Notre Dame defense now ranked...

[Irish Envy]

The Notre Dame defense is now ranked #44 in total defense, or total yard allowed per game, and #47 in scoring defense, or points allowed per game. Here is what our opponents from this season look like:

Georgia Tech - Total #25, Scoring #26
Penn State - Total #15, Scoring #14
Michigan - Total #6, Scoring #12
Michigan State - Total #86, Scoring #99
Purdue - Total #112, Scoring #86
Stanford - Total #101, Scoring #108
UCLA - Total #32, Scoring #33
Navy - Total #69, Scoring #43
North Carolina - Total #88, Scoring #101
Air Force - Total #63, Scoring #59
Army - Total #83, Scoring #95
Southern Cal - Total #21, Scoring #11

 

[Irish Envy]

Surprised nobody jumped on this. Southern Cal is only statisticly the third best defense we'll have faced all season. We did well against Penn State and had we not turned the ball over time and time again against Michigan, that would have been a close game.

 

[NDOM]

Great stuff SVO. I love how you always find the dirt and dig it up on our opponents. Props to you dude.

 

[tedwick]

hadn't seen this. However, we struggled offensively against UCLA, which will have been the 4th toughest defense we faced... just sayin.

 

[Irish Envy]

hadn't seen this. However, we struggled offensively against UCLA, which will have been the 4th toughest defense we faced... just sayin.

Agreed... but I look at that game as a statistical anomoly if you compare it to every other win we've had. Additionally, that game isn't even close aside from giving up the two 40+ yard pass plays.

 

[Irish Envy]

Another thing to look at. We've played 5 of the Top 20 rush defenses in the entire country this year in #2 (Michigan), #11 (Penn State), #12 (Georgia Tech), #13 (Southern Cal), #16 (UCLA) yet Darius Walker still managed to break the 1,000 yard rushing mark.

Our rushing game isn't as futile as everyone thinks.

 

[tedwick]

Agreed... but I look at that game as a statistical anomoly if you compare it to every other win we've had. Additionally, that game isn't even close aside from giving up the two 40+ yard pass plays.

well, considering that the big pass play is one of ND's GIGANTIC weaknesses, I don't think you can just set it aside as an anomaly. I mean, if you took away the big pass plays, ND would probably be top 30 in both ypg and scoring defense. but you can't, because ND's secondary isn't good against the deep ball.

It was a close win, but their defense gave our offense a hard time.

 

[Irish Envy]

Oh, one more caveat... and this is the one that may very well mean the most. Southern Cal has the 57th ranked passing defense in the land. If you can keep pressure of your QB, you can throw with success against that USC secondary.

Opponents are completing nearly 55% of their passes against these guys. If you can establish some semblance of a running game, 3 yards here and there, Quinn has the opportunity of a lifetime against this secondary.

 

[jdreardon]

I find it interestign that Penn State is 15th. If my memory serves me correct we roughed up that defense pretty bad. Just echoing everyone on this site, I cant wait for Saturday. ND vs. USC and (being from Indy) high school state tourney Warren Central vs. Carmel

 

[Irish Envy]

well, considering that the big pass play is one of ND's GIGANTIC weaknesses, I don't think you can just set it aside as an anomaly. I mean, if you took away the big pass plays, ND would probably be top 30 in both ypg and scoring defense. but you can't, because ND's secondary isn't good against the deep ball.

It was a close win, but their defense gave our offense a hard time.

No, not our weakness in giving up the big play, I was referring to our scoring against UCLA. Georgia Tech is really the only other game that compares.

 

[Irish Envy]

I find it interestign that Penn State is 15th. If my memory serves me correct we roughed up that defense pretty bad. Just echoing everyone on this site, I cant wait for Saturday. ND vs. USC and (being from Indy) high school state tourney Warren Central vs. Carmel

We didn't rough them up as much as you may think. We took advantage of their miscues and also made things happen including the Travis Thomas fake punt and the Zibby fumble return. Quinn did eat the Penn State defense apart when they went into prevent mode.

 

[tedwick]

No, not our weakness in giving up the big play, I was referring to our scoring against UCLA. Georgia Tech is really the only other game that compares.

lol the whole discussion kind of got turned around. I was talking about ND offense vs. defense, and somehow we got onto ND defense vs. offense.

I'm just worried that we won't get a running game going, so there'll be pressure on Quinn. UCLA and Michigan, and GTech are the games that stand out to me where they got pressure on Quinn. Not terrible days statistically for Quinn, but the games were much closer than the others.

 

[Irish Envy]

lol the whole discussion kind of got turned around. I was talking about ND offense vs. defense, and somehow we got onto ND defense vs. offense.

I'm just worried that we won't get a running game going, so there'll be pressure on Quinn. UCLA and Michigan, and GTech are the games that stand out to me where they got pressure on Quinn. Not terrible days statistically for Quinn, but the games were much closer than the others.

I hear you. They've only given up 100 yards or more once, and that was in the game they lost to the Beav, where their RB had 100 yards even.

One statistic on the USC offensive side of the ball that is interesting to me is they like to fumble the ball, having 18 fumbles in just 10 games and they've lost 6 of those. Booty's TD:INT ratio also isn't spectacular with 22 TDs and 6 INTs.