Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 OCT. 30, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY PATRICK ENGEL A sked about Notre Dame's third- down defense, head coach Brian Kelly's mind went to a less-than-stellar performance from his team. In a 32-29 win over Virginia Tech Oct. 9, Notre Dame allowed the Hokies to convert 8 of 17 (47.1 percent) third- down chances. The most memorable play was a 19-yard touchdown run on a scramble by quarterback Braxton Bur- meister. His dash put Notre Dame in a 29-21 hole with 3:55 left. In turn, Kelly and defensive coordina- tor Marcus Freeman made tightening up third downs a point of emphasis during bye-week practices. "We spent much more time last week in those packages, not adding anything more, but just being more fundamen- tally sound and smarter as a defense," Kelly said. It's a wise use of an off week. It's also a correction of an outlier performance instead of a wound that won't stop bleeding. Through six games, Notre Dame's de- fense ranks 18th out of 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in opponent third- down conversion rate at 31.87 percent. That figure is just 0.5 percent higher than last season's third-down defense, which finished 11th nationally. Prior to Virginia Tech's successful day, the Irish held Cincinnati, Wisconsin and Purdue to a combined 7 of 41 (17.1 percent) on third down. Like most stout third-down defenses, Notre Dame's success starts with put- ting an offense behind schedule on first down. The Irish rank 28th in yards per first-down pass attempt (6.8) and 18th in yards per first-down rush (3.6). But that's only half the task. A third- and-long defense still has to get stops. Even better if it causes confusion and can be multiple in its looks. The latter is where Notre Dame succeeds because Freeman has several third-down pack- ages at his disposal. Freeman unfurled a dime defense (six defensive backs) versus Purdue that al- lowed just 14 yards on eight plays. Dime has remained in the playbook since then as a third-down weapon. Notre Dame's dime package has allowed just three catches on 12 third-down pass at- tempts this year with two interceptions, per Sports Info Solutions. Only two of the five third-down rushes versus dime have led to first downs. The fact Notre Dame can play dime dovetails into the secondary's pleas- antly surprising season in terms of depth and steadiness. Heading into the year, Notre Dame finding six trustwor- thy defensive backs felt like a long shot. The Irish knew they had a star in junior safety Kyle Hamilton, a 2020 freshman surprise in cornerback Clarence Lewis and an experienced nickel back in senior TaRiq Bracy. They were hopeful Cam Hart could become the other starting UNDER THE DOME CLAMPING DOWN Notre Dame's stingy third-down defense takes on many forms The Notre Dame defense entered the USC game allowing opponents to convert on just 31.9 percent of third downs. Junior cornerback Cam Hart and the Irish's dime package are one reason behind that success. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER