I never expected to be writing this week’s review of Notre Dame’s defense reeling after a loss to North Carolina State, and with Notre Dame having a record of 2-4. I can’t even remember the last time Notre Dame was 2-4 at the mid-season mark. I’m not one to point fingers, but I don’t think that the defense was to blame for this week’s loss. And yes, absolutely, playing in a hurricane was a definite challenge for both teams, but somehow Notre Dame could not overcome the obstacles placed in front of them. How did the Notre Dame defense perform this week against the North Carolina State Wolfpack? Let’s have a look!

The Notre Dame defense allowed the North Carolina State offense 14 first downs; 11 rushing, 2 passing and one penalty. Notre Dame allowed the North Carolina State offense to accumulate 198 yards of total offense; 157 yards of net rushing and 41 yards of net passing. The North Carolina State offense made 64 plays on offense, averaging 3 yards per play. North Carolina State was successful at converting on third down 2-of-14 times and on fourth down 2-of-5 times; and NC State had possession of the ball for 32:19 minutes, and Notre Dame had possession of the ball 27:41 minutes.

When you look at those initial stats, it looks as though the Notre Dame defense did a decent job at holding the North Carolina State offense to a less than average day, but of course the weather had a major role in that as well.

Team Totals	ND	ST
FIRST DOWNS	10	14
Rushing	5	11
Passing	4	2
Penalty	1	1
NET YARDS RUSHING	59	157
Rushing Attempts	38	51
Average Per Rush	1.6	3.1
Rushing Touchdowns	0	0
Yards Gained Rushing	102	232
Yards Lost Rushing	43	75
NET YARDS PASSING	54	41
Completions-Attempts-Int	9-26-1	7-14-0
Average Per Attempt	2.1	2.9
Average Per Completion	6.0	5.9
Passing Touchdowns	0	0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	113	198
Total offense plays	64	65
Average Gain Per Play	1.8	3.0

Individually, how did the Notre Dame defense look? Tillery was a stand out on defense with a career-best nine tackles: five solo tackles and four assists. Coney had two solo tackles and five assists, Studstill had four solo tackles and one assist, Bilal had three solo tackles and two assists, Martini had three solo tackles and two assists, Tranquill had one solo tackle and four assists, Rochell had five assists, Nyles Morgan had two solo tackles and two assists, Onwualu and Trumbetti both had one solo tackle and three assists, and both Love and Luke had two solo tackles and one assist. Not the double-digit tackles we were seeing last week, but again, Hurricane Matthew had a major inpact on the play on both sides of the ball.

A few other notable individual stats (from UND.com):

• Daelin Hayes forced an opponent fumble for the first time in his career.
• Nyles Morgan recovered that fumble for his first career fumble recovery.
• Daniel Cage forced his first career fumble in the third quarter.
• James Onwualu recovered that fumble for his first career fumble recovery.

The Irish defense did precisely what was required of them to win the game on Saturday, they held North Carolina State to just ten points and 198 yards of total offense.

##	Notre Dame	Solo	Ast	Total	TFL/Yds	FF	FR-Yds	Int-Yds	BrUp	Blkd	Sack/Yds	QBH
99	TILLERY	5	4	9	1.0/1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
4	CONEY	2	5	7	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
1B	STUDSTILL	4	1	5	1.0/2	1	.	.	.	.	.	.
22	BILAL	3	2	5	1.0/6	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
48	MARTINI	3	2	5	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
23	TRANQUILL	1	4	5	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
90	ROCHELL	.	5	5	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
5	Morgan, Nyles	2	2	4	.	.	1-0	.	.	.	.	.
17	ONWUALU	1	3	4	0.5/4	.	1-0	.	.	.	.	.
98	TRUMBETTI	1	3	4	0.5/3	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
27	LOVE	2	1	3	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
36	LUKE	2	1	3	1.0/7	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
9A	Hayes, Daelin	1	2	3	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	.
93	Hayes, Jay	1	2	3	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
75	CAGE	2	.	2	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	.
94	JONES, J.	.	2	2	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
3	SANDERS	1	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
56	NELSON	1	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
83	CLAYPOOL	1	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
2	WILLIAMS, D.	.	1	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
10	FINKE	.	1	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
28	FERTITTA	.	1	1	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	.

Post game quotes from head coach Brian Kelly (und.com):

“Congratulations to NC State. They are a good football team. Matthew Dayes is a really solid back. They did a nice job bringing Jalan McClendon in, forcing us to make some adjustments with their wildcat offense.”

“Obviously it comes down to the blocked punt return. I’m disappointed primarily in our inability to mount anything offensively and the turnovers on the offensive side ball. But, you win together and you lose together.”

“We’re looking for wins, not improvement on one side of the ball or the other. Although, I was very pleased with our physicality, toughness and tackling, I’m just extremely disappointed in the offensive execution and lack of ability to manage the snapping of the football – which was atrocious as well.”

***

Playing in the midst of a hurricane was a formidable obstacle, there’s no doubt about that. But the defense did seem to hold their own on Saturday, giving their offense the opportunity to win the game, but that just wasn’t in the cards for Notre Dame. I’m not really sure what to think. Something is definitely not clicking with this team. Is it a coaching issue? Is there a moral issue in the locker room? Are we lacking in leadership and direction? Do we just have a young, inexperienced team, that needs time to mature and develop? I’m not sure. But I’m also not giving up on this team. We have six games to go and anything can happen. That’s why they play a new game every week.

What say you?

Cheers & GO IRISH!