20 days until Notre Dame football: Will Irish allow fewer than 20 passing TDs?

BlueandGold.com will release a countdown article highlighting a significant Fighting Irish football statistic every day until the 2023 Notre Dame season opener against Navy in Dublin, Ireland, on Aug. 26. Today, there are 20 days until the Fighting Irish and Midshipmen kick off at Aviva Stadium.

The Notre Dame defense gave up 20 passing touchdowns in 2022. That ranked tied with Iowa State, Utah, Louisiana Tech, Miami and Oklahoma for 64th in the FBS. With 131 teams in the FBS, that’s about as average as it gets.

The 20 touchdowns allowed were the most by a Notre Dame team in a single season since giving up 23 in 2017. Here is a look at how many touchdowns the Irish have allowed through the air in every season since 2010. National ranks are in parenthesis.

Notre Dame defense passing touchdowns allowed

2010: 11 (8th)2011: 23 (82nd)2012: 11 (6th)2013: 19 (55th)2014: (95th)2015: 18 (47th)2016: 14 (17th)2017: 23 (94th)2018: 10 (3rd)2019: 13 (8th)2020: 14 (56th)2021: 13 (10th)2022: 20 (64th)

Forty percent of the passing touchdowns the Irish allowed in 2022 came in two games. North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye torched the Irish for five touchdown passes, albeit in a 45-32 victory for the blue and gold. South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler threw three touchdown passes in the Gator Bowl. The Irish also won that game, 45-38.

Interestingly, the Irish defense fared admirably against the pass vs. the two most prolific quarterbacks on the schedule. Notre Dame limited Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud to two touchdown passes in the season opener. In the regular season finale at USC, Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams — just a couple weeks away from being crowned the Heisman Trophy winner at that point — only threw one touchdown pass.

Notre Dame has to face Williams again this fall. That game will be in South Bend in mid-October. The Irish don’t have to face Stroud, who is with the Houston Texans, or Maye in 2023. The Irish and Tar Heels do not play each other for the first time since 2019.

Other quarterbacks of note on the schedule are NC State’s Brennan Armstrong, Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, Duke’s Riley Leonard, Pittsburgh’s Phil Jurkovec and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik. There is a vast array of experience and inexperience in that group, from Armstrong with 58 career passing touchdowns to McCord and Klubnik with three and two, respectively.

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