Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 OCT. 2, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 1. Defensive Front Shines Again Notre Dame's front seven met the moment and threw a blanket over Wisconsin's run game, which has long been the backbone of the Badgers' of- fensive identity. Wisconsin totaled 74 yards on 28 carries, an average of 2.6 yards per rush. Its longest gain was 10 yards. The Fighting Irish had just four tackles for loss, but this was more about big-play prevention and causing inefficiency. Mission accomplished on that front. The defensive line — once again using a two- deep rotation at all four spots — slipped off blocks all game. Senior defensive tackle Jayson Ademi- lola's strip-sack in the fourth quarter sparked the second touchdown amid a run of 31 unanswered points by the Irish. Junior Howard Cross III, starting at nose tackle in place of graduate student Kurt Hinish, made a tackle for loss. It wasn't just starters. Senior defensive end Jus- tin Ademilola had four tackles. Junior nose guard Jacob Lacey had a near sack, a tackle for loss and drew a holding penalty. Lacey's role had dwindled, but he made the most of the chance Hinish's ab- sence created. Notre Dame sold out to stop Wisconsin's run- ning game, often playing a 4-4-3 defense on early downs. Sophomore Jordan Botelho came in as a fourth linebacker in place of safety Houston Griffith. The linebackers were active, too. Junior JD Bertrand made a game-high eight tackles. Junior Jack Kiser had six. Graduate student Drew White made four stops. Kiser and White each returned interceptions for touchdowns of 66 and 48 yards, respectively. 2. A Quiet Rushing Day Wisconsin entered with the top-ranked rushing defense in the country, allowing just 33.0 yards per game. Notre Dame's blocking problems pointed toward an inevitable exercise in futility trying to run on the Badgers. In turn, the Irish went pass-heavy. They opened their second drive of the game with eight straight pass plays. They threw seven straight times on a 16-play second-quarter drive that led to graduate student kicker Jonathan Doerer's 51-yard field goal. The second-quarter drive that ended with graduate student quarterback Jack Coan's 36-yard touchdown throw to senior wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. was 100 percent passing on five plays. Even when sophomore quarterback Drew Pyne relieved Coan — who left in the second half with a "soft-tissue injury," per head coach Brian Kelly — Notre Dame still trusted him to throw. His 16-yard touchdown throw to Austin in the fourth quarter capped a six-play drive that contained four passes. All told, Notre Dame called just 21 runs when subtracting sacks and scrambles. It gave running backs Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree a combined 20 carries, which produced 39 yards. When count- ing sacks and scrambles, Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees called 47 passes. 3. A Lot On The Quarterbacks' Shoulders The expected lack of run production added to the weight on the quarterbacks, who threw a combined 37 passes. It felt like they needed to complete a few downfield throws for the Irish to win, even if the batting average trying to do so wasn't good. The efficiency was indeed not pretty. Coan com- pleted 15 of 29 throws for 158 yards with a touch- down before his exit. But the volume was enough. Coan lofted a 36- yard touchdown pass to Austin, dropping the throw in his outstretched arms. Pyne hit sopho- more tight end Michael Mayer for 22 yards to set up his 16-yard touchdown toss to Austin. Austin's second touchdown put Notre Dame up 24-13 with 9:34 left, which felt like a safe cushion built with the help of a couple explosive passing plays before a pair of Irish pick-sixes blew the game open. 4. Making Wisconsin Throw Notre Dame turning Wisconsin's run game into an unreliable option for the Badgers put the game in the hands of struggling quarterback Graham Mertz. The man who replaced Coan at Wisconsin threw 41 passes, completing just 18. Notre Dame inter- cepted him four times and forced a fumble on a sack. Mertz had not thrown a touchdown in two prior starts this year and had just four of them in eight games since a five-touchdown 2020 debut. But the Badgers led 13-10 in the fourth quarter in part because he completed passes for 22, 43 and 35 yards — two of which led to scoring plays. Much like Notre Dame, simply generating those plays mattered more than the efficiency in a game that was low scoring for 50 minutes. His level of inefficiency, though, was too much for Wisconsin to overcome because it included all those turnovers. Notre Dame drew the curtains on a poor day from him with three fourth-quarter interceptions. 5. A Key Non-Offensive Touchdown Yes, the final score indicates a blowout. But for a while, this was a slog that felt like it could shift in favor of a team that scored a defensive or special teams touchdown. Notre Dame delivered three, but none bigger than Tyree's 96-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter. It came immediately after Wisconsin forced a fumble by sacking Pyne and kicked a field goal to take a 13-10 lead with 14:14 left in the game. Thirteen seconds of game time later, Notre Dame held a 17-13 lead and never trailed again. What a lift it was. It took pressure off Pyne, who knew he would need to complete passes given the lack of rushing success. It forced Mertz and the Wisconsin offense to attempt to respond, which they could not. It allowed the Irish's defense to play with a lead. FIVE THOUGHTS FROM NOTRE DAME'S DEFEAT OF WISCONSIN BY PATRICK ENGEL Junior linebacker JD Bertrand — who finished with a team-high eight tackles — and the Irish defense limited Wisconsin's rushing attack to just 74 yards on 28 carries (2.6 per rush). PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER