Tale of the Tape: Notre Dame offense vs. Tennessee State defense

Can the Irish offense light up an FCS defense?

We now have an idea of what Notre Dame probably will do offensively this year. Granted, Navy might not have been the best opponent to make any such assessments. After all, the Irish were able to do literally whatever they wanted when they had the ball. The result was one of the most impressive offensive performances we’ve seen from this program in quite some time.

Tennessee State might not be the best opponent to judge the Irish’s offense against either. While the Tigers were decent on defense overall in 2022, the fact remains they’re the first Football Championship Subdivision to ever face the Irish. It’s not impossible for them to pull off the upset, but they would be lying to themselves if they said this would be easy. Few lesser-known opponents can say that’s been their experience at Notre Dame Stadium.

Here’s a look at how the Irish’s offense through extremely limited Football Bowl Subdivision rankings matches up with the Tigers’ 2022 FCS rankings: