Air Force vs. Notre Dame Football: Triple-Option Will Throw off Irish Luck

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish look that they've figured things out after that abysmal and rather embarrassing 0-2 start to the 2011 season.

Offensively the move to quarterback Tommy Rees has worked out so far, and defensively the Irish are starting to settle in.

After beating Michigan State at home, and then going on the road to beat Pittsburgh and Purdue, the Irish have quite a task ahead of them with Air Force and their tricky triple-option offense coming into town.

Notre Dame has really picked things up and getting to 4-2 would be a huge step for a program that is so desperate for momentum.

Air Force's offense is going to be very tough for the Irish to stop though. Matt Fortuna of ESPN writes on Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly's thoughts on the prospect of stopping the triple-option:

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A Week 6 matchup with Air Force presents Notre Dame with unenviable task of containing the triple-option offense. But coach Brian Kelly is hoping the new look doesn't force a defense that has played so good so far to get out of character. 

"I just think being more familiar with it as a staff and being more familiar with it as the game unfolds are all experiences you can take with you," Kelly said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. "Certainly we have to play the way we've played. We cannot become so out of character in stopping the option that we forget about the things that we teach every day, and that is playing physical, flying to the football, great tackling. 

"I think you've gotta be careful because sometimes option, you get the sense of, 'Hey, it's option.' But we have to do what we do and that is we got to play physical at the line of scrimmage and we've gotta tackle well a understanding the option as being the most important principle."

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Any time a defense has to square off against a gimmicky offense it will be bound to cause trouble. The Irish have given up 18.6 points per game, but the Falcons are coming in averaging 38.5.

Defensively the Falcons give up almost as much as they score, so the Irish will have to lean heavily on their offense if they want to win the game.

Air Force is coming in at 3-1 though, and it's for good reason.

Their offense can give defenses fits, so even though the Irish may be able to keep themselves in the game with their own offense, in the end it's going to come down to stopping the Falcons.

That means they are going to have to stop the triple-option.