Miami vs. Notre Dame Film Study: What We Learned from Last Year’s Matchup

One of my favorite things to do when studying college football is go back and examine what happened when two teams played the previous year. We don’t get many opportunities to do that anymore, but this week’s Miami vs. Notre Dame matchup gives us a good one.

The Hurricanes and Fighting Irish played last season, with Miami winning 27-24. A lot of the personnel has changed since then, but the coordinators are still in place. That gives us a chance to look at what each coaching staff tried to accomplish, where they found advantages, and what might carry over to Saturday night’s rematch in South Bend.

Notre Dame has a much more experienced quarterback in CJ Carr. Miami has Darian Mensah running the offense and one of the best playmakers in college football in Malachi Toney.

Let’s grab some tape and see what we can learn from last year’s matchup.

Notre Dame Won’t Have to Protect CJ Carr Like Last Year

The first thing that stood out when I went back and watched last year’s game was how Notre Dame tried to protect its young quarterback.

Before the game, Marcus Freeman talked about getting Carr comfortable with free-access throws. That’s exactly what we saw early. Five of Notre Dame’s first eight plays involved throwing the football at, near, or behind the line of scrimmage.

A lot of screens, a lot of throws into the flat, and a lot of easy work for the quarterback.

Here’s the problem with that approach. If you’re going to protect your quarterback by throwing the football underneath, you better generate yards after the catch. Otherwise, all you’re doing is putting yourself in third-and-long situations.

Notre Dame struggled to move the ball early, and that conservative approach was part of the problem.

I don’t expect to see the same thing this year.

They trust Carr now, and rightfully so. He’s at his best when he’s standing in the pocket, reading defenses and delivering the football on time.

There was a really good example from last year’s game against Cover 3. Carr waited for the underneath defender to commit to the flat before coming back to the curl route for a 10-yard completion.

That’s good quarterback play. He’s making the defense declare its intentions, trusting his offensive line and delivering the football where it needs to go.

I expect offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock to be much more aggressive with Carr to open this football game, especially considering what Miami has shown in its secondary this season.

Notre Dame’s OL Can Still Create Opportunities

When Notre Dame finally started putting together a scoring drive last year, what did they do?

They ran the football.

That’s what Notre Dame does. They’ve got good offensive linemen, and they’ve had them for a long time.

What I liked about that drive was how they attacked Miami’s defensive alignment with some unconventional rushing concepts.

We saw center-tackle counter, where the center and tackle pulled to create an opening in the defense. Then Notre Dame came right back with power, attacking the natural space Miami had left in its defensive front.

They also used an H-insert concept, which is basically an old-school ISO run dressed up in a modern formation. The tight end inserts into the formation to block the linebacker, and the running back follows him.

It’s old-school football with a new-school look.

Notre Dame also mixed in a quarterback draw with Carr. He’s not going to get the same number of designed carries that Riley Leonard did, but you still have to account for him as a runner.

The difference this year is the personnel around Carr.

Notre Dame no longer has Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price in the backfield. I don’t think the current running backs are as talented as those two, but they’re good enough to make this offense work.

And the offensive line is still very much an elite unit.

Now, Miami has the No. 1 rushing defense in college football at the time of this study, so moving the football on the ground won’t be easy.

But Notre Dame showed last year that it can use different blocking schemes to attack the weaknesses in Miami’s defensive alignment. That’s something worth watching again on Saturday.

Can Miami’s Secondary Hold Up?

One thing that hasn’t really changed about Miami’s defense is its ability to pressure the quarterback.

The Hurricanes are still among the national leaders in sacks per game. They’re getting opposing quarterbacks on the ground more than three times per game.

My question isn’t whether Miami can get after the quarterback.

My question is whether they can cover behind that pressure.

Go back to last year’s film, and there were some outstanding examples of coverage communication. Miami’s defenders recognized route combinations, passed receivers between coverage responsibilities and forced Carr to hold onto the football.

There was one third-and-long situation where Miami played man coverage on one side and zone on the other. The defenders underneath did an excellent job recognizing what was coming back across the field.

There was nowhere for Carr to go with the football except a checkdown. Eventually, the pressure forced him out of the pocket, and Notre Dame had to punt.

That’s the type of coverage that makes a good pass rush even more dangerous.

But Miami hasn’t been nearly as reliable on the back end this season.

The Hurricanes have given up too many explosive passing plays, and the tackling has also been an issue.

I saw a report that Miami had 14 missed tackles against North Carolina. That’s not good enough.

