Nick Saban breaks down Notre Dame’s offense on third-down vs Texas A&M

If there’s one person who you can totally trust on ESPN’s College GameDay to break down film, it’s Nick Saban.

The future College Football Hall of Fame coach joined the pregame show this season, and broke down what Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard will see from the Texas A&M defense on Saturday night.

Although Leonard is very familiar with Mike Elko’s defense, Saban doesn’t think that will be a big factor for the Irish offense when trying to convert third-down opportunities. The Aggies defense will show different coverages to confuse Notre Dame, but he does believe that Leonard will be able to “recognize the man-to-man part of it.”

The issue Saban thinks Leonard will have is with simulated zones, as he thinks that it’s “going to be difficult for him to recognize because he has to do it after he catches the snap. All post-snap, so that makes it more difficult for a quarterback.”

You could look at it a different way, if Leonard can recognize if it’s man-to-man, when he can’t, it’s most likely going to be zone. Like Saban said, he’s has to figure out what kind of zone coverage it will be, but he’ll still know its zone.

Converting third-downs could very well define if Notre Dame wins or if they fall on the road.

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