Don’t look now, but the ND Defense is getting better. Kinda. On one side. Sure, the schedule has lightened up a bit after tough early games against MI and MSU and Stanford, but the D has improved as the season has reached the midpoint…against the Run.
ND now sits at a respectable 41st in Rushing Defense, giving up about 3.8 ypc and 130 yards/game. This is a big improvement from where we were 3 games in or so, after the Denard Disaster, when we were sitting in the 80’s in Rush D. And in Scoring D, ND is doing slightly better than average, ranked in the low 50’s with 23 ppg.
So that’s the good news.
The bad?
ND currently ranks 103rd against the Pass, giving up over 6 yards per attempt and almost 256 yards per game. Now it’s no secret that Coach Kelly is big on stopping the run first, so some of this is by design. However, all of those 3rd and longs that we’ve earned have often been beaten by pass plays down the field. And no team, ever, sits at 100+ in any defensive ranking stat on purpose. And no ND team should EVER be in that position. So something is broken.
And while I don’t have much in terms of hard evidence, it seems like the issues are not with our CBs, but rather with our Middle Linebackers Calabrese and Teo, and our Safeties (Smith and Motta/Slaughter when he plays, rarely). Too often I see these big passing plays, that so often seem to occur on 3rd and 11, right over the middle on some sort of crossing route. And too often do I see Calabrese or Teo or both miscommunicating with the Safeties working behind them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving Carlo and Manti against the run, and their tackle production proves that they’re doing a good job in there, especially given their relative lack of experience (at least for Carlo). But the coaches need to spend some time focusing on the communication/reading aspect of their coverage. And a lot of this lies on the Safeties too. These guys have the entire field in front of them, and should be able to do a decent job of helping the MLBs see the field, recognize a play, and adjust quickly. The challenge this year has been the injury to Slaughter, and the complete lack of experience for Zeke. Much like Carlo, Zeke is busting his butt out there, but he just doesn’t have the experience or the knowledge to always be in the right place at the right time. And he certainly doesn’t have the experience to help read the play in such a way that he helps the MLBs on coverage.
The other big factor with Slaughter’s injury, beyond his just not being on the field, has been the D’s limitations in terms of packages. While using Blanton as a nickel back has happened here or there, you can tell that Diaco isn’t fully comfortable employing his full scheme without a bit more depth at these positions. Coach Kelly has addressed this numerous times in his PCs.
The unfortunate thing is that the problem doesn’t seem to be going away. Slaughter is still injured, Zeke is still learning, Smith is still Smith, Carlo is still learning, and Chris Badger is still off on his Mormon Mission.
So, this falls on Carlo and Manti, Smith and Motta, to get the communication going big time. Hopefully the coaches are helping them get there. Until they do, ND’s Pass D is going to remain a concern. At least we don’t have to worry about it too much vs Navy…
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domer_mq
Pass Efficiency Defense tends to be a vastly superior stat for defensive analysis. ND is currently 49th in that category.
The Biscuit
I get that, but being ranked 100+ in total Pass D, combined with all the 3rd and longs we give up, means we haven’t seen much progress. At least, to me.
domer_mq
But ND is, effectively, tied for first in “pass attempts against.” ND and Tulsa have faced more passes than any other teams in the country, with 277. A big part of that is likely the amount of time ND’s D is on the field. ND’s won TOP just once this season, last week against WMU. That’s a lot of extra plays for the other guy to run.
So, obviously, ND must stink at 3rd down conversion defense, right? No. Actually, ND is 13th in 3rd down conversion defense (31.58%, meaning they “win” that down 68.42% of the time). They actually do get off the field. They just also get back on it in quick succession.
If the Irish offense can just get “consistent,” it would about double the Irish scoring rate. The ND “total pass defense” rank would probably not budge, but our efficiency rate would probably improve a bit. And for sure our record would look awesome right now.
The Biscuit
Excellent points. My impression of 3rd down efficiency must be colored by Pitt. If this were a ‘debate this’, I may have to concede. As it is, I retain my official 1-0 record.
Pat
Biscuit, what I think you are missing here is talk of the front four. While I think our guys up front are playing better, just as the defensive unit is playing better as a whole, we don’t have any playmaker pass rushers. Get some pressure on the QB when dropping seven, and it’ll make a world of difference when our opponents are in throwing situations.
I hope among the six or so DEs Kelly has thus far recruited, one of them will be a playmaking QB hunter.
The Biscuit
Good point. A little pressure on the QB when we drop into coverage with our ILBs would certainly help. Feels like our DL has made progress in terms of making plays and holding the line/at least battling, but not so much in getting QB pressure. And when we do, it seems like a QB scrambles for 15 yards most of the time.
canuck75
Zeke has become my favourite player on D. I have no fear when he is on the field, even though he is still learning. I predict he will make some monster tackles this week. As Kelly discussed, Carlo has made some bad reads that have led to big gains. As he learns, those lanes close as well.
D is definitely improving, but this week will tell us more.
