Notre Dame football: Irish must lean on elite offensive line against Alabama
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football team has All-American-caliber players up and down it and will be a key if the Irish want to beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl.
If the Notre Dame football team wants to pull off the major upset and beat the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl, they need to completely flip the switch from the ACC Championship Game. In that game, star quarterback Ian Book was running for his life from really the third possession on, and that cannot happen against this Crimson Tide defense.
For the Irish to put points up against the Tide, they are going to have to get better protection upfront for both Book, and running back Kyren Williams. After averaging over 100 yards per game this season, Williams was taken away during the Clemson loss, and that cannot happen on New Years Day.
Alabama does have one weakness on the defensive side of the ball, and the Irish have the talent to exploit it.
Getting Book time to throw
If there is one way the Irish can take advantage of the Alabama defense it is through the air, where they have shown a tendency to get beat against good quarterbacks. Ian Book is one of the better quarterbacks they will have played this season, and he has shown that he can produce in big-time ways in big-time games.
Notre Dame’s offensive line is stacked with All-American talent, a crew that includes the likes of Liam Eichenberg, Aaron Banks, Robert Hainsey, and Tommy Kraemer. Had Jarrett Patterson not been lost for the year, the Irish would really be in good shape, but they are still an elite unit.
Both Alabama and Notre Dame saw their offensive lines be named finalists for the Joe Moore Award, given out each year to the best offensive line in college football. If Book has time to throw in the Rose Bowl, we have seen how well he can utilize weapons like Ben Skowronek, Avery Davis, and freshman tight end Michael Mayer.
Next. Notre Dame football must try to contain Alabama’s three-headed monster. dark
Being better upfront can mask a lot of the deficiencies for this Notre Dame team on both sides of the ball, and both units will have to play a perfect game against an elite competitor like Alabama. Brian Kelly has a lot of time to get the right gameplan in this one, as he looks to erase the memories of the last time his team was in the College Football Playoff.