As Notre Dame prepares for Saturday’s game against Duke, a few areas of strength, at least from 2019, are obvious. The defense made life miserable for opposing quarterbacks, which helped the team’s turnover margin rank among the best in the country. The offense did well, too, converting often on fourth downs and in the red zone. Unfortunately, the Irish also had the second-worst red zone defense in the country, so there’s literally nowhere to go but up there.
As for Duke, it had strong showings with special teams, red zone offense, fourth-down conversions, penalties on both sides, and preventing passing yards and first downs. The offense overall left something to be desired, and turnovers didn’t serve the Blue Devils well either. The rushing game was the best part of the offense, but even that didn’t rank highly compared to other teams. The Devils’ best chance is offensive execution with whatever good chances they have because the Irish won’t allow many of them.