Notre Dame 2023 Run Game-Gap Schemes

Gerad Parker was the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame and helped lead them to a 10-3 record. He is now the head coach at Troy.

The Notre Dame run game was very effective in 2023. They were 8th in the country in scoring, 37.8 points per game. They also rushed for 5.2 yards per carry and 182 yards per game. They also averaged 6.7 yards per play which put them 10th in the country.

This article will look at some of his gap schemes:

1. counter (with 3 pullers)

2. Zone Double Slice

3. Power Scheme

4. duo/tight zone scheme

5. G-H Counter vs 4-2 Front

6. Pin and Pull Toss

They have other schemes(pin and pull, traditional, G H counter, T trap and others but the article looks at these 4)

Counter with 3 pullers

13p
The 1st play they run is from 13personnel. It is a counter variation with 3 pullers. They love this play out of 12p bunch.

They get a 3-4 vs NC State

You see the scheme as they pull the RG H back and WR.

They get good blocks on the front side from the front side.

You see the 3 pullers in motion as it starts to develop. The guard kicks, the h takes the 1st LB to show and the wr takes the 2nd lb in the fit.

Film clip #1

Another clip of the same scheme but the defense brings the safety down and he ends up making the play. The defense recognizes it the 2nd time around. LB sees the puller.

Film

Zone slice with 2 slice blocks

The next scheme is inside zone with 2 slice blocks in the play. They love this scheme in short yardage as well as traditional out of their 3x1 bunch run game. Again another nice variation out of 12 personnel bunch.

Film Clips

Power Kick with the Tackle Pulling

Notre Dame goes unbalanced and runs power kick with the tackle pulling. They get a nice kick out by the FB and the tackle does a great job on the LB. They seal the front side with the Guard, tackle and tight end.

Here’s the scheme as the defense walks the OLB out vs the twins set, tackle over.

You see the gap start to develop as the FB kicks out and the tackle leads on the playside LB.

Great job of head placement as they both kick out, creating a large hole for the RB.