ND's Defense

[Hurracanes]

Last week was probably our best offensive performance. If we can build off of that we will win.

I'll add to that, VT's Defense is night and day better than ND's. I hope our Offense comes to play to help the D out.

VA Tech's D could be better than ND but not night and day better.

VT is a top 10 Defense. ND, according to poster above, is in the 50's.

 

[ARJB]

Not discrediting them, but I think they have benefited in that area due to their solid rushing attack on offense.

Exactly.

Their defense is improved, but you can't score if you don't have the ball. They play ball control offense, which in turn helps the defense tremendously.

 

[DaveK0341]

6 new assistants and a new S&C coordinator

 

[AUcane]

Not discrediting them, but I think they have benefited in that area due to their solid rushing attack on offense.

Exactly.

Their defense is improved, but you can't score if you don't have the ball. They play ball control offense, which in turn helps the defense tremendously.

that doesn't really apply to their biggest wins (MSU and USC). They actually lost the TOP battle in those games but were very opportunistic with the turnovers.

 

[ChicagoDomer]

Not discrediting them, but I think they have benefited in that area due to their solid rushing attack on offense.

Exactly.

Their defense is improved, but you can't score if you don't have the ball. They play ball control offense, which in turn helps the defense tremendously.

that doesn't really apply to their biggest wins (MSU and USC). They actually lost the TOP battle in those games but were very opportunistic with the turnovers.

Yeah, I wouldn't say we try to control the clock by running. A ton of our rushing TDs are big plays, so we're actually not on the field a ton. I would say the biggest thing is that BVGs defense was all about creating turnovers, but he was always so busy trying to teach scheme that he was never able to teach how to take the ball away. Elko is all about keeping it simple, keeping the ball in front of you, and letting his players make plays. If you can drive the field without turning it over or getting penalties, you are going to score on us. Its all about being able to execute and sustain long drives. I would say where you guys have a big advantage is that our special teams suck and we usually lose the field position battle by a good amount, so with your athletes you may be able to start where you don't actually have long drives, but shorter quicker ones. I would say you are probably going to have at least 2 TDs where you drive less than 50yds.

 

[AUcane]

Not sure we have a huge edge in STs. Our KORs have been pedestrian even though we have an electric guy back there in Thomas (blocking stinks) and our KOR coverage units have been average. Same deal for PRs - our PR coverage unit is decent even though our freshman punter is jeckyll and hyde and our main PR guy (berrios), while has had a nice year, is a fair catch machine. Nobody can fair catch like him!

 

[MIA42178]

They are rated like 50th in total defense arent they? They arent great

WF was the only team to score 20+ points this season.

See second post

Holding USC, Nc State and MSU to less than 20 is pretty good. Especially how ****ty their D was last year. Stop discrediting their schedule.

True. But what about?

NC State. Hines out
Wake. Dortch our
USCw. QB was on bum ankle
UGA Eason out. Freshman first start.

 

[HurikaneMarc]

Their defense is pretty good. They held Georgia to only 20pts. Regardless of yard stats they don't let people score a lot of points. I do think that VT's and FSU's defenses are comparable to ND so we shouldn't be blown away by team speed or strength.

We do practice against a **** good D too.

 

[ChicagoDomer]

Not sure we have a huge edge in STs. Our KORs have been pedestrian even though we have an electric guy back there in Thomas (blocking stinks) and our KOR coverage units have been average. Same deal for PRs - our PR coverage unit is decent even though our freshman punter is jeckyll and hyde and our main PR guy (berrios), while has had a nice year, is a fair catch machine. Nobody can fair catch like him!

I'll take your Berrios and raise you a Finke. Guy is literally a former walk-on that we put there because he is good at fair catching.

 

[AUcane]

Their defense is pretty good. They held Georgia to only 20pts. Regardless of yard stats they don't let people score a lot of points. I do think that VT's and FSU's defenses are comparable to ND so we shouldn't be blown away by team speed or strength.

We do practice against a **** good D too.

