Everything North Carolina OC Phil Longo said about Notre Dame football

North Carolina offensive coordinator Phil Longo wasted no time in preparing for Notre Dame. The Tar Heels had an open date last week, but Longo didn’t use it to sip out of a glass with an umbrella to soak in the last official week of summer.

“I treated it like it was game week,” Longo said. “The staff on Monday did the same thing we always do. We broke down Notre Dame, we watched Notre Dame, we schemed Notre Dame. We did what we normally do on a work week.”

You don’t lead the No. 5 offense in the country without extra preparation. The Tar Heels have put up 547.3 yards of offense and 51.3 points per game through Week 3. They have their work cut out for them against a Notre Dame defense that is by far the best they’ve faced to this point, though. The Irish held Ohio State 170 yards under its average yards per game mark of 565.3, which ranks No. 1 in the FBS.

Here’s what Longo said about facing the Irish.

On the identity of the Notre Dame defense

“It’s different everywhere. When you play Pittsburgh, that’s (Pat) Narduzzi‘s personality everywhere in that matchup. You’re getting exactly what the head coach is. Physical. At Notre Dame, you have Al Golden there as the DC now. He’s been in the game a long time. He’s an outstanding defensive coordinator. I’ve known him for a long time. I haven’t talked to him in a long time. Initially learning defensive football, he’s one of the first people I went to when I was younger when he was coaching at Boston College and running the 3-4. He may not even remember me now, but we spent a lot of time up there. I got all his playbook stuff. I still got it from 25 years ago. I doubt he’s running that stuff now.”

On how he went about contacting Golden several years ago

“I really don’t have much of a relationship with him. I haven’t talked to him in 10 years. But when I was younger and I was a head high school coach, we were putting in a 3-4 defense. I talked to Dick LeBeau of the Pittsburgh Steelers and I talked to Al Golden of Boston College. Those are the two guys I went to seek out information about the 3-4. We took a very simplified version and ran it in high school.

“I just thought to myself, ‘Hey, Al is over at Notre Dame. I wonder if I still have any of that old stuff.’ We went up there and he was pretty open and spent some considerable time with us and handed me the whole packet, playbook and pressure stuff from the 3-4. It’s still up in the attic. I’ve got it here at the house six miles from here. It’s in an old, gold folder from Boston College with all of my notes on it and all of his notes on it. Small world. In this business, you wind up retracing and seeing a lot of people over the course of the years. Al Golden still happens to be one of them.”

On what he took from Golden

“I thought he was very meticulous and very organized. He had a plan and he was very confident in his scheme. He might not even remember me, but I remember him because he was so helpful and he was giving with his stuff. But it’s obvious from the way they’re playing defense right now, the physicality piece and the continuity piece are two big aspects to their defense. It’s been a part of their system for a number of years now, and I don’t think any of that has changed now that he’s there.”

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On what Notre Dame does well defensively under Golden

“I think you see his influence on the defense this year. Then you also see aspects of the Notre Dame defense that are no different than last year. Some of the things they excelled at and did a great job of, those characteristics all still exist in their defense. That continues. I think the front seven is the strength of their entire team in my opinion. That’s without watching them offensively very much. But having watched their last three games in succession, in order, I feel like right now, whether they know it or not, the team is dependent on the success of that front seven. We have our work cut out for us offensively, but I think that’s where the strength lies.”

On how the Irish played Ohio State so closely

“There were a high amount of what I thought were high-effort plays. Schematically, Ohio State had them a few times leverage-wise, numbers-wise, that kind of thing. Notre Dame wound up making the play anyways because you have a number of guys on that defense with a high motor. They got out of position a step or two because of the scheme or the fake or whatever Ohio State happened to be doing, and they were able to retrace and cover some ground and go make a play anyway. That’s kind of how they played last year. They pursue well. They track people well. They leverage and force the ball back to the rest of their teammates.

“I will say they have great continuity in the front seven. The way they play, you’d think they’re all six-year starters and they’ve all been playing the last five years. They complement each other. They really leverage the ball very well and I think that’s why they do such a good job in the run game. Ohio State may be the most talented team they’ve played. I’ve watched that one the most. And I thought at times they did a really good job in that game.”