January 5, 2006
Defense Still the Missing Ingredient
by TIM PRISTER
In Charlie, they trusted.
Sure, it looked like Ohio State was better on paper. They were. Sure, it looked like the Buckeyes had the post-season experience/success to defeat an upstart Notre Dame team that had ascended to a BCS game after compiling an 11-13 record in the two previous years combined.
But with Weis at the controls, it seemed like the Irish could overcome anything.
That’s not true anymore, not with a defense that can’t play its best at the most crucial times.
In the 34-20 loss to the Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl, the defense allowed two huge pass plays and two long runs en route to surrendering an embarrassing 617 yards total offense.
Certainly Weis had his own issues with the offense, which managed just 348 yards against Ohio State—147 under its average—including just 62 yards on the ground. The 348 total yards was the third lowest of the season.
But in the other two sub-par offensive showings—244 yards against Michigan and 343 yards against Tennessee—the Irish defense showed up. Rick Minter’s defense didn’t show up Monday in Tempe. Of course, those offenses didn’t compare to what the Irish encountered against Ohio State.
It started with Ted Ginn Jr.’s 56-yard touchdown reception from Troy Smith. Ginn Jr. was well behind the Irish secondary when he hauled in the pass that traveled 65 yards in the air.
Early in the second quarter, Ginn Jr. sprinted 68 yards on an end-around. Once he cleared the first wall of defenders, it was a relatively futile chase.
Santonio Holmes slipped behind the Irish secondary for an 85-yard score late in the first half, and running back Antonio Pittman got into the act as the Buckeyes were running the clock out with a 60-yard burst with 1:46 remaining.
Minter has always had solid units as a defensive coordinator. But in three of the biggest games Minter has coached at Notre Dame, his defense has been the main culprit in Irish defeats—the loss to Ohio State Monday, the loss to USC on Oct. 15 and the loss to Boston College 12 years earlier, 41-39 in 1993, when the Irish were one game away from playing for the national championship.
The Irish defense actually held its own against USC, allowing “just” 476 yards to a team that averaged 580. But the game-winning drive by the Trojans included a fourth down conversion that put USC within striking distance of the infamous “Bush Push” of Matt Leinart into the end zone.
Notre Dame offered no pass rush of Ohio State’s Troy Smith. Smith was able to sit back and pick the Irish apart with the long ball. Then, when he was flushed from the pocket, he ran for another 82 yards (66 net including lost yardage plays).
The Irish secondary was an improved unit over the previous year. Notre Dame allowed 18 touchdown passes in 12 games compared to the 14 given up in the final three games of 2004. But ultimately, those are just hollow numbers when you’re coming off such a poor effort against the Buckeyes.
In the most significant game of the season, Notre Dame’s secondary played uncertain of itself and a bit gun-shy, particularly after Ginn Jr.’s early score. Only safety Tom Zbikowski was the aggressor, and even he continued to show a vulnerability to the deep ball.
Now, with the two best tacklers on the team gone—linebacker Brandon Hoyte and Corey Mays—there are no guarantees in 2006, even with nine starters returning.
Weis has helped make the defense better by sharing his wisdom with Minter about how offenses will try to attack them. But it still comes down to playing the best in the most critical times of the season, and in the final regular season game, the Irish surrendered 17 points in the fourth quarter and needed a 663-yard effort to knock off the Cardinal, followed by Ohio State’s 617 yards.
With the secondary returning intact and an infusion of young talent, they will get better, particularly with the experience and savvy of defensive back coach Bill Lewis. Not sure if that will be true of the pass rush under Jappy Oliver. When it comes to a pass rush, you usually either have a knack for it or you don’t, and the unit of Victor Abiamiri, Derek Landri, Trevor Laws, and Chris Frome/Ronald Talley is not a championship-caliber pass-rushing unit.With a veteran offense returning and Weis at the controls, the Irish will continue to gain a whole bunch of yards and score a boat load of points. But this won’t truly be a championship team until the defense starts playing like one.
It hasn’t happened yet, and Charlie Weis doesn’t coordinate the defense.
