Film Don't Lie: Blue-Gold Game Pass Rush
The improvement on defense from 2016 to 2017 was drastic in many areas. In almost every major statistical category, Notre Dame was not just better. They were significantly better.
The pass rush is included in that, but they really couldn’t help but climb up from where they were at previously. They were 118th in sacks and 115th in Adjusted Sack Rate in ‘16. They managed to only sack the quarterback on 3.99% of drop backs. To put it bluntly, it was pretty sad to watch.
They went from 14 sacks to 24 sacks in ‘17 (70th). The defense took a gigantic leap over 50 spots to 64th in Adjusted Sack Rate and improved to sacking the quarterback on 5.12% of drop backs.
From a Notre Dame perspective, it’s encouraging and definitely a step in the right direction. It’s also not anywhere close to where they want to be.
The Irish have put up over 30 sacks in a season just once in the past eight years. That was in 2012. Before that it was 2006. Even putting up 30 sacks would only get them just outside of the top 40 in the nation in that category. The goal is to be better than that.
Is it achievable for them to do so?
I think it is and it has nothing to do with the defense totalling eight sacks in the Blue-Gold game. With the way they determine what is and what isn’t a sack in that format, it’s not really something anyone should be touting. (Apologies to Darnell Ewell who would have not recorded his sack in a real game)
The reason why I’m feeling better about the pass rush heading into the summer was the number of times the defense was able to generate pressure on Brandon Wimbush and Ian Book. Even throwing out the handful of busts up front where defensive linemen and linebackers were gifted easy access to the backfield, there were still plenty of instances where defenders won in one on one situations that would have either produced sacks or hits on the quarterback.
As to be expected, Clark Lea wasn’t calling too many blitzes. This one with Drue Tranquill (23) hit home, though. He has developed into an outstanding blitzer and he makes the target smaller for Sam Mustipher (53) by getting skinny. Mustipher and Alex Bars were rarely beat at any time we had a chance to watch them this spring.
Tranquill and Te’Von Coney are both strong blitzers. Coney actually finished tied for second on the team in sacks despite not playing in sub-packages on obvious passing downs last season.
The biggest difference I noticed in the Blue-Gold game, and during the spring in general, was the pressure generated off the edge. That’s one area where I expect to see more production and it’s going to make the interior linemen more productive too by forcing quarterbacks to step up in the pocket.
Former linebacker Jamir Jones (44) flashed in the game by converting speed to power here and Book (12) had to step up because of it. That led him right into Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (95) for the easy sack.
That wasn’t even Dillan Gibbons (76) getting beat on this play. It was what Jones did that caused this and this kind of edge pressure forced the quarterbacks to step up into sacks a couple of times.
Mike Elston has to be excited that it was more than just one or two guys making things happen. Khalid Kareem (53) showed why he is an upgrade as a pass rusher at strong side end compared to Jay Hayes. He had a couple of plays where the offense either didn’t block him or had a running back pick him up (advantage: Kareem), but it was the way he kept fighting with his hands when he was blocked that impressed me.
This pass probably would have still been released by Wimbush (7), but Kareem would have absolutely planted him into the turf if this was a game. He grabs the wrist of Liam Eichenberg (74) and that allowed him to get outside and around the corner on this play.
It’s impossible not to notice the improvement from Ade Ogundeji (91) as well. He finished with two sacks on the stat sheet. This particular play, which was not a sack but a throwaway from Book, stood out more to me.
Ogundeji uses those super long arms to stab the chest of Josh Lugg (75) and that means Lugg can’t get his hands established on Ogundeji. This is more of a motor play where he keeps fighting and Lugg is helpless to stop him without gaining control. Book is forced to his right because of it and Julian Okwara (42) is there to force the ball to be incomplete.
No one was really talking about it him after the game, including myself, but we all should have been. He was probably the most disruptive player on the day.
What I liked the most about his game was that he didn’t just win one way. He was able to mix it up to keep the offensive tackles off balance. He wins with the bull rush here and has Eichenberg rocking back. This resulted in Wimbush’s interception and might have been a sack in an actual game. (Although the interception will do just fine)
Then later he is rushing from the opposite side against Aaron Banks (69). He misses the chop here, but still manages to dip and bend to get the sack on Book. Thankfully he was not live or else Book could might have had a rough time getting up after this.
Okwara should have recorded at least three sacks and he was able to get heat on the quarterback plenty of other times. This was not the same as what Daelin Hayes did in the previous Blue-Gold game either. This involved Okwara winning repeatedly versus offensive tackles in order to generate pressure.
I’m not going to put a total number down for sacks based on a spring game, but from what I saw here and in the spring, the pass rush is going to be better than it was last season. A lot of that has to do with the improvement of players like Kareem, Ogundeji, and Okwara off the edge. These players were expected to be better and they sure look like they are.
I see the kind talent on the defensive line that should encourage them to aim high if they put a goal out that they want to achieve. And if they rush the passer as well as they did in the spring game, then the defense as a whole is going to see the benefits from it.