Notre Dame Snowflakes: The Defense

Each game against a halfway decent team Don and his solving problems with aggression D seem to get thrashed. 

The numbers are built against middling teams but when stops are needed (and lo, and behold, the last ND series a stop was had), can’t get one.

The hype train for the D can slow down anytime. One trick pony with no answer for crossing routes or mobile QB’s.  

Good teams have our D figured out...let the pocket collapse, hold the outside edges an extra second, step up & make a pass or option run through the big gapes...seen it so many times now it's like a bad movie

The defense did not play well enough to win in the first half.

Defense was FAR more responsible for last night's loss than the Offense.  They're supposed to be the best side of the ball, and they gave up 21 points in the first half.  

They KNEW Wimbush could be a running threat and still looked surprised every time he ran on 3rd down and converted.

And while the officials didn't do us any favors with their calls, you can't have big penalties that keep drives for the other offense alive.

While I'm disappointed in the offense's showing, this loss falls on Brown's boys, period.

Did my eyes mistake me or did I see Uche covering wide receivers downfield? 

Start that man...even if it means a second hybrid Viper. 

The defense came out flat. On 3rd downs, the intensity increased but they were caught over-pursuing, holding, or making mental errors. They calmed down in the late second Q, but by then the damage was done. This offense is going to take time to develop. Spotting ND an 18 point lead is not a great way to do that.

The 3rd and 18 failure in the third quarter was the defense’s single biggest failure in the game. 

Ruminated on this overnight. I think for the most part the defense will be fine, probably still a top 10 to top 5 unit. Most of what we got got on were fluky, non-repeatable plays. The one big thing though, I think the interior of our line is a problem on passing plays. Part of the reason Wimbush was able to step up and scramble so much is because nobody was pushing the pocket in the middle. In years past a lot of those scrambles would have been Mo Hurst or Ryan Glasgow sacks. Mone and Marshall were not getting that done 

The overpursuit by the front seven killed us early on.  I like Brown's aggression but it seems like when we play tough competition the other guys are smart enough to find the open lanes caused by the overpursuit.  I hate to mention MSU but it seems like their front 7 is coached to contain a mobile QB first.  And they did it well when we had Denard.  We didn't do that to Wimbush until it was too late.  Too much aggression too early.

One thing I saw was ND offensive players repeatedly running away from our LBs. I do not recall that much last year. There was no rabid squirrel, just Wimbush and others opening up the gap on Bush and Hudson and Gill et al. left me wondering if the weight gain is really all good for the way we use them.

In fairness to the defense they didn't see a ball thrown 10 yds downfield all Fall camp. Because if Shea Football and Co cant manage it our scout team sure as hell cant either.

I can't wait for Gary to pad his stats vs Rutgers like Peppers

I’m sick of hearing about our elite defense.  It is not.  It’s stats last year were padded during the wins (7/8) against losing record teams.  They got blown out at PSU and folded late in the other big games.  Who that was above average have they shut down?  Nobody.