Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/421584
BY ANDREW OWENS N otre Dame's defense fueled its 5‑0 start, with fans quickly anointing the arrival of defen‑ sive coordinator Brian Van‑ Gorder's aggressive schemes as South Bend's best development since the in‑ ception of the Studebaker vehicle last century. Since then, however, the Irish defense has fallen upon difficult times. During the team's 2‑3 stretch from Oct. 11 to Nov. 15, VanGorder's unit allowed 42.2 points per game compared to 12.0 in the first five. Outside of a season‑ending injury to senior linebacker Joe Schmidt and a number of Irish players dealing with nagging injuries, two themes have emerged to explain the staggering fall: sudden‑change defense and red‑zone defense. With Notre Dame's propensity to turn the ball over this season — se‑ nior quarterback Everett Golson alone committed 19 in a seven‑game stretch — the Irish defense has been placed in unenviable situations seemingly week after week. In the 55‑31 loss to Arizona State Nov. 8, the Sun Devils forced five turn‑ overs that led to 28 points. While 14 of those came off of interceptions returned for touchdowns, the other two scores were the result of poor sudden‑change defense by the Irish. After the first of five giveaways — a Golson fumble — Arizona State scored the next play on a 13‑yard pass from quarterback Taylor Kelly to wide re‑ ceiver Jaelen Strong. The next posses‑ sion, Marcus Hardison picked off Gol‑ son's pass at the Notre Dame 23‑yard line. It took the Sun Devils just three plays to reach the end zone. In 10 games, Notre Dame turned it over on its side of the field seven times, and the defense allowed an opposing touchdown all seven times. "Obviously we didn't do a great job at all helping our offense out in those sudden‑change moments," sophomore linebacker Jaylon Smith said after the loss at Arizona State. "It's all about the mentality, having that mentality that Sudden Change, Sudden Disaster When forced into a difficult spot after an offensive turnover, the Irish defense has mostly withered in 2014