Film Don't Lie | ND 3rd Down Defense
For the last three seasons, Notre Dame’s 3rd down defense has been very good. They finished 19th and 11th in conversion percentage with Clark Lea as defensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020. They finished 10th last season under Marcus Freeman.
Through six games in 2022, it’s been a different story.
They are currently 70th in 3rd down defense and are coming off of a game where they gave up 7 first downs on 16 3rd down attempts despite 10 of those 16 attempts coming on 3rd and 5+.
I know Notre Dame was missing some key pieces in this game, but that ranking is for the whole season and not just against Stanford. It’s a significant drop from where they were and things don’t look the same either. They aren’t doing much at all to put stress on protections for the opposing quarterback and offensive line.
Here’s a 3rd down against Stanford that ends up incomplete, but it’s a zero stress throw for Tanner McKee and zero stress protection call for the offensive line. They don’t have to worry about any potential extra rusher. They can just play this straight up and McKee can just throw it up for a 50/50 ball.
It’s the same thing later in the game on a crucial 3rd down. Yes, it’s a great catch by the receiver on another 50/50 ball, but there is zero stress on McKee. Even if the defensive line wins clean off the ball, they aren’t going to get to touch him.
Earlier in the game the Irish are running a Bear front (covering up the three interior O-linemen) and running a T-T stunt. Clarence Lewis, filling in for TaRiq Bracy at nickel, gets beat on a slant. At least this is presenting a different look than just rushing straight up, though.
Compare what Notre Dame has shown on 3rd down this year to what they did last year and there is no comparison. Freeman constantly attacked protections with different looks and simulated pressures.
This is against Virginia Tech where it is a four man rush, but Bo Bauer is a potential rusher off the edge who picks up the back in coverage. Isaiah Foskey (7) is lined up as a 3-tech on the other side of the formation beside the edge rusher, Justin Ademilola (9). It’s a four man rush, but it turns it into a stunt where the right side of the defensive line is slanting inside and Foskey is looping around.
This is a T-T stunt inside with MTA and Howard Cross (56), but Bauer (52) is up on the line and the threat of him is why the protection slides to the right and it ends up being two vs two inside rather than three vs two for the offensive line.
Bauer is mugged up on the left guard here against Oklahoma State. Justin Ademilola is in a stand up position rushing over the left guard and he’s running a game with MTA. All of the window dressing is what helps this turn into a play with Ademilola coming in free. This is giving the quarterback and the offensive line plenty to think about pre and post-snap.
And when you’re showing all of this, it’s how you can get teams to max protect and still beat then with four rushers like Notre Dame did against Virginia. The right tackle is worried about Foskey and Rylie Mills (99) starts as a 3-tech who works his way outside. The tackle doesn’t even realize what is happening before it’s too late. The running back might still not know who he was supposed to block on this play.
This is also from the Virginia game and again the threat of the rush is what matters because the right side of the line ends up blocking one play and the game with Bauer and Mills ends up getting both of them free to make a sack.
It’s true that Notre Dame didn’t lose the Marshall or Stanford games because of their defense. The defense could have also been what won them those games because the offense wasn’t going to get it done.
Right now the defense is playing at a level where they are doing enough for Notre Dame to win, but they can do so much more. They aren’t creating enough havoc (12.3% Havoc rate is bad) and they are below average on 3rd down.
They have the players to not just be above average on 3rd down, but be very good. They proved that last year. I believe that one thing they can do to accomplish that is put quarterbacks and protection schemes under a lot more stress with how they pressure and simulate pressure on the money down.
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