Notre Dame Defense Thrilled to Face Normal Offense Following Ireland Trip
The triple-option and all the fun that comes with facing the pesky Navy offense are gone for a year and now the Notre Dame defense will turn its attention to a more conventional attack.
And yes, Al Golden’s defense is more than excited to play pass defense against Tennessee State.
“It’s been like the last two weeks on Navy, so I’m kind of glad that’s finally over,” stated Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts. “Being able to move on to the next opponent and be ready to play some passing teams, I’m excited for that.”
At the second level of the defense, the biggest adjustment will come visually for Jack Kiser. Will Tennessee State run RPOs and variations of the read option? Probably so, but the eye discipline will be much different than last Saturday’s contest, which the Irish passed with flying colors.
“Schematically it’s a big difference,” explained Kiser. “You’re going from predominantly thinking run and just focusing on the small eye, small vision type of things to now that vision has to expand and you kind of have to see the whole picture. Schematically, now we’re going against pass concepts and manipulating fronts and whatnot.”
While there will be differences in how Notre Dame attacks the Tigers, one piece to the puzzle remain the same.
Kiser expects the defense to play with physicality and set a tone in the home opener for the Irish.
“In terms of just the physicality, you have to come in with the same mindset,” Kiser said. “With Navy, you know it’s going to be a tough game. There’s going to be a lot of hitting in tight quarters. Against any team on any Saturday, its college football, there’s going to be big hits. You have to come in and be ready to have heavy hands and deliver the blow.”
Game one was also a confidence boost for Notre Dame’s defense. Sure, Navy isn’t Ohio State or USC, but after eight months of hard work and quite frankly dominating the Irish offense, Golden’s group proved they could do it against an opponent.
“That was our goal,” stated Watts. “Just dominate. Obviously, that’s a real confidence booster. We like to hold a team to three points and almost zero. Coach Golden said Monday in our meetings that it should be our floor, so obviously we have a lot more room to grow. It’s a confidence booster, but we want more.”
Golden was pleased with the play of his safety group last weekend and now wants them to build off a solid performance.
“Defend the deep ball, No. 1,” Golden said of what he wants to see this week from the safeties. “Tackle really well in the alley, which they did last week because that's really important, and then run your defense.
“We challenged them every day to be vocal, to be demonstrative, to get us in the right call. Those are three characteristics of great, great safeties. And so that's the challenge for them in addition to what they have to do individually to improve.”
The confidence boost Watts spoke of doesn’t come from physicality dominating Navy, but rather from working through formations they hadn’t seen or prepared for from the first play of the game. It showed the Irish can adjust in a matter of seconds and that’s a reflection of the strong veteran core on the defensive side of the ball.
“When you have a veteran defense like we do, you just have that confidence to speak up and solve problems on the grass,” Kiser explained. “That’s something Coach Golden harps on. The best players are able to solve problems on the grass. Fix things when things aren’t exactly what you would expect. That’s what the best defensive players do. They are able to react to what the offense shows them and execute and make plays.”
Notre Dame will continue to work through the challenges of coming off a trip overseas, but a tone was also set on the way back. Marcus Freeman gave up his first-class seat and sat economy. Sam Hartman also gave up his first-class seat and gave it to tight end Holden Staes for his efforts in the run game.
“Coach Freeman made a big decision that the starters were going to get first-class seats and have those little pods,” said Kiser. “That was a game-changer.
“Very thankful that he made that decision. Even him on the way back was sitting back in economy — all the coaches. That just shows what kind of person Coach Freeman is and how much he cares about the players and takes care of us. We really appreciated that. It was actually awesome. It was a great experience.”
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saluting Pullover Hoodie
