www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 27, 2020 17
with at least 10 yards to go. All told,
Notre Dame is ranked sixth nation-
ally with 39 quarterback pressures
on third down and 24th in opponent
quarterback rating on third down.
"I don't care how many days you
spend on third-and-short, you're
coming out on the short end," Kelly
said. "You need to be five-plus, six-
plus. We've done really well in those
areas in keeping it in third-and-long."
And well in third-and-short, it
turns out. Notre Dame stuffed Eti-
enne twice on third-and-one and is
13th in the FBS in third- and fourth-
and-short run-play conversion rate at
46.2 percent. The defense is not only
putting opponents into obvious pass
situations, but so effective in shorter-
field situations to the point where it
is more likely to stop a short-yardage
run than allow a conversion.
That's an outlier, and one Kelly is
surely glad to see. ✦
Notre Dame's defense was allowing oppo-
nents to convert only 24.73 percent of their
third downs, which ranked fifth in the coun-
try through Nov. 7.
PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS
