Some wins mean more than others, and a win over a rival like USC is definitely one of them. There are many reasons to be pleased with the Notre Dame defensive squad, and there are still a few things about them that make me nervous. How did Notre Dame’s defense perform against the Trojans of USC? Let’s take a look!
The Notre Dame defense held USC to 19 first downs, and USC was only able to convert on third down 6-of-16 times (0.375), and 2-of-3 times on fourth down (0.667). The Fighting Irish rush defense was solid on Saturday, with USC only being able to rush for 150 net yards all game. The ND pass defense, however, was not as tough. USC’s offense was able to rack up 440 net yards of passing against us on Saturday. The Notre Dame defense continues to have trouble keeping their focus for 60 solid minutes, and the Irish secondary is still showing some vulnerability.
“If you miss a tackle, those kids are gone,” Kelly said in his post game press conference. “They make you pay dearly, and we missed some tackles.”
Special teams, however was outstanding on Saturday night, receiving the game ball, lead by Equanimeous St. Brown who blocked a punt in the first half. Notre Dame’s last blocked punt for a touchdown was by Robert Blanton against Utah on Nov. 13, 2010.
Special Teams received the Game Ball tonight led by Equanimeous St. Brown who blocked a punt in the first half. pic.twitter.com/TXndEq3XfY
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 18, 2015
| Team Totals | USC | ND |
|---|---|---|
| First Downs | 19 | 21 |
| Net Yards Rushing | 150 | 214 |
| Net Yards Passing | 440 | 262 |
| Total Offense Yards | 590 | 476 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost | 0 – 0 | 1 – 1 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards | 10 – 105 | 4 – 40 |
| Punts – Yards | 4 – 110 | 5 – 190 |
| Possession Time | 31:08 | 28:52 |
| Third-Down Conversions | 6 of 16 (0.375) | 5 of 12 (0.417) |
| Fourth-Down Conversions | 2 of 3 (0.667) | 0 of 0 (0.000) |
| Sacks By: Number-Yards | 4-26 | 2-9 |
| Field Goals | 1-2 (0.500) | 2-2 (1.000) |
Notre Dame’s Max Redfield (10) intercepts a pass tipped by teammate KeiVarae Russell (6) and USC’s JuJu Smith-Schuster (9) during the Notre Dame-Southern Cal football game on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. SBT Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN
How did the guys look on a individual basis? Pretty stout I must say. Jaylon Smith had six solo tackles and eight assists, KeiVarae Russell had nine solo tackles and one assist, James Onwualu had four solo tackles and three assists, Cole Luke had five solo tackles and one assist, Isaac Rochell had three solo tackles and three assists, Joe Schmidt had three solo tackles and one assist, Sheldon Day, Matthias Farley and Max Redfield all had two tackles and two assists. The secondary does still cause me to have nightmares, but when you’ve got players making 10 and 14 tackles a game, I think we’re going to be alright.
