Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526412
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 14, 2024 5 FAN FORUM CONDITIONED FOR SUCCESS That convincing victory, in that environment, under that stifling pressure, and despite the continued unforced errors, was historic. This may not be the most athletic team ND has ever put on the field but it was clearly the best coached team of all time. Freeman, Denbrock and Golden are masters of the "pos- sible." Despite the adversity they just kept coming back to what they knew would work and what the players were trained to do to accomplish that. The ND players, although often out-sized, were in better physical shape as well, another coaching kudo. This doesn't portend a national championship but it does mean that this team has a chance against anybody and will be fun to watch. Go Irish! Woody Nedom BE HEARD! Send your letters to: sdowney@comanpub.com or mail to: Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 Notre Dame's pass defense picked up right where it left off last year, which is to say it was pretty impressive against Texas A&M. The Irish limited Aggies quarterback Conner Weigman to 12-of-30 passing for 100 yards with no touchdowns and 2 interceptions. One Irish fan did some research of his own that highlights just how impressive that defensive perfor- mance was. Here is the stat he researched and the conversation that ensued on our message board at BlueandGold.com. SpaddyND: Crazy ND stat since Al Golden has been the DC. ND hasn't had a QB complete 60% of his passes and pass for 250 yards in a game. In that time frame, ND has faced: CJ Stroud (Ohio State), Drake Maye (North Carolina) and Caleb Williams (USC) twice (all of whom were top-five picks in the NFL Draft). Plus decent QBs in Spencer Rattler (South Car- olina), Riley Leonard (Duke), Kyle McCord (Ohio State), Weigman (Texas A&M), Jack Plummer (Pur- due) and Cade Klubnik (Clemson). Backup QBs used to have a field day against a ND defense. [Former Irish defensive coordinator Clark] Lea made DJ Uiagalelei (when at Clemson) look like [former Auburn star and NFL standout] Cam Newton. mgbirish: Wow. The Little Leprechan: Crazy. Pay that man. Barbaro2232: Impressive to say the least, and while Golden is deserving of the lion's share of credit, I suspect he'd be the first to want to share it with his assistants and the talent at the back end. Rick Moede: I suspect he's very well compensated. Lucky 905: Caleb Williams did go about 80% with 232 yards passing in 2022. But your stat still remains true. SpaddyND: He had a great game vs. ND. At first I was just looking for the last QB to throw for 200 yards against ND and then I was noticing all these QBs were having trouble even completing 50% of their passes vs ND. ND's pass defense has been pretty remarkable for the last 27 games. Probably not a better pass defense in the country over the last 27 games. apegambino: That's the game I went to first because I was thinking Caleb had to complete 75+% lol. Like you said it was 80+% but he didn't throw for 250. But point by Spaddy still stands we have faced some very high-profile QBs and made them have some of their worst games of the season. Golden is already paid as one of the top if not the top DCs in the country. And from what I heard [Irish defensive backs coach Mike] Mickens got paid very well by ND this offseason which he certainly deserves. Just can't say enough about the job he has done with recruiting/development. The fact we can sit here and say ND has an elite secondary is crazy since this was the weakest part of our defense for decades. How many times did we have to hear from our own fans … ND will never have elite CBs all those kids are from the South and will stay in the South. Like I said then and will say again … coaching matters. You bring in dawgs on the recruiting trail that can develop their talent and they will come. Juicy J: Sick stat, thanks for sharing. mgormal1: And this year don't see any early first-round NFL Draft picks on that schedule … If the offense can start scoring 30 points against the big teams we could be a problem in the playoffs. FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com Mike Mickens (left) and Al Golden (right) have Notre Dame's pass defense playing at an elite level. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! New subscribers: Use Promo Code GoIrish2024 To SAVE 25% off your first year!