Notre Dame football rewatch: Bad, good, great from Irish defense vs. Stanford
Eighteen good and great plays cut up by Blue & Gold in the following film review vs. just five bad ones. Yeah, that checks out for a Notre Dame defense that limited Stanford to 200 total yards on the dot and just 3.4 yards per play.
The following video analysis piece breaks down the Irish defense in a 49-7 victory over the Cardinal with highlights of bad (5), good (9) and great (9) plays on that side of the ball.
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The BAD from the Notre Dame defense
1. Christian Gray gets out of position trying to make a tackle
Gray does this a lot. It’s a bit of an Achilles heel of his. If there is anything he needs to get better at, it’s this. He’s constantly over-pursuing on the quick throws to the man he’s covering, which totally debilitates his ability to bring the guy down and forces Notre Dame teammates to cover for him farther downfield.
2. Ashton Daniels scrambles for 27 yards
If you’re RJ Oben and you’ve got eyes on the quarterback you can’t let it be the running back who’s the one to wash you out. That’s what happens here; the back saves a sack, safety Adon Shuler loses contain in the middle of the field and Daniels is off and running. Jack Kiser also gets sucked into the mess at the line of scrimmage, opening up the lane for Daniels.
3. Offsides on RJ Oben
This is only picked off by Benjamin Morrison because Daniels knows it’s a free play and he takes a shot downfield, but therein lies the bad. You can’t be jumping offsides as a graduate student defensive end. Bad on Oben.
For what it’s worth, though, Oben is held badly as the play is allowed to run it’s course. The officials do not flag the obvious holding infraction. Only the offsides.
4. Daniels runs for a first down on third and 7
This is an opportunity to force Stanford to punt from its own goal line on the first possession of the second half, but somehow Daniels gets first-down yardage on a simple quarterback keeper. The Notre Dame defense needs better run fits and downhill pursuit than this.
5. 20-yard gain for the Cardinal
Stanford had one passing play of 20-plus yards against Notre Dame all day. Here it is. Speaking of all day — that’s what Daniels has to find someone downfield. Notre Dame’s four-man rush doesn’t get home, and someone gets open in the secondary.
The GOOD from the Notre Dame defense
1. Drayk Bowen stays patient, cleans up the play
This a good job of Bowen letting Jordan Clark fly in to try to make the tackle and biding time just in case it’s him who needs to be the one to take the ball carrier to the ground. If he gets behind the line of scrimmage himself, it might end up being two Notre Dame players who miss the tackle. But he stays in good position with a good angle to make sure he gets the tackle.
2. Adon Shuler plays fast
If you’re a safety at this level you’ve got to think fast and play fast. Shuler does here. There is a ton of traffic, white shirts and blue, and Shuler fights through it all for a tackle for loss.
3. Joshua Burnham makes third-down stop
Stanford gets first-down yardage on fourth and one on the next play, but this will still go down in the books as a third-down stop for Burnham. And it’s a really good one at that. He comes off a block and makes a play in a tight space and short amount of time. You’ve got to be really engaged and locked in to pull that off.
4. Bryce Young covers ground to set up fourth down
This is a true freshman coming from the other side of the field to take down a very able running quarterback from behind. These are the small things that don’t jump out at the average viewer, but this play makes the ensuing fourth-down sack by Howard Cross III possible.
5. Donovan Hinish pressures the quarterback
It’s always nice to set up second and 10. This pressure by Hinish does just that. The Notre Dame defense is able to stuff two runs on the ensuing plays to force a punt and give the ball back to the Irish offense.
6. Another third-down stop
Stanford knows it’s fourt-down territory, but it also knows it has a good chance of picking up a first down on third down with a zone-read utilizing its athletic quarterback. The Notre Dame defense is all over it, and the Irish get their fourth-down stop on the next play.
The pursuit of the football from a number of players in a blue jersey is really impressive here.
7. Ball pursuit on a screen
These tunnel screens work when a defense isn’t ready for them or when the blocking erases would-be tacklers. Notre Dame does not get lost in traffic and is all over this one.
8. Ben Minich comes downhill for a tackle
This is officially garbage time — like, post one-hour rain delay garbage time — but good football is good football. Minich has a rep of it here with a downhill tackle from the safety spot for a short gain.
9. Leonard Moore flies around the edge for a tackle
We won’t know how good Moore is in coverage until he’s tested more as a starter in the wake of the Benjamin Morrison injury, but we have seen enough evidence in Moore’s first few games to know he’s a willing and able tackler. That doesn’t come easily for corners, especially true freshmen.
The GREAT from the Notre Dame defense
1. Xavier Watts and Drayk Bowen save a touchdown, for the time being
Stanford ends up scoring on the next play, but you never know what’s going to happen in the moment. At the time, Watts and Bowen save a touchdown here by meeting the quarterback in the hole and straight-up stone-walling his lunging attempt. This is physical, points-saving football. You got to love the effort.
2. Mass disruption results in sack
This is the Notre Dame defensive line going to work and completely controlling the line of scrimmage. Even a mobile quarterback doesn’t stand a chance against this kind of movement up front.
Howard Cross III gets the sack, but give credit to freshman Bryce Young for completely blowing up the right edge of the Stanford offensive line. That’s the side the QB wants to turn to, and there is nothing there because of Young.
3. Howard Cross III fourth-down sack
You can’t cut block Howard Cross. Example A.
4. Howard Cross III fights off double team and makes tackle
This is what it looks like when you never give up on a play and end up making a play as a result. This is what you expect from Cross, but you only expect it because he’s so experienced and has set a really high bar for himself. Notre Dame’s All-American met that bar against Stanford.
5. Another fourth-down stop
The guts Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden has to send Xavier Watts on a blitz on fourth and three tells you everything you need to know about Golden. He’s going to dial it up and lean on his personnel to make plays. This is a rather disruptive play here. Daniels is flushed out (and freaking out) and has nowhere to go with the ball. It now belongs to Notre Dame.
In college football you often see these broken plays turning into something, though. Credit to all 11 on the Notre Dame side for not slipping up on an assignment and seeing the play through all the way until the ball hits the turf.
7. Joshua Burnham forced fumble and recovery
This is just so instinctually great by Burnham. He plucks the ball out of the air so deftly it doesn’t even look real. The timing and execution has to be perfect to come away with this ball, and it is.
8. Third-down Rylie Mills sack
When you’re as big and strong as Mills you need to play bully ball every now and again. This is bully ball. Mills was not going to be denied of this sack.
9. One last sack, one last fourth-down stop
Great defensive players make their way to the football and that’s what freshman Loghan Thomas and sophomore Ben Minich do here on the final offensive play of the game for the Cardinal.
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