Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/587814
UNDER THE DOME Irish Limit C.J. Prosise's 'Pitch Count' C.J. Prosise's Sunday mornings used to be easy. That's not the case anymore for the slot receiver turned running back. Prosise said he has gone from rolling out of bed the morning after games thinking he could line up for a few more drives, to limping out of his dorm on the way to the Guglielmino Athletics Complex. But if you ask the senior about his new routine, he'll say he doesn't mind. He thinks that things have actually gotten better for him as the season has progressed. "It's a little creep," Prosise said with a laugh when asked about the walk to the training table. "I think my body has actually gotten more adjusted every week. The first couple of weeks, I was really sore and just not used to taking those hits. "But now that I'm used to taking the hits and taking less of them — because I have learned the position a little bit better, and how to take less big hits — I'm definitely recovering better and a lot easier." CHARTING THE IRISH HAVOC PLAYS Notre Dame defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder designs his defense to be aggressive and attacking, aiming to force turnovers and zero-yardage and negative-yardage plays that disrupt an offense's rhythm and keep it behind the chains. This philosophy can be evaluated with a stat called "Havoc." The measurement combines tackles for loss, passes defended (passes broken up and interceptions) and forced fumbles into one total, which is compared to the number of plays faced (to control for tempo). Through the first six games, Notre Dame forced a "Havoc" play on 17.6 percent of plays faced — which is around one every 5.6 attempts. That's much better than Notre Dame's 14.6 percent output last season, which ranked 87th nationally according to Football Outsiders. But there's still much improvement that can be made — Clemson finished last year as the No. 1 team nationally at a 23.2 percent clip, or one every 4.3 plays. The Irish's best effort this season came against UMass. Notre Dame compiled nine tackles for loss, seven passes broken up, one forced fumble and one interception for 18 total Havoc plays in 77 tries (23.4 percent). Conversely, the Clemson game — Notre Dame's only loss in its first six contests — was its worst effort. The Irish forced only six tackles for loss and one interception, for a total of seven Havoc plays in 64 tries (10.9 percent). Opponent Havoc Plays Total Plays Havoc Rate Texas 9 41 17.3% Virginia 11 68 16.2% Georgia Tech 15 71 21.1% UMass 18 77 23.4% Clemson 7 64 10.9% Navy 8 55 14.5%