Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 OCT. 26, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED M ost of the chatter and h ea d l i n e s d u r i n g t h e offseason focused on the Notre Dame additions of se- nior quarterback Riley Leonard from Duke, and high-dollar of- fensive coordinator Mike Den- brock from LSU. College Foot- ball Playoff or bust became the overriding theme. But somewhere lost in the cloud of offensive additions and excitement, the Notre Dame brass with little fanfare made the smartest move of the off- season on the other side of the football when it locked in defen- sive coordinator Al Golden with a four-year contract extension that runs through 2027. The deal, reportedly worth nearly $9 million, made Golden one of the highest paid defen- sive coordinators in the country, and he's proving to be worth every penny. While the Irish offense used baby steps to find its way during the first half of the season, Golden hasn't missed a beat and is miraculously fielding a game-changing unit that rates at or near the top of the national rankings in several critical categories. Under Golden's leadership, Notre Dame entered the Georgia Tech game allowing only 11.7 points per game, the eighth-best mark in the country. And in yards per play allowed, pass efficiency defense, as well as third- and fourth- down conversion defense Notre Dame has been a top-10 unit almost all season, under very difficult circumstances. With junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison recently lost for the season following hip surgery, Golden entered the Georgia Tech game in Week 8 with eight defensive players already lost for the season because of injury. That list includes four players who were either starters or valuable rotational regulars. But even in the absence of star play- ers such as Morrison, graduate student vyper Jordan Botelho, sophomore vyper Boubacar Traore and sophomore line- backer Kahanu Kia, Golden has man- aged to fill those voids with a group of talented freshmen and other inexperi- enced players who weren't expected to play or produce much this season. Among the defensive rookies called into action, defensive lineman Bryce Young and linebacker Kyngstonn Vil- iamu-Asa are thriving in their expanded roles, while cornerback Leonard Moore earned game ball honors against Lou- isville when he came off the bench and logged team highs with 76 snaps and 7 tackles, and added a forced fumble. When asked in the preseason about the secret to getting players not ex- pected to play ready to play, Golden ex- plained how "empowerment" is at the root of preparing the next wave of guys. "Teach them how to fish, don't feed them," Golden said. "… In other words, don't create an environment where in- decision is OK. Let them learn how to make a decision. And then when they come over to the sideline, we help them understand, 'Maybe try this next time' or 'That was a great solution, but here's what we would want to do in a game.' That's really how we're based." ROOTING HIS PLAN Golden is the first to admit to feel- ing a bit buried when he arrived as the new Notre Dame defensive co- ordinator in February 2022, only days after finishing his duties as the linebackers coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. A new job, a new boss, a new roster — moving from the NFL to Notre Dame provided an en- tirely different set of challenges, and Golden had very little time to prepare after his Super Bowl run, especially with the Fighting Irish spring season coming fast. "It was overwhelming trying to get it calmed down," Golden conceded. And judging by the perfor- mance of his first Irish defense, the calm never came. That Notre Dame unit allowed at least 21 points to eight of its 13 opponents, and 30 or more points four times. The one-year improvement was swift and dramatic. In Golden's second season in 2023, the Irish finished fifth nationally in total defense, seventh in scoring defense, and third in passing yards allowed, marking the first time since 1980 — and only the second time since 1973 — that Notre Dame finished in the top 10 in those three important categories in the same season. And the defensive improvements and perfor- mance hasn't slowed any since. Graduate student linebacker Jack Kiser explained it this way. "Coach Golden is such a master of football schematics and understands the game so well, especially the offen- sive mindset," Kiser said. "He can get us into a call for almost any situation that will give us the best chance to win." While we continue to wait for the Irish offense to reach its explosive po- tential, we can rest easy knowing that Golden's defense will provide a level of comfort and consistency, despite key injuries, and a tough schedule stretch coming up. ✦ Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden has been worth every penny of the reported four-year, $9 million contract he signed in the offseason. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER The Golden Rules Helping The Irish Defense Thrive Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com. UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE