Much has been said about Brian Kelly bringing his high-octane spread offensive attack to Notre Dame and how he is changing the culture of the team by installing the system, but no matter how productive Kelly’s offense turns out to be this season, Notre Dame’s ultimate success will be based off the play of the defense.
After looking shaky in the first few weeks, the Irish have been tightening up on the defensive side of the ball as the season wears on and they demonstrated that over the last two games, giving up just 22 combined points to Pitt and Purdue.
The Notre Dame front seven has been performing at a high level all season long and the Irish currently rank 20th in the nation against the run, but the defense has been waiting for the secondary to come around and step up and it looks like that’s finally about to happen.
Even though the Irish have a ton of experience and talent in the defensive backfield with senior corners Gary Gray and Robert Blanton along with senior safety Harrison Smith, the secondary still only ranks 72nd in the country in pass defense, giving up an average of 230 yards through the air per game.
If Blanton, Gray and Smith can find a way to bring that number down and start producing more turnovers, this Notre Dame defense has a chance to develop into one of the stronger units in the country.
Trent Hunter Andy Hilbert Bruno Gervais Dustin Kohn Andrew McDonald Matt Martin
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