Notre Dame's Defense Will Be Tested By Injury Bug and Stanford Scheme
Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman had good news and bad news on Thursday afternoon as he spoke for the final time before this weekend’s game with Stanford.
Freeman announced senior linebacker and captain Bo Bauer would miss the regular season with a knee injury, but he was also hopeful the Irish defense would see two starters be available for Saturday’s rivalry game.
Cornerback TaRiq Bracy, who has led the Notre Dame defense in snaps played this fall, injured his hamstring against BYU, but he showed positive signs during Wednesday’s practice.
”Still would be questionable for the game,” stated Freeman. “Practiced yesterday and again, I think he'll go. I hope he'll be able to go, but how long and how much is still to be determined."
If Bracy, a fifth-year senior, can’t go or is limited, it could pave the way for sophomore cornerback Ryan Barnes to see his first extended action of the season.
Bracy has been productive this fall with 16 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and one interception, but his experience has proven vital to the Irish defense, which is something Barnes doesn't have.
That said, Freeman and the Notre Dame staff have been impressed with the week Barnes has had on the practice, which gives them confidence he’s ready to make a jump if called on.
"Barnes had a really good week of practice, which has always been my challenge to Coach Mickens and to Ryan,” explained Freeman. “You have a lot of ability and a lot of traits - he's got to do it in practice for us to gain confidence for him to do it in a game. He had a good week of practice.
“I feel confident TaRiq will be able to give us something just from what I saw yesterday. If he can't, then the next guy up will have to be able to go. Ramon Henderson has played some nickel this week and has done a nice job. If we get to a point where Ryan Barnes has to be play corner, there is no hesitation because of what he did this week in practice.”
Senior defensive lineman Howard Cross III missed last weekend’s game with BYU with an ankle injury and Freeman believes the 6-foot, 276-pounder will be available against the Cardinal.
"He did not practice Tuesday, but practiced all practice yesterday,” Freeman said. “We expect him to play and expect to see him in there. He had a good practice yesterday. As long as there is no regression from yesterday, we expect to see him today, tomorrow and Saturday."
As it relates to replacing Bo Bauer, it’s never easy to replace a captain, but has some inexperienced talent ready to fill the role.
"I would think for sure you would see more Prince Kollie, who played really well last game,” Freeman said. “He's a guy we want to continue to get on the field more. Junior (Tuihalamaka), I think we'll see more of Junior too. I think we'll see him play in a couple different packages and increase his role too.”
Notre Dame’s linebackers will also be tested on Saturday as Stanford brings a unique offense to South Bend. The Cardinal will the RPO game, but they’ve also added a delayed mesh scheme similar to Wake Forest, which presents multiple issues for a defense.
"The dilemmas it presents is if you're in zone coverage, the minute you trigger as a linebacker to stop the run, you're opening up space behind you that they can pull it and throw it,” said Freeman. “They're creating space and putting your linebackers in a run/pass conflict. If you go play man, now you're playing man-to-man coverage with no underneath help because the backers have to respect the run game.
"You gotta do some different things up front to try to be able to have your backers play a little more patiently. You have to play man-to-man coverage versus some big, long and tall wideouts. It's a really good scheme and they've done a good job of being able to execute in games. It's going to be a big challenge for us."
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