Notre Dame’s Senior Day 28-7 victory over Wake Forest is definitely something to be pleased with, but it’s another week of a defense showing holes and weaknesses in their secondary. Is this a playoff caliber team? How did the Notre Dame defense perform on Saturday? Let’s take a look at the numbers!
Notre Dame held the Wake Forest defense to 23 first downs. The Fighting Irish run defense firmly held Wake Forest to just 121 net yards rushing, but Wake Forest’s passing game managed to amass 219 net passing yards on the Irish defense. Wake Forest’s offense was only able to convert on third down 7-of-16 times (0.438) and 0-of-3 times on fourth down (0.000). The Irish defense spent more than half of the game on the field, with Wake Forest’s offense having possession of the ball for 35:48 minutes and the Notre Dame offense only having possession of the ball for 24:12 minutes.
Team Totals | WF | ND |
---|---|---|
First Downs | 23 | 15 |
Net Yards Rushing | 121 | 171 |
Net Yards Passing | 219 | 111 |
Total Offense Yards | 340 | 282 |
Fumbles: Number-Lost | 2 – 0 | 0 – 0 |
Penalties: Number-Yards | 5 – 58 | 4 – 45 |
Punts – Yards | 3 – 150 | 5 – 220 |
Possession Time | 35:48 | 24:12 |
Third-Down Conversions | 7 of 16 (0.438) | 6 of 11 (0.545) |
Fourth-Down Conversions | 0 of 3 (0.000) | 0 of 0 (0.000) |
Sacks By: Number-Yards | 3-21 | 3-23 |
Field Goals | 0-1 (0.000) | 0-0 (0) |
How did the individuals on the Notre Dame defense perform? Junior Jaylon Smith had six solo tackles and eight assists, Joe Schmidt had four solo tackles and six assists, Max Redfield had one solo tackle and seven assists, Elijah Shumate had four solo tackles and three assists, KeiVarae Russell had three solo tackles and three assists, Romeo Okwara had five solo assists and three sacks, and Sheldon Day and Greer Martini had four solo tackles each.
Romeo Okwara’s three sacks on Saturday were the most for a Notre Dame player since Prince Shembo had three sacks against Arizona State on Oct. 5, 2013, in the Shamrock Series game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Defensive lineman Andrew Trumbetti’s “pick-six” was Notre Dame’s first interception return for a touchdown since Dan Fox ran one back 14 yards against Arizona State on Oct. 5, 2013. Linebacker Jaylon Smith had 14 tackles (six solo) on the defensive side of the ball, including one tackle for loss, one pass breakup, and one quarterback hurry.
Notre Dame ## Player Solo Ast Tot TFL/Yds FF FR-Yd Intc BrUp Blkd Sack/Yds QH ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Smith, Jaylon 6 8 14 1.0/2 . . . 1 . . 1 Schmidt, Joe 4 6 10 . . . . . . . 2 Redfield, Max 1 7 8 . . . . . . . . Shumate, Elijah 4 3 7 1.0/3 . . . . . . . Russell, KeiVarae 3 3 6 . . . . 1 . . . Rochell, Isaac 3 3 6 . . . . . . . . Okwara, Romeo 5 . 5 3.0/23 1 . . . . 3.0/23 1 Day, Sheldon 4 . 4 2.0/8 . . . . . . 3 Martini, Greer 4 . 4 . . . . . . . . Luke, Cole . 3 3 . . . . . . . . Trumbetti, Andrew 1 1 2 . . . 1-28 . . . . Grace, Jarrett 1 1 2 . . . . . . . . Baratti, Nicky 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . Onwualu, James 1 . 1 1.0/1 . . . . . . . FARLEY,Matthias 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . Coney, Te'von 1 . 1 . . . . . . . . Morgan, Nyles . 1 1 . . . . . . . . Randolph, Doug . 1 1 . . . . . . . . Blankenship, Grant . 1 1 . . . . . . . .
Post Game Quotes:
Q. Coming into the season, Romeo had in his entire career seven and a half tackles for loss. I think he’s gotten up to nine in the last five games and also has eight sacks in the last five games. Can you talk about why his game has taken such a huge jump?
Brian Kelly: It’s one of those things where he came onto campus as a 17-year-old that just really was a raw player, raw football player, and has, you know, grown in a very short period of time this year into the kind of football player that I think has, you know, a huge growth potential in front of him, as well. We’re just seeing that maturation process kind of come together. Long, athletic, starting to really understand the game of football, and I think that’s what we’re seeing in front of us.
Q. Have you guys done anything over the last couple games to really put him in more of a play-making position or is it about him just finishing more plays off?
Brian Kelly: He’s certainly in a position to affect the quarterback more in a pass rushing situation. But again, you know, we’re much more of a four-down team, where he was a bit of a drop player, so I think that contributes a little bit. But I would tell you that it’s much more about his skill development at that position that we’re seeing come together.
Q. What happened with Cage, and can you talk about your defensive line shuffle and how you felt like that played out?
Brian Kelly: Yeah, we had to shuffle it around a little bit. You know, Cage was not feeling well from the Pittsburgh game, and you know, we really felt like it was best to keep him out this week. So we were moving some pieces around up front, and you know, I thought with 14 tackles for loss, we did some really, really good things, in particular the pressures that we got on the quarterback.
There’s some run fits that weren’t quite as efficient as they have been. We’ll have to take a look at the film, whether it was — I thought we were a little soft on some of our releases. But all in all, we had to move some players around to get the front the way we wanted it.
Q. A couple 3rd downs, defense couldn’t necessarily get off the field. Is that something you want to see more balance of and clean up as you move forward?
