Notre Dame Vs. Boston College: Scouting The Enemy, Part I

BC Interruption: The Irish offense turned in a pretty miserable performance last Saturday, conceding sacks while having no answer to consistent pressure from the Cardinal’s defensive front. What adjustments do you expect the offense -- and particularly the offensive line -- to make before Saturday’s game against arguably just as good, if not a better, defense than Stanford’s?

Rakes Of Mallow: The Stanford defense got to Notre Dame in two ways. In the first half, it was all pressure, bringing extra guys and knocking quarterback Dayne Crist around. In the second half, after the Irish were looking for the pressure, they started rushing three and dropping eight, which led to more confusion and more sacks. It was an ugly effort all around, but considering this was Crist’s fourth career start, I’m hoping we can chalk this up as a learning opportunity for both him and Brian Kelly. If the Eagles bring pressure, look for Notre Dame to try and get the ball to players like Theo Riddick and T.J. Jones in space. If they sit back, I would guess there would be a focus on the run game, which had some success against the Cardinal in the second half but wasn’t used enough. The offensive line had played well up until last Saturday’s game, so I’m hoping some tweaks in the scheme will keep the offense flowing on Chestnut Hill.