Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 33 BY LOU SOMOGYI I n 2015, the veteran Notre Dame defense was expected to rival the 2012 unit that led the Fighting Irish to the BCS National Championship Game. Instead, several numbers were alarming: • The Irish ranked 72nd against the run (175.6 yards per game), the second-worst rank since the end of the Lou Holtz era in 1996 (behind only the 3-9 season in 2007). • They were 75th in sacks with 25, even though the scheme was described as more attack-laden than in years past. • They were tied for 109th in forcing turn- overs, with their total of 14 representing the lowest since the end of World War II at the school. • And they permitted 23 touchdown drives of 75 yards or more during the regular season, compared to one in 2012 (although it did permit 20 in 2013). The easy scape- goat for such data was second-year de- fensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, who became one of the na- tion's most renowned defensive coaches at Georgia from 2001-04 before working mostly in the NFL from 2005-13, including four years as the At- lanta Falcons defen- sive coordinator from 2008-11 and instruct- ing the linebackers for defensive mad scientist Rex Ryan of the New York Jets in 2013. The word association(s) with VanGorder these days is "overly complex." Even last preseason, starting free safety Max Redfield joked that VanGorder's NFL scheme has been more challenging for him than the Mandarin Chinese he's studying, while veteran lineman Isaac Rochell said, "We can kind of get a feel for what's going on and what he might call, but he throws curveballs all the time." This spring, junior starting safety Drue Tranquill noted: "You see all the talent in these guys, so it's not a physical issue. It's a matter of if they can absorb the material VanGorder is giving them." Redfield, Rochell and Tranquill were not being critical, but rather transparent about what it takes to play at the highest level. "People get paid to play this type of de- fense," junior Mike linebacker Nyles Morgan said. "I embrace it fully because I know that once I learn it I should be set for a very long time — unless they just decide to change the whole NFL system one day." The crux of the debate is whether Van- Gorder is teaching calculus to a group that first needs to grasp basic algebra. "A player that comes here and plays in our defense … he's going to put a lot of tools in his toolbox — but it's not just wild tools thrown from all over," VanGorder said. "It's pretty consistent for the players. It's likeable and it's learnable. That's how we approach it. We have smart players." VanGorder is forthright about acknowledg- ing that the 2015 Notre Dame defensive per- formance was not up to the standards set, so consequently there is going to be a natural cause and effect connotation and backlash. "It's because we have a large inventory, I guess," VanGorder said of the popular theory that his defense can create information over- load. "And we didn't play real good defense, right? If you have a large inventory and don't play real good defense, then that's the assump- tion. That's true in athletics, that's true in com- petition. That's just the way it goes. If you don't do well, you're going to hear those different things that come out. But within in our room, we know the truth, what we've got to do." While engaging in the self-scouting since the end of the season, plenty of upgrades also were found from VanGorder's first season in 2014, when injuries pretty much limited the defense to a skeletal version by the final month. Adjusting to no-huddle, up-tempo offenses was much better, as was third-down efficiency and producing more three-and-out series. However, several bugaboos remained. Three Areas To Improve There were three areas VanGorder espe- cially concentrated on this spring. First is coming out of the gates much stronger. In its three losses last season, Notre Dame: • Trailed 14-0 at Clemson with 8:43 still left in the first quarter. • Yielded 75- and 78-yard touchdown drives at Stanford while falling behind 14-7 in the first quarter. • Found itself down 14-0 after 80- and 43- yard drives by Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl with 7:41 still remaining in the first quarter. This is not including surrendering a three- play, 70-yard touchdown drive in the first se- ries versus Navy, USC going for 71 yards in eight plays for a touchdown after the opening kickoff the next week, or even UMass tallying 20 first-half points at Notre Dame, mainly on explosive plays. The same occurred during his first season in 2014 during a four-game losing streak in November when the Irish allowed 109 first- half points (27.25 per half) — 61 in the first quarter. "We're going to do more things to start practice, some faster paced things to kind of make sure they're awake and ready," VanGorder said this spring. "I don't want to say that was the problem — we just didn't do a good job. I don't have a good rea- son. There were some explosive-play scenar- ios — an explosive play against Clemson to start the game … a leverage breakdown. "There's not a good explanation, but this is what I do know: the more we emphasize it, the more important it becomes. Part of that is as we start practice to do some things where they have to focus real quickly and get after it, not just a typical warm-up session." A second major problem is permitting too many explosive plays, which goes back to potentially some confusion or miscommu- nication problems on defense. Notre Dame allowed 17 passes of 30 yards or more, and 13 runs of at least 32 yards. "Our explosive play count — while some- where in the middle of the pack respective to the country — was really bad relative to big-play touchdowns and long, long yardage," VanGorder said. "… The combination of play- ers playing better and coaches coaching better, that's what's got to happen." Finally, there is red-zone defense — which has been overshadowed by Notre Dame's red- zone offense woes, including having commit- ted the most turnovers inside an opponent's 20-yard line (14) the past two years combined. Defending His Turf Third-year defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder's scheme might be the foremost theme of Notre Dame's 2016 season Among the areas VanGorder aims to improve with his Irish defense — which must replace six start‑ ers — are getting off to better starts, limiting ex‑ plosive plays and improving its performance in the red zone. PHOTO BY ANDREW IVINS