What do the opposing coaches think about Notre Dame’s chances against Ohio State?

It’s not just a lot of college football fans warming up to Notre Dame these days. Rival football coaches also seem to love Marcus Freeman’s team.

“I don’t think people realize how good of a team Notre Dame is,” said one defenseman who faced the Irish in the playoffs. “I didn’t realize it until we played them. They’re f—— really good. Their DBs, man … their defense is aggressive. Al Golden does a great job and their special teams is off The chain. That guy (special teams coordinator Marty Biagi) is great. He just does all the (things) you hate. They’re so well-coached as a team From the outside, I like how it is looks.”

The Irish are eight-point underdogs heading into Monday’s CFP championship game against Ohio State. Notre Dame was a 1.5-point favorite against Georgia and outshot the Bulldogs 23-10. Notre Dame was a 1.5 underdog against Penn State and won 27-24. However, Ohio State is a much more complete team. The Buckeyes receivers are more explosive than anything the Irish have seen in the postseason. Athletics talked to a half-dozen opposing coaches who have faced Notre Dame, and most of them said they wouldn’t be surprised if the Irish pull off the upset. The coaches were given anonymity for their unfiltered breakdown.

“Right now everybody knows Ohio State is playing their best,” the DBs coach said, “but Notre Dame is really good, I’m telling you, they’re really good.

“Here’s what they are: When you see them warm up, they’re not that impressive physically, but man, they’re tough and they’re gritty,” said one defensive coordinator who also faced ND in the playoffs. “They don’t beat themselves. They’re good on special teams and really good on defense. Their offense gives you problems.”

Quarterback Riley Leonard isn’t a guy who draws raves from NFL scouts. He has thrown for 2,606 yards and has a modest 19-to-9 TD-to-INT ratio. As one of the defensive coordinators who played against the Irish this season said, “When you look at their drop-back passing game, he doesn’t make many impressive NFL throws.” Leonard hasn’t thrown for 250 yards or more in a game this season, but he has rushed for 16 touchdowns and 866 yards. More impressively, Leonard sparked the most efficient third-down offense of the playoffs, with Notre Dame converting on 22 of 44 attempts.

“Their quarterback can beat you with his legs,” said DC, who played against the Irish in the playoffs. “He can get first downs, which is big. He’s bigger than you think and more athletic than you think.”

“He’s super long and he’s faster than I thought,” said another defensive coordinator who met with the Irish late in the season. “He covers a lot of ground. We had a few opportunities with our DBs and linebackers with free throws and we either missed or bounced him. You really have to wrap that guy up. He’s great.”

The book on the Irish passing game is that it is quite limited.

“Leonard does a great job with slot fader, fader on the outside and sail,” said one DC who played against the Irish late in the regular season. “Their explosive plays came from the same concept over and over again.”

Wideout Jaden Greathouse had a big game in the win over Penn State, catching seven passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. But in the previous five games, he never surpassed 17 yards receiving. If Ohio State isn’t careful, Notre Dame can trap it for a big pass play at a key moment.

“(Greathouse) tore it up,” the DB coach said. “He made three critical plays in the game. He’s their slot fade guy. We knew that going in. The slot fade is their No. 1 thing and you can’t let them do that. And they hit it against Penn State at their most critical moment.”

The coach said if the defensive back is disciplined and keeps the leverage outside, it shuts the game down.

DC, who played Notre Dame in the playoffs, said the receivers have a good knack for making contested catches. “We had several plays where we had guys draped over them and they still caught the ball,” he said, adding that tight end Mitchell Evans is a stud. “He’s better than people think. He doesn’t lose balls and they all block well.”

“All (their receivers) are solid,” the DB coach said. “Nothing special in my eyes. It was their running game in its entirety, with their quarterback running game. You have to do what you have to do in the passing game (defensively) when the quarterback can run. Their plus-one running game was the best we saw. They are really good schematically. There’s no advantage you can create because they’re going to run it any way with that quarterback when they get in the right situations on third-or-fourth-and-short, or anything near the goal line. It could be Quarterback Zone, Quarterback Power, Quarterback Read, Quarterback Duo – there’s all these different runs, man, and you don’t know which one they’re going to make. The other thing they do a really good job of is they self scout really well. They know their tendencies.

“There’s somebody in the offensive room coaching the defense, and that’s probably the head coach (Marcus Freeman). They’re 50-50 on most things. It’s the way they shift and move and where the moves land and how they want to speed up the moves. They were all defensive headaches. That’s a big advantage.”

It’s worth noting Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has a background as a defensive coach and spent three years as the DC at Grand Valley State.

The DBs coach said Notre Dame’s use of jet motion is good for how it times up the snap to keep the defense off balance. Sometimes the defense can end up making a check right as the ball is snapped.