## Player Solo Ast Tot TFL/Yds FF FR-Yd Intc BrUp Blkd Sack/Yds QH ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smith, Jaylon 6 8 14 0.5/0 . . . . . . 1 Russell, KeiVarae 9 1 10 . . . 1-0 . . . . Onwualu, James 4 3 7 . . . . 1 . . . Luke, Cole 5 1 6 . . . . . . . . Rochell, Isaac 3 3 6 1.5/4 . . . 1 . 1.0/3 3 Schmidt, Joe 3 1 4 . . . . . . . 1 Day, Sheldon 2 2 4 . . . . . . . 1 FARLEY,Matthias 2 2 4 . . . . . . . . Redfield, Max 2 2 4 . . . 1-19 . . . . Okwara, Romeo 3 . 3 2.0/9 . . . . . 1.0/6 2 Cage, Daniel 2 1 3 1.0/1 . . . . . . . Shumate, Elijah 2 . 2 1.0/3 . . . 1 . . . Coney, Te'von 1 1 2 . . . . . . . . Morgan, Nyles 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . Trumbetti, Andrew . 1 1 . . . . . . . . ST. BROWN, E. . . . . . . . . 1 . . Some post game thoughts on the defense and special teams: Q. And then last week, maybe you struggled in the first half defensively, limited them to three points and this week, USC, just seven points in the second half. Anything specific that you were able to do in the second half that led to that? COACH KELLY: You know, we missed -- look, that is as talented -- those two kids that had the big plays, Brown, Juju, Adoree' Jackson; if you miss a tackle, those kids are gone. They make you pay, dearly, and we missed some tackles. We had them in our sights a couple of times. Now, I think the screen to Adoree' was well executed. They caught us in a blitz. We kind of tipped it, gave it away. They checked it from the sidelines. I thought it was well executed on their part. But the other two plays, we are in position. Isaac Rochell has the back wrapped up in the backfield and we missed the tackle. Missed a couple tackles. And they are extremely talented and they make you pay if you don't take them down. Q. You've talked since you've been here about how important special teams is, third phase in the game. It looked like you were a lot more aggressive tonight, attacking the punt with the returns, the fake. What made you think could you go after them and how important was it to be able to generate some big plays from the special teams tonight? COACH KELLY: I think we feel like we have got some guys that are scared; like Equanimeous St. Brown on that team is long and athletic, and we just felt like this week as a week that we wanted to be aggressive when we got the opportunity. You know, we've shown some coverages more than we have attacking the punt and we felt like this was a week that we wanted to do it. We got the right circumstances in situations for it where they were backed up. And I just think we have got good players on that team and we wanted to let them go. I think that C.J. did a great job on kickoff returns and gave us really good field position. And obviously the big downing of the punts where we went pooch punt (ph) we were able to down the No. 1 yard and really change field position. So we made some good plays. They are a very difficult team obviously with their skilled return men. And Justin Yoon has been money for us. He's been so consistent.
Notre Dame’s KeiVarae Russell (6) celebrates an interception during the Notre Dame-Southern Cal football game on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. SBT Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN
Q. Your secondary allowed 440 yards, but I think 450 of those probably came on two plays, and they made two big plays at the end. Can you just assess the secondary and how they played? COACH KELLY: You know, we want to be better each and every week. But I think when you look at it, we are who we are. We played both Max and Matthias. I thought Shu is playing well at one safety position. I think KeiVarae is coming on. He's playing the ball better. He's playing more aggressive. I thought he had a great week of practice this week. Cole gets a little nosy. We've got to keep him disciplined. He wants to do a little too much. And so we are who we are. We've just got to keep working with them. They are our kids. They are our players. And you know, Todd is coaching them every single day and we are just going to keep working with them to get them better each and every week. Q. You put Max in in the second and third quarter for Matthias. Can you talk about that decision? COACH KELLY: Yeah, we're going to play them all. They are all good players. They are all -- I don't think there's one guy that separates themselves to take that over. The backups for the two corners are young guys and then you've got some veterans at that position with Matthias. So we feel like we want to get them all in the game. *** So here we are, bye week! I think the coaching staff has done a great job of working with the players and getting them to be better each and every week. And I think the concept of "mental toughness" is very important when you're trying to get your players to stay focused for an entire 60 minutes. I think the week off and a little rest will do this team some good. I hope they come out rested, ready to go and focused to play out the rest of the season. What say you? Cheers & GO IRISH!
Her Loyal ... Daughter
Lisa Kelly is a multidimensional marketing professional. She has over two decades of marketing experience and earned a bachelor of business administration and marketing from the University of Notre Dame (Class of 1993 ... Siegfried Hall!). She is a Digital Publishing Manager by day and by night is writing her third book, a continuation of "Echoes From the End Zone: The Men We Became" and its sequel "The Men We Became: MORE Echoes From the End Zone." In 2012, Lisa was crowned the "Biggest Fan of the Big East" in a blogging and social media contest, representing Notre Dame.
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