Brian Kelly: Yeah, I think Wake Forest did a very good job of controlling the football. There were a couple 3rd down situations — one there was a 3rd and 12 where Shumate has got to play a little bit tighter man coverage. We gave up a couple of throws where we just have to be tighter in our man coverage situations.
But you know, we were pretty stingy in 4th down, so we made up for it in 4th down situations.
Q. What’s the diagnosis with James Onwualu?
Brian Kelly: He’s got an MCL sprain. We’ll get an MRI tomorrow and then find out what the severity of the MCL sprain is.
Q. Red zone defense doesn’t get talked about a lot, but talk about how important that was to the overall outcome today.
Brian Kelly: Well, I thought it was very important. Certainly they had a missed field goal and then a few opportunities. Certainly they were very aggressive in going for it on 4th down situations where maybe in other situations that you would see during the game maybe you don’t. But some of their 4th downs were difficult. Other than the 4th and goal, they had some long 4th down situations to try to convert, as well.
But you know, a couple of things happened in our favor. We got them behind the chains in those short areas, and then we played — we were able to play some zone coverage behind and not be exposed. I thought we did some really good things in mixing some things up in terms of pressures and then not bringing pressures, so I thought Brian did a very good job of calling the game in that short field. That’s really important, too. You have to call a good game. You have to be diversified down in the red zone, and I thought we were.
Jaylon Smith – Jr. – Linebacker
On looking forward to playing on senior day: “I had it on my mind each and every day this week. I was really just looking forward to this opportunity.”
On focusing on being in the college football playoffs: “Winning is hard in college football so anytime you get a chance to celebrate a victory, have your seniors go out the right way, and go undefeated at home, it’s a huge accomplishment.”
On keeping the same mentality in the next two games: “They are must wins. We play against a rich tradition school in Boston College next week. It’s our Shamrock Series game so I know the guys will be excited for that and I know I am. I’m very excited when it comes to dressing up appropriately and being in style.”
Andrew Trumbetti – So. – Defensive Line
On his interception return for a touchdown: “I really don’t remember the play. I kind of just blacked out. It was the coolest moment of my life.”
On the feeling after making his big play: “When I got to the sidelines I was really worried about catching my breath. I thought I was going to pass out because I was just so excited and everyone was jumping on me. I think I forgot to breath.”
On how being a running back helped him on his interception return for a touchdown: “I loved carrying the ball in high school. It’s always good when you get the ball back in your hands, especially when you practice without touching it every single day.”
Joe Schmidt – Gr. – Linebacker
On the emotions of the day: “You know it is emotional now, but before it’s tough. You’re trying to sort through all of that but once you get back into the locker room, you resort back to training and try to ignore the noise that’s not important to the game. A few times you think about making it count during the game, and I think we did that today as a senior class. I’m happy with the victory.”
On the seniors’ legacy: “I think it’s important to us to improve upon the foundation that was laid by the senior classes before us. You know we feel that we have some work left to be done in that area, but the record at home is something that we really wanted to work on. It’s a point of pride for us.”
On the difficulty of winning late season games: “It doesn’t matter when the game is or who you’re playing, winning in college football is really hard. I think Wake Forest gave us all we could handle defensively. They had a lot of really good offensive plans to challenge us and they’re a good football team.”
Sheldon Day – Sr. – Defensive Lineman
On the pregame moment with his mom: “It was very special. It’s a moment that I’m going to share with her forever. We had a nice little handshake, a hug, and an `I love you,’ so it was very special for me and my mom.”
On what this day was like as a whole: “Words can’t explain it. I’ve spent so much time here. I’ve seen this stadium through its up and downs, and it has definitely been a good ride.”
On how the fact that it’s your last home game plays into your mindset and preparation: “I would definitely say as it’s going on, you try to embrace everything, but it seems like everything is flying by. Going into the week, we tried to keep emotions out of it, but it’s kind of hard because you’re trying to get family here and you’re trying to do all the other things to make sure that your senior day is perfect. But once it’s time to go, it’s time to go.”
***
I know that senior day is an emotional day. I also know that whether they should be or not, that these guys seemed to be peering ahead towards the end-of-the-season matchup with Stanford. These “trap” games are tough. There’s a lot at stake right now with this Irish team, and a lot of cards have to fall just right for them to get a spot in the top four of the final playoff standings. But the Irish secondary still has some weaknesses that need to be worked through if they think they’re going to be at all competitive against the likes of Ohio State or Alabama. Hopefully coach Kelly and VanGorder continue to refine the skills of this secondary and keep fine tuning them on their way to potential playoff greatness.
What say you?
Cheers & GO IRISH!
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Doug Magill
I think we are in trouble. If wake had great players we would have lost that game the way we played. I don’t understand how wake was pushing our O line back 3 yards. Adams was getting hit before he could make his first cut. BC will be a challange for us. Our run game has really took a dive with good D lines. Clemson, Temple and now Wake? BC will roll coverage over Fuller and stuff the run. It will be a low scoring affair. If we have problems with Wake’s D line we will get murdered with Bama’s. I heard Kizer say that Wake had one of the best D lines we playe
d this year. Wake? yea we will be in trouble with Bama or Ohio State.
IrishElvis
To be fair, I think most teams would have trouble when playing Alabama or Ohio State from a defensive line perspective. BC has a better d-line (and arguably a better defense) than either one. I recall one of the coaches stating that Wake used their bye week to implement some new run strategies. One heartening note/trend is the maturation of Kizer running the ball. If defenses opt to restrict Fuller and RB carries, the QB keep becomes a more effective weapon.