Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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nior linebacker James Onwualu said. "You're going to have a bad series here or there. It's just focusing in on those big explosive plays and making sure you're consistent every down. "We've definitely continued to im- prove. The coaches make up stuff to give us looks with trick plays, wheels [routes] and everything that could possibly come up. We try to focus on that and make it a point to do our job every play. "They're extremely smart. They know what other teams could be doing. They try to look at our own weaknesses and where they could get us and throw as much as they can at us." What makes the big plays especially perplexing is Notre Dame's otherwise strong production on defense. The Irish ranked 12th in the nation in third- down defense, limiting opponents to a 28.7-percent conversion rate through seven games. Similarly, Notre Dame opponents scored on only 72.2 per- cent of trips inside the red zone, which ranked the Irish 10th in the country. "That third down is something we really love," Schmidt said. "We love to pin our ears back and get after it. If we continue to work and stick to the plan, listen to our coaches and eliminate some mental errors and stop giving up big plays, we can hopefully get to more third downs and get off the field." One other perplexing stat: In the first four games, Notre Dame allowed seven points to opponents on the first two drives of the game, with seven three-and-outs in eight opportunities. In the three-game stretch versus Clem- son, Navy and USC, the Irish allowed four touchdowns and one field goal on their opponents' first two possessions in those games (six total). "Internally we're trying to deal with that," Schmidt said. "I don't know if there's anything there. We just have to make sure we're coming out firing on all cylinders and making sure we're doing everything right. It's something we're aware of, and we're trying to eradicate. "The sample size is a little small to say we're good or bad at something. We're addressing it and sticking to the plan and trusting the coaches and try- ing to do our very best job in prepara- tion to go up fast." ✦ IRISH DEFENSIVE RANKINGS Through Oct. 29 Category NCAA Rank Stat Total Defense 51 370.3 yards allowed per game Rushing Defense 81 175.9 yards allowed per game Passing Defense 34 194.4 yards allowed per game Passing Efficiency Defense 49 121.41 rating Scoring Defense 39 22.6 points allowed per game Turnovers Gained 93 9 Third-Down Defense 12 28.7% Red Zone Defense 10 72.2% First Downs Allowed T-21 123