Bankrupt Badgers: Irish dominate on third-down money-down

CHICAGO – Most often, it's deemed the money-down.

Third downs, for an offense or a defense, are when a unit earns it keep.

Notre Dame's defense bankrupted Wisconsin Saturday afternoon before a near-capacity crowd of 59,571 inside Soldier Field.

The Fighting Irish did not allow the Badgers to convert a third-down attempt (or fourth, for that matter) until less than 1 minute, 50 seconds remained in the third quarter and finished the day with a 1-for-15 performance on the key downs.

They also returned a pair of interceptions – from Jack Kiser and Drew White – for touchdowns as part of their four-interception, five-turnover day.

Coaches have challenged us, week in and week out. Just be disciplined, play smart and play to the level that we know we can play at.

“All camp we've just been electric, and I knew that we could play better than we've been playing,” said sophomore cornerback Cam Hart, who atoned for an early pass interference penalty with a pair of interceptions. “Everyone on the team, everyone on the defense knew that.

“Even earlier this week, they emphasized playing free. Trying not to go out there and think so much. Playing with intensity, and I feel like we did that and executed well.”

Meanwhile, Notre Dame's offense did just enough on those same downs – six conversions in 17 tries – to eventually wear down the Badgers' vaunted stop-unit.

Even as it uncorked 45 of its 69 offensive snaps in the second half, Wisconsin could not crack the Fighting Irish defense enough to make it matter.

In addition to the five forced turnovers, Notre Dame also notched five quarterback hurries, four tackles for losses and broke up two passes.

On those key-down situations, the Irish defense got stops on third- and fourth-and-1, for the second-straight week, and also held off Wisconsin when it pushed the Badgers deep behind the chains.

“I think I alluded to this when we've had our opportunities to answer questions about our defense was that we just need to tap the brakes early on about our defense,” said Irish skipper Brian Kelly, who passed Knute Rockne on Notre Dame's all-time wins list with 106. “It takes some time to get everything in and there are layers to our defense. We've played a lot of man early on. We've added some of our dime and nickel packages and quite frankly we've got some guys making plays.

“Cam (Hart) is a great example of it. Cam gets called for a pass interference. He lets that go, which you have to at corner, and he steps underneath the same play for a pick. We're just developing and Marcus is getting his players to develop on defense and we're adding some layers to that defense."

Even without starting nose tackle Kurt Hinish, and already without three additional linebackers due to a bevy of season-ending injuries for that group, Hart pointed to front of the Notre Dame defense as key.

“I really give credit to our defensive linemen,” Hart said, “just going out there on third down and having that dog mentality just to get after the quarterback. That makes it a lot easier on the back-end for us.”

The Badgers never had a run longer than 10 yards from scrimmage, and notched just three passes – that covered 43, 35 and 22 yards – for chunk plays.

“Again, the emphasis is on playing free,” Hart said. “After the interceptions, you see the whole defense – I feel like in practice we do that so often, it's not unexpected or anything like that. Just to see it come to fruition in a game is crazy.

“Not much different, I just feel like we're having fun out there and understanding the importance of playing free and not thinking that much.”