Tale of the Tape: Notre Dame offense vs. Tennessee State 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:
Passing yards/game
Notre Dame ranks sixth in the FBS with 253.0 passing yards a game.
Tennessee State tied for 19th nationally in the FCS with 190.0 passing yards allowed a game.
Passing yards/attempt
Notre Dame ranks sixth in the FBS with 10.1 passing yards an attempt.
Tennessee State ranked 18th in the FCS with 6.4 passing yards allowed an attempt.
Rushing yards/game
Notre Dame ranks fifth in the FBS with 191.0 rushing yards a game.
Tennessee State ranked 79th in the FCS with 173.6 rushing yards allowed a game.
Rushing yards/carry
Notre Dame ranks second in the FBS with 6.00 yards a carry.
Tennessee State tied for 79th in the FCS with 4.54 yards allowed a carry.
Points/game
Notre Dame ranks second in the FBS with 42.0 points a game.
Tennessee State ranked 39th in the FCS with 24.7 points allowed a game.
