywhere near as imposing. They have very little pass rush. Their D-line will just try to bull rush the opposing team’s to get pressure. It works on some teams, but I don’t see it working on us. For their coverage, they like to drop 8 defenders a lot which causes impatient Qb’s to fit passes in tight windows. They essentially live by the “bend don’t break” philosophy. They don’t get beat deep much, but they do allow a lot of passes underneath, so expect Michael Mayer to have a big day. As for their special teams, their field goal kicker has become a head case. He’s missing a lot of easy kicks. It’s to the point where byu fans started booing him. Kind of sad really. If ND can win the battle in the trenches, get pressure on Hall, and be patient enough on offense to sustain long drives, we should win the game by 2-3 Touchdowns. Go Irish!