We saw some of those same problems in last year’s Notre Dame game. Jordan Faison turned a third-and-nine screen into an 18-yard gain because Miami had multiple opportunities to get him on the ground and couldn’t finish the tackle.

Faison is back, and he’s still one of Notre Dame’s best playmakers.

If Miami is going to continue giving up yards after the catch, Notre Dame has players who can take advantage.

Miami Can Still Run the Football Despite OL Departures

Now let’s flip over and look at Miami’s offense.

The Hurricanes lost a bunch of good football players up front from last year’s team. We’re talking about multiple NFL-caliber offensive linemen who were a major part of what made that rushing attack so effective.

But guess what Miami can still do? Run the football.

And a big reason for that is the running backs.

Mark Fletcher is an absolute problem to tackle. He’s a physical runner who can get downhill and punish defenders, and freshman Javian Mallory brings some of that same physicality.

Those two aren’t interested in making life easy for anybody trying to tackle them.

The rushing lanes might be a little tighter than they were last year because of the changes along the offensive line, but Miami can still run north and south and generate positive yardage.

That’s especially important when you’re backed up near your own goal line or need to get a drive started.

Notre Dame is going to have to tackle extremely well in this football game.

These Miami backs are capable of making you pay if you’re not pursuing the football and getting multiple defenders to the ball carrier.

Mensah Gives Miami a Different Passing Attack

Miami’s passing game is another area where things have changed.

Carson Beck played well in last year’s matchup, and I thought he did a good job finding answers against Notre Dame’s defense.

But I think Miami has gotten better at throwing the football with Darian Mensah.

Mensah has been outstanding at working through his progressions. If the defense takes away the front side of a passing concept, he can get to his backside reads and deliver the football.

He’s also willing to stand in the pocket and take a hit to make a throw.

I haven’t seen him miss many spots lately.

That’s a big deal against a Notre Dame defense that’s going to challenge receivers in man coverage.

Last year, Miami had an opportunity to hit Malachi Toney on a wheel route against man coverage. The coverage was good, but Beck overthrew the football just a little bit.

I don’t think Miami can count on those same misses happening with Mensah.

You can play excellent coverage and still give up a completion when the quarterback puts the football exactly where it needs to be.

That’s what makes this passing attack so dangerous.

Toney Is Now the Centerpiece on Offense

It’s fascinating to go back and watch how Miami used Malachi Toney in last year’s game.

I don’t think they fully realized what they had in him yet.

He was a true freshman playing his first college football game, and early on, the offense wasn’t necessarily running through him.

Then they started getting him the football.

Once Miami began using its package designed to feature Toney, you could see how much of a problem he was for Notre Dame’s defense.

He was already an outstanding route runner with tremendous short-area quickness. He was finding space against man coverage and generating yards after the catch.

And somehow, he’s gotten even better.

Last year, he was wearing No. 10. Now he’s wearing No. 1, and just about everything Miami does offensively starts and stops with him.

There were plays in that 2025 game where Toney was open, but the quarterback went somewhere else with the football.

I don’t expect that to happen nearly as often this year.

When Miami gets an advantageous look against man coverage, Mensah is going to know where Toney is.

And when Miami gets into those empty formations against zone coverage, I expect the ball to find Toney there, too.

His route running is special, particularly on those sail routes where he sells the inside release before snapping the route back outside.

He’s also become even more dangerous after the catch.

Miami knows exactly what it has in him now, and that’s going to change how Notre Dame has to defend this offense.

Toney vs. Moore: Matchup of the Game?

This is the individual battle I’m really looking forward to watching.

Malachi Toney against Leonard Moore.

Notre Dame isn’t afraid to play man-to-man coverage. That’s who they are defensively, and I don’t expect them to abandon that approach just because Miami has an elite receiver.

I’ve watched Moore travel with receivers before, and I believe Notre Dame will be willing to let him follow Toney around the field.

That’s a fascinating matchup.

Toney’s short-area quickness and ability to separate are exceptional. He’s going to win routes against just about anybody if you give him enough opportunities.

But Moore is one of the best defensive backs Notre Dame has, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Irish trust him with that responsibility.

Now, there’s a difference between covering a dominant slot receiver and a dominant outside receiver.

When you’re defending somebody in the slot, you’ve often got a safety in the middle of the field who can provide additional help. When that receiver is lined up outside the numbers, the safety has a lot more ground to cover.

That’s why the alignment matters so much.

We’ll see where Miami moves Toney and how Notre Dame responds.

I expect those two to see plenty of each other Saturday night.