“They’re going to jog the guy. They’re going to speed him up. They’re going to speed him up, slow him down. They’re going to pass him over the middle and bring him back,” he said. “A lot of teams, when they move a guy back and forth, they’re going to bring him from the outside right inside the tackle or the guard on the same side, but then they bring him out again, that doesn’t change the defense. It doesn’t affect the defense, but when you bring him over the middle and then bring him, to affects the defense. These are all good things. It is a beautiful thing. You have to build your defenses for that kind of thing.”

The defensive coordinator, who played against Notre Dame in the playoffs, is confident Denbrock will have a good plan for Ohio State.

“He’s going to give you some different looks. They move their guys around a lot, but they’re a big final picture, so you’ve got to do a good job of teaching your guys what they’re going to end up in before they snap the ball,” he said. “They’ll only crawl four or five times a game. You have to figure out where their guys end up because they move them around quite a bit. You have to be pretty sharp to get a beat on it throughout the game. He wants to know what you are struggling with.”

Notre Dame’s most dangerous weapon is running back Jeremiah Love. He torched Indiana with a 98-yard touchdown run in the first round of the CFP, but his knee took a beating against Georgia. Love, a 206-pound sophomore, had just 46 yards on 11 carries against Penn State, but his two-yard touchdown run in the second half, breaking five tackles, showed just how special he is.

“Oh God, that was one of the greatest short races ever!” said the DB coach. “I’m on the phone with another coach and I’m screaming into the phone, ‘Did you see that?’ He jumped over the guy in the short area, made two or three misses and then friggin’ his pads in there. It was beautiful. I don’t think people realize how composed that guy is.”

DC, who played Notre Dame last month, said Love is elite. “He’ll probably get a little bit healthier this week,” the coach predicted. “He might be the best running back in the country. He’s really special.”

The other defensive coordinator, who faced several other top NFL running back prospects, agreed that Love was the best running back he saw this year. “I’m telling you, he runs hard,” the coach said. “He’s super fast. He’s the real deal.”

That coach said there’s another thing that makes the Irish offense such a headache to go up against. “They had the best-coached offensive line we played all year,” he said. “If you looked at them individually, they’re good players – they weren’t the best we played individually, but as a group they were the best when they played as a group. They were always on the same page in protection. They played with great technique. They push people away from the ball.”

The Irish defense has been tough despite losing its best cover man in corner Benjamin Morrison and kick leader Rylie Mills. Golden’s defense is no. 6 in the nation in fewest yards per game. permitted game. It also leads the nation in the lowest completion percentage allowed at 50.7 percent. Georgia’s Gunnar Stockton was the only QB to complete over 60 percent for a game (62.5 percent). Eight quarterbacks have been held to 50 percent or less against Golden’s defense.

The Irish play a lot of man coverage.

“When we played them earlier this season, they were still trying to find their way,” one Power 4 receivers coach said. “I think they really did an excellent job of developing during the season. A lot of coaches like to talk about improvement during the season. A lot of them don’t, though. They did.

“They play a lot of man coverage, but it’s hard for them to play every man. They do a good job of mixing it up. And you can’t just play man coverage the whole game because if the running back breaks through the line, all the DBs have their backs to them and that’s a big problem.”

In TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, the Buckeyes have one of the most explosive 1-2 running back punches in college football.

“I’m very interested to see how they try to defend Ohio State,” said one DC who faced Ohio State in the second half of the season.” (Wideout Jeremiah) Smith is such a problem. We held him in check. We had a good plan to grab him and exploit him and at least not let him be the reason you lose the game, but (Notre Dame) plays a lot of man and a lot of robber concept. The other problem with playing Ohio State is , that the back is the problem. The receivers is what they are, but you focus too much time on the receivers and those backs are just going to smash you, and their O-line is just good enough.”

The DB coach, who faced Notre Dame in the playoffs, has been impressed with what he’s seen from the Irish secondary.

“Notre Dame can cover the whole board,” he said. “Their DBs are crazy fast. They’re good. It’s impressive.

“I know as a defensive guy, (Golden) is going to play with Smith, I would imagine. I think they will, but if they just try to play man against that guy, they’re going to get killed. We didn’t play a ton of man (against OSU). They need you to play man or to beat you with a one-on-one, it’s only going to be down the sideline on one fadeball, that’s it. We won’t leave you behind one-on-one in the deep part of the field somewhere inside (as Oregon did in the Rose Bowl, where Smith had a long touchdown reception).”

The receivers coach said it’s crucial that the Notre Dame defense wins on first downs, putting Ohio State in second-and-long situations.

“Against a team as talented as Ohio State, if you can force a third-and-long or third-and-medium, then you can send more pressure to get to the QB. I think it will take two turnovers in Ohio State for Notre Dame to win or at least one turnover and a big play on special teams.”

One of the DCs who played Notre Dame and Ohio State said there’s no question Ohio State is the more talented team, but said if Notre Dame “can keep it close and not turn the ball over , and find a way to contain Ohio State’s explosiveness,” the Fighting Irish will have a shot to win. “They have a lot of confidence and a ton of belief right now. They are a really good football team.”

(Top photo: Rich Storry/Getty Images)