Kelly: We're going to knock the quarterback down
While Brian Kelly continues weekly to challenge his Notre Dame team to ratchet up “its compete-level,” the Fighting Irish coach knows a couple things about his squad's stingy defense.
They'll hit the quarterback. They'll keep opposing point totals down.
Stats might not tell the full story on the former; on the latter, they show the Irish have allowed a mere 62 points through six games – barely 10 per game.
And even that figure betrays reality; seven points in last week's 31-13 win at Georgia Tech came when the Yellow Jackets returned a fumble 91 yards for a score.
In their two most recent wins, at Pittsburgh and at Georgia Tech, Irish defenders have amassed eight of the team's 17 sacks on the season and added an additional eight quarterback hurries.
“You've got to understand, the last two weeks we've had quarterbacks who are much more pocket passers, Kelly said Monday. “The first few weeks, those guys weren't in the pocket. They were movers. You had Cunningham who is not staying in the pocket; the ball's coming out quickly. If you really look at the nature of the kind of offenses we're playing against, Florida State and Louisville, in particular those two games, South Florida, those three in particular, Duke was not, obviously; that was we were getting the rust off us in that game. I thought we got after the quarterback pretty good against Duke.
“My point being, I think we're getting into a situation where, if you're going to be in the pocket, we're going to put some pressure on you and we're going to knock the quarterback down.”
Pressure on the quarterback this week will be key as the third-ranked Irish host top-ranked Clemson in a primetime, ACC battle for both the top spot in the conference standings and an inside track to the College Football Playoffs.
The Tigers (7-0, 6-0 ACC) are again starting freshman D.J. Uiagalelei at quarterback due to incumbent starter and 2018 national champion Trevor Lawrence testing positive last week for COVID-19.
The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Uiagalelei, like Lawrence a former consensus five-star prospect and former top-rated quarterback, is fresh off rallying the Tigers from 18 points down to a comeback-win in his first career start last week at Boston College.
“DJ will be well-prepared for the different things we show him,” Kelly said. “The most important thing is to make sure he’s not comfortable back there.
“You’ve got to get a great pass rush, you’ve got to get him to move their feet, you’ve got to make sure they don’t get in a rhythm, which is really the case for a lot of quarterbacks. I just think whether you’re a freshman or whether you’re a senior, I think a lot of the axioms are still the same. You don’t want a quarterback to feel comfortable.
“For us, defensively, get him out of a comfort zone, don’t let him in rhythm, don’t give him the easy throws that are comfortable for him and make him do some things he doesn’t want to do.”
That might be easier said than done for the Irish. Clemson's allowing barely 1.6 sacks per game on average and Uiagalalei's coming off a debut in which an attacking Boston College defense could muster just one sack.
Still, collectively, Notre Dame's defense rarely bends and hasn't really been broken this season. Opponents' longest passing and rushing plays, 55 and 42, respectively, came in the first two games of the season.
Additionally, six opponents own just a combined 11 red zone trips against Notre Dame – and only five touchdowns in that span.
It's Notre Dame's defensive recipe for success, with four of six games yielding two or fewer red-zone trips for the opposition.
“I really think it's about keeping people off the scoreboard, keeping the points down,” said Kelly. “Our defense does a really good job of eliminating the big plays. Keeping the points down and being fundamentally sound. When you do that, I think that those are the most important statistics when you really look at it.
“The rest of those things end up coming out as individual stats. This is a team unit. It's a brotherhood of 11 guys playing together and that makes it a dangerous defense.”