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Notre Dame Football: Irish Offense Hopes to Regain its Stride Against Navy

By Connor McJunkin

WINSTON SALEM, NC - SEPTEMBER 22: Ian Book #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish drops back to pass against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during their game at BB&T Field on September 22, 2018 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
WINSTON SALEM, NC - SEPTEMBER 22: Ian Book #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish drops back to pass against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons during their game at BB&T Field on September 22, 2018 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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The Trenches

After a disappointing showing against Pittsburgh two weeks ago, the Irish offensive line will see a new starting five this weekend. After the season-ending injury to left guard Alex Bars, senior Trevor Ruhland mainly took over as Bars’ replacement, occasionally splitting time with sophomore Aaron Banks. After releasing the official depth chart for this week’s game against Navy, the coaching staff made a few switches at the guard position.

Banks is now listed as the starting left guard while Ruhland has been bumped to the right guard position where he and Tommy Kraemer are both listed as the starter. This move isn’t surprising considering the improved play of Banks and Ruhland and the struggles Kraemer has had. Regardless of who is on the field playing on the interior of the offensive line, they will be matched up with one of Navy’s better defensive players.

Navy’s defensive line is one of their most experienced defensive position groups. They return their three starters from last year; seniors Josh Webb and Jarvis Polu on the edge and junior  Jackson Pittman at nose tackle. Webb and Polu have 8.5 career sacks combined, but have struggled this season as both have yet to record a sack. As for Pittman, he will be the 310-pound run stuffer in the middle for Navy. Generally the nose tackles in 3-4 defenses are one of your better players, and that’s the case for Pittman, who has 21 stops on the season.

The ability of Banks, Mustipher, and Ruhland/Kraemer to get movement on Pittman and not allow him to stuff multiple gaps will be a huge element in establishing a run game. Not allowing one player to fill multiple run lanes or occupy two or three offensive lineman completely disrupts the balance of a 3-4 defense.

Frankly, is isn’t much of a secret that the Irish offensive line is bigger and should handily take care of Navy’s defensive line. I expect to see a handful of twists and blitzes in an attempt to out-scheme Notre Dame, much like Ball State did.

At the end of the day, even with new starters at the guard positions, Notre Dame should win the line of scrimmage and be the workhorse for this offense all day. A big day for these guys in the trenches should lead to a nice bounce-back performance for the ground game and the rest of the offense.

Advantage: Irish 

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