BTW, I have 2 tix available for Tulsa if anyone is looking.
domer_mq
Funny you say that about Zeke. He made a play last week that looked really polished against WMU’s attempt as a typical triple-option play, and I was surprised at how well he did it. Then, of course, Kelly comes out this week with news that ND had been spending 15-20 minutes a week working on the triple option defense. It showed then. Hope it shows again.
TLNDMA
Actually that was misunderstood by about everyone. Scout team had been working on option look,for weeks, to show D this week. Defense had been working on that weeks opponent.
domer_mq
Well, so much for trusting quotations in newspapers. I never watched or read the presser itself.
TLNDMA
In the original PC Kelly implied that the D had been practicing against the option, He and Diaco corrected that.
The Biscuit
I love Z’s speed and willingness to lay it all out there. I hate that he’s so often out of position so that we get to see his speed and him laying it out there all the time.
BurbankSteve
Canuck – my brain is f*rting and my BBerry won’t bring up the schedule – when/where the Tulsa game?
Pat – you got there before me – we don’t pressure the QB enough and when we do it seems to be a fingernail away from a sack and then a 10 yard scramble with me yelling “GET HIM” at the TV. My bar buddies here in LA thinks it’s funny – they’re all yelling “GET HIM” when I walk in now. I’m just ticking more days off my life:)
canuck 75
Tulsa is next home game-Oct 30
Pat
Yeah, see, I opt for the more vulgar “Kill him!!!” — but to the same effect.
GB
Biscuit
Interesting perspective. My biggest disappointment this year has been the play of the OLBs.
JM
I wonder where are defense would rank without the Stanford game; that game killed us statistically for 3rd down passing yards, and of course they killed us for it.
Kelly mentioned in his presser that Cabrese is playing the middle of the field right in practice on passing downs but not in the game — hopefully we’ll start to see on the field soon.
My biggest concern for this weekend is that Navy will be looking for that one big play – and if we have Slaughter and others make mistakes like he did against Pitt, we are going to have a tough game on our hands.
Rocket89
We should jump up 10-20 spots nationally in pass defense no matter what after this game with Navy, right?
That should even things out a bit and give us a clearer look considering just about every other team has played at least one truly pathetic team that can’t throw the ball.
I agree that the D-line isn’t getting enough pressure, but it’s still better than last year. We almost have the amount of sacks and TFL this year thru 7 games then we did thru 12 last year.
MLB’s are getting beat in the zone defense a lot too as you mentioned. Overall though, pretty happy with the defense. I think we’re definitely a lot better than some of the stats show.
Pat
Yes, exactly, our rankings will definitely improve, and we should be happy we are, for the most part, seeing steady progress.
Oh, I feel we are getting to the QB better this year than all of Tenuta’s-stupid-blitz-schemes-that-left-our-DBs-on-islands combined. There’s little doubt about that. And I give our front three all the credit in the world: they look better, faster, stronger. But we just are missing that stud up front, say, a DE that is just a terror, or even a DT that DEMANDS a double team (something you’d like to see, especially in the 3-4). Get a guy or two like that and look out, that’s when you can have a top 20, top 10 defense nationally.
Chuck
Budding Heisman candidates make a strong candidacy statement every time they play against Notre Dame. That’s one way to evaluate ND defensive efforts.
BryanW
No blame for the Dog ‘backer? Our outside linebackers have been struggling.
Pat
Hey, folks, the schedules for the next two years are officially out. Tighten your belts and strap yourself in, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.
Mark G
When we are in zone coverage, which appears to be most of the time, any decent quarterback will pick us apart unless we get pressure on him. I do not see the field well enough (even live in the stadium) to see how often we use man coverage or how effective we are in it (though our corners appear to be able to effectively handle press coverage and man coverage).
Agree with Domer_mq’s comment that in many of our games (Mich., Mich. State and BC come to mind) our defense’s weaknesses have been exacerbated by our offense going 3 too often, sometimes in successive series. Consistency on our offense’s part and maintaining drives obviously would help put more points on the board. However, even without scoring, maintaining drives would (1) give our D a rest, (2) tilt field position in our favor and (3) wear out our opponent’s defense, which opens up running later in the game (when, we hope, we are ahead and want to kill clock). The third factor is a huge one for me
Bubba Du Lac
All this talk about how ND does not have to worry about the pass this weekend is a bit disconcerting.
Did we not get burned by the pass multiple times last year by Navy? Or am I thinking about 3 years ago?
Cautiously optimistic that we don’t count our eggs too quickly here. Don’t be fooled into thinking that Navy won’t try again to sucker the defense into biting on the run, only to throw it over our heads for a score. Gee Whiz, guys! MSU did it to us earlier this year.
domer_mq
Actually, I meant to point this out to Biscuit too. Dobbs even had a game this year where he threw 19 times.
Navy has already made 78 pass attempts this year. They only attempted 110 passes all of 2009. So they’re passing about 50% more often than their typical trend under “Coach N.” But if you read interviews with Kelly this week, it’s clear he’s quite aware of Navy’s use of the pass.