Their team speed on defense doesn’t bother me- their physicality does. Jones absolutely
Abused Linder last year - blew him up all game long. Don’t know if tillery is as good as Jones but gauthier is def better than linder

 

[HurikaneMarc]

Their defense is pretty good. They held Georgia to only 20pts. Regardless of yard stats they don't let people score a lot of points. I do think that VT's and FSU's defenses are comparable to ND so we shouldn't be blown away by team speed or strength.

We do practice against a **** good D too.

Their team speed on defense doesn’t bother me- their physicality does. Jones absolutely
Abused Linder last year - blew him up all game long. Don’t know if tillery is as good as Jones but gauthier is def better than linder

This team is a completely different animal. from last year. I think 2 OL bailed on us because they couldn't cut it. Linder and Odogwu.

 

[HurricaneMolina]

Just want to add that Wake Forest put up nearly 600 yards on ND AT ND

 

[Cajuncane]

Everything in this game hinges on us controlling their running game.

We don’t they run clock and our offense sits.We do our offense has chances to score,their defense is on the field longer than normal and the heat and humidity does its job.

This game is all about stopping that running game.

 

[Tony Perps]

They have a good defense, but we can break them by getting the ball in space to Our guys. Herndon will be big.

We need to move the ball. We need an early lead so they start pressing, and then the sacks and turnovers will come.

 

[Tony Perps]

They got rid of Brian Vangorder.

This. He was their donofrio and we all know how much difference a good DC can make over a sh1tty one.

Plus, they haven't exactly played offensive juggernauts. Look at their "best" games...

UGA - faced a true fresh QB in his 1st road start
BC - 97th in total offense
USC- 14th in total offense but have no defense
Wake - were missing their best player (Dortch)
MSU - 63rd in the country

In their 2 best wins - USC and MSU - the opposing teams each turned it over 3 times to ND's 0.

As I've said, I don't think they've faced a team like ours with our playmakers and our defense. If we turn it over 3x to ND's 0, we'll lose. But, if we have 0-1 TO, it's a wrap - ball game.

Yep, we have guys on offense who can pressure ND like they have not experienced this year.

We don’t need to press. If we do, there will be turnovers. Take what this D gives us and let Herndon, Thomas, Berrios, and Richards make plays in space. They can’t stop it. We have a great YAC team.

 

[MrHurricane305]

I watching the presser and on the 09:30 min mark his briefly touches on Berrios and Herndon and how those two are a concern.[video=youtube;O-zO5L6xGz4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-zO5L6xGz4[/video]

 

[brock]

Their defense ain’t that good...
[TWEET]928078132330090496[/TWEET]
Vt defense who is top 10 in the country is much better

 

[motorcitycane]

Man listen y'all.

Miami Defense is going to play well enough to win. We are at a point in the season where we know what our defense is.

This ND game is completely on the offense. Miami needs to go in like we need 35 points of offense.

 

[NonCents]

Notre Dame is 24th in yards per play which is solid but not great territory. Their rushing offense chews up the clock, and their defense plays prevent to stop the big play. By limiting their time on the field, and usually playing with a lead, they are able to get results as offense are forced to go for big plays. When teams can establish an offensive rhythm and ND does not build a lead, the ND defense gives up big points.

So I'll say this. USC, who is scoring on everyone, scored 14. NC State only scored 7 on offense. MSU got blown out and just beat PSU...Notre Dame was beating wake Forrest 41 to 16 late in the 3rd quarter.

Common theme here?

ND played second team, third, team, and walk-ons starting in the mid/late 3rd quarter.
Most of MSU s yards came with the game out of reach. NC State wasnt in it after halftime, and same thing with USC. End result? Lots of playing time for the non starters, hence more yards against them. The starters have been lights out so far (of course that could change against Miami)

Wake Forest was just a bad game, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was an eye on Miami that somewhat influenced that. If ND wins tomorrow I think they run the table.

ND doesn't play prevent defense. They're actually pretty aggressive. Now, when the game is under control and there are second and third teamers playing, I think it's pretty normal for them to play prevent, a) to protect the younger players and build confidence, and b) try to keep the score down.

 

[IndayArtHauz]

Their defense ain’t that good...
[TWEET]928078132330090496[/TWEET]
Vt defense who is top 10 in the country is much better

90th vs pass and 30th vs run. This game will come down to their run O vs our D.