Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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to force a punt. Excluding one Golson turnover that led to halftime on the ensuing Orange possession and an in‑ terception returned for a touchdown in the second half, just one Irish turnover led to a sudden‑change score surren‑ dered by the defense. "That's definitely a big thing that we look forward to," junior defensive line‑ man Sheldon Day said after the Syra‑ cuse win. "We put situations in at prac‑ tice like that. It's a game‑changer and we take pride in it, just knowing we can take the air out of a team that just got some excitement." Lately, however, it's been the oppo‑ sition that takes the air out of Notre Dame. "College football is such that it comes down to a couple of plays and a fine line," head coach Brian Kelly said. "And that's why it's so critical that when you turn the ball over like we do … it's catastrophic turnovers." Those turnovers have turned a po‑ tential playoff push into another end‑ of‑season disappointment with a minor bowl berth on the horizon. The other crippling factor that has led to the unit's downfall is red‑zone defense. Through 10 games, Notre Dame allowed touchdowns on 70.3 percent of opposing red‑zone appear‑ ances. Only 11 teams had fared worse. For comparison's sake, the 2012 Irish defense allowed touchdowns on only 34.2 percent of red‑zone possessions, which ranked third in the country. A number of reasons help explain such a deep drop in production. The 2014 group's youth, which only wors‑ ened with injuries to Schmidt, Day and fifth‑year senior cornerback Cody Riggs, has not helped matters, but nei‑ ther has the overall makeup of the unit. In 2012, Notre Dame depended on strength in the front seven, whereas now the Irish are a more athletic yet smaller group that typically relies on five defensive backs on the field at once. It's not suited for the goal‑line stands that became the trademark of the 12‑0 regular season. Senior Matthias Farley, the only player that significantly contributed in 2012 and 2014, says attitude has a lot to do with sudden‑change success. "It's just the mentality of a sudden‑ change situation or the opposite team's in the red zone," Farley said. "It's just being that much more locked in to the field space and understanding how your assignment's going to change a little bit and you're not going to have as much." VanGorder has tried to slow things down for the young defense when the offense commits a turnover. "Coach said, 'Relax, breathe, stop,'" sophomore cornerback Cole Luke said. "Sometimes we won't get to finish [dis‑ cussing] what happened the last series because it happened so fast. You can't really adjust to those things, you just have to go out [and] talk about it on the field. "After the offense turns the ball over, that's when we need to be our strongest really because it's usually in [Irish ter‑ ritory]. We kind of like those situations really. We can't say much because we have little time to go out there. You just do your thing. This is where the magic happens." Lately, the magic has done a vanish‑ ing act of its own. ✦