Notre Dame’s (0-2) 41-40 loss to Texas A&M (3-0) looked a lot like a college football game you see on a weekly basis.
There’s good and bad in that.
The positive is that Notre Dame has an offense that can move the football and create explosive plays.
Now the negative is the Irish have a defense that gives up explosive plays and is banking on a timely turnover or stop, which they didn’t earn or force on Saturday night.
Notre Dame’s run defense was fine. The Aggies wanted to run the ball and they ran for 128 yards on 4.0 yards per carry. Sure, the Irish could have done better as they created just two tackles for loss, but they didn’t give up a run longer than 14 yards.
Chris Ash’s pass defense left much to be desired.
Marcel Reed had his issues as he only completed 46 percent of his passes, but his 17 completions went for 360 yards and two touchdowns. Texas A&M had eight passing plays of more than 15 yards, including four that went for 30 yards or more.
Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore did pick off Reed, but the Texas native made it clear the Irish didn’t execute to their standard.
“We just didn't get it done,” stated Moore. “We didn't execute our responsibilities and that starts with me. That starts with all the leaders in the secondary and we take accountability for that.”
The messaging between the players on the sideline was to focus on the small details and the fundamentals they practice every day. Easier said than done.
“Take pride in whoever's in front of you,” Moore said of the messaging between drives. “They shouldn't ever be able to catch a ball on you if you play the right technique and execute your assignment.”
Head coach Marcus Freeman didn’t believe the playcaller was the issue, but rather the execution.
Notre Dame’s defense staff has to quickly find out why the defense is failing whether it’s how they coach it, what they’re asking the players to do or how there are so many breakdowns.
“It's not the call, it's the execution,” Freeman said. “I've always believed that. I've been a play caller and it can be overrated as much as it's the execution of that play call. That's what we gotta evaluate. At the end of the day, why aren't we able to execute in a way that we believe we need to and should, that's the question we gotta get answered.”
Junior captain Drayk Bowen got beat for the go-ahead touchdown on a wheel route and echoed Freeman’s comments.
”It really just execution,” explained Bowen. “We really have to focus on the details. That's something where we lacked a little bit in the first half, kind of found our groove in the second half and just didn't play the way we wanted to as a defense.”
Now, the secondary isn’t the only area of concern as the Irish failed to generate any type of pass rush for the second straight game.
“There were times towards the end of the game that I thought we did a better job of that, but we’d get beat with an explosive play because we bring six and we're playing zone behind it,” stated Freeman. “We don't get enough pressure, the quarterback extends the play.
“You gotta be very strategic in terms of rush and coverage working together. If you just worry about the rush, then you're gonna fail at the coverage aspect, and if you just wanna drop eight and cover all the areas, then you're not gonna get a rush.
“We have to get better in both rush and coverage. I don't have the answer for you right now on what specifically we're gonna do, but we have to get better, and we have to identify what it is.”
The College Football Playoff is the goal, but right now that’s an afterthought. Notre Dame has to dig deep and find answers to win next Saturday when Purdue comes to South Bend.
“It starts with taking pride in our work going forward,” said Moore. “Every day we've got to come ready to work. It's a business day. There's no more going to practice, trying to have fun. We have to take care of our business now. We got to execute. We can't give explosive plays.”
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