Contrary to what others have said thus far, I've been impressed with our defense as a whole this season.
The one spot where our defense is weak is at the cornerback position. They (Lambert and Wooden) cannot seem to stay with their man or they bite easily on good moves such as Mario Manningham's "Stop & Go" and "Studder Step" routes he ran. As for Mike Richardson, he just can't stay with anybody. When our safeties are in coverage and can get over the top of the play, they make up for the weakness. However, if they are up on the line to help protect against the run, that seems to be when we get burned on these big plays.
Our defensive line has played decent, however, they are undersized for the most part against larger offensive lines. What was supposed to be our biggest weakness (DT) has been the best area as Laws and Landri give it 100% on each play and both motors never stop. Our linebacking crew is off and on, but they do have very good speed and generally get to the ball quickly. The problem with the LB unit is there is inexperience at the position outside of Mo Crum.
If I had to name two or three strengths I would say we have good speed overall on defense, our safeties can really make some big plays and hit well and we actually have a good overall defensive scheme. The one notable weakness is we give up the big play way too often, but again, that's because of the poor cornerback play.
I'll add a caveat to this. ND can play run or ND can play pass. ND can't do both at the same time.
Saying our LB corps is inexperienced is accurate but incomplete. ND's MLB and best LB Maurice Crum 6-0 225, a junior, was moved inside this year from an OLB slot. He's getting OJT at MLB. I believe he did not play Spring Ball because he was recoving from back surgery over the winter. He's doing well but he'd be doing better if he wasn't seeing games from a different prospective. ND's WLB Travis Thomas 6-0, a Senior was has played 3 games at LB in college. He was a running back right through Spring Ball. His first practice in college at LB was about 7 weeks ago. He's quick but light (he claims 217 but ND's lists him at 207) and another one getting OJT only in this case on the other side of the ball. The SLB is either a Mitchell Thomas 6-3 236, a senior, or Anthony Vernaglia 6-3 233, a junior. Both whom are playing only because no one else has played any better. Our LB corps really had no chemistry as their collectiveness newness doesn't read and react but has to read (with limited experience), think, and react. I think the "think" part makes them play slower than their footspeed.
As a consequence our safeties bolster the LB play, particularly on the run. Our safeties are physical and play the run well. It's a strength but also a weakness. They might well be better LBs than our #2 and #3 LBs but they're safeties on this defense. Against a running team we can overplay the run. Against a passing them they can drop back. But against passing teams ND frequently plays a nickel defense in other than 3rd down situations, a 4-2-5. ND did that against GT and PSU in essense daring them to run. Both did but neither could sustain drives with just the rushing and they played away from their strength by trying to.
ND's starting corners are both converted WRs. (The safeties were a HS QB and a HS WR who played WR as an ND freshman them moved to LB then to S last year). In Willingham's last year this group was coached by a guy with 3 years of college experience at lower levels and it showed. The coaching was upgrade significantly last year but the this converted group of players is still behind the learning curve on working as a cohesive unit. There is more depth of talent with some impressive freshman corners who will improve as the season plays out. Unfortunately ND's season is frontloaded which doesn't permit timely breaking in.
If Stanton is hot, he could have a big day depending on the quality of your receiving corps. If you only have one quality receiver, they can handle him. If they're more like Manningham, Breaston, Arrington, etc. somebody's gonna be open.
Michigan didn't have the best individual WR ND's faced this season but they have the best overall receiving corps, the QB that's played the best game against ND and can hit open receivers downfield, and a bruising rushing game that didn't just break off 4 or 5 yd runs but busted runs twice that distance breaking tackles along the way.
In the first two games ND's offense dominated time of possession limiting ND's defense's time on the field and particularly against PSU a big early lead forced them out of their game plan (like UM did to ND) and the defense largely knew what was coming.
