Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/601719
1-57 Wake Forest's all-time record against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 10, including this weekend's 28-7 loss to Notre Dame. Its lone victory occurred against No. 4 Ten- nessee in 1946. BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI What Worked • Red Zone Success. Despite its overall strug- gles, Wake Forest had been a strong red zone team all season, ranking 12th nationally in red zone defense and 32nd in red zone offense. For Notre Dame, it was a different story, with its offense ranking just 90th in the country in red zone offense. Defensively, the Irish ranked 36th, but they allowed their last five opponents to convert 92.3 percent of their red zone trips into scores. Notre Dame was able to reverse course during its 28-7 victory over the Demon Deacons. Offen- sively, the Irish made just two trips into the red zone, but both ended with sophomore quarter- back DeShone Kizer reaching the end zone. Wake Forest reached the red zone four times, but the Irish defense buckled down when it was backed up, holding the Deacons to just one score. Notre Dame's first red zone stop was its big- gest. Leading 14-0, the Irish defense came up with a crucial stop on fourth-and-goal inside the 1-yard line. Two plays later, freshman run- ning back Josh Adams broke free for a 98-yard touchdown. • Pressuring The Backfield. The Deacons en- tered the contest ranked 111th in total offense at just 339.9 yards per game. By the end of the first quarter, Wake Forest already had 111 yards of offense, putting it on pace for its second best performance of the season. That is when defensive coordinator Brian Van- Gorder unleashed his pressure package and uti- lized a more athletic defensive line to attack the Wake Forest offensive line. With starting nose guard Daniel Cage out, Notre Dame moved start- ing defensive end Isaac Rochell inside and had senior Romeo Okwara and sophomore Andrew Trumbetti on the outside. With a smaller front the Irish gave up some ground in the run game, but it allowed the front to be more disruptive. Notre Dame finished with eight tackles for loss, three sacks and seven QB hurries. Senior defensive tackle Sheldon Day had a second quar- ter pressure that resulted in a hurried pass by Wake quarterback John Wolford, which Trum- betti picked off and returned 28 yards for a score. What Didn't Work • Too Much Pressure. Wake Forest attacked the Notre Dame offensive line all game, using a variety of pressures to give the Irish offense fits. It mixed up double inside stunts by the lineback- ers and brought three and even four players off an edge to slow down the Notre Dame ground attack and confuse Kizer. The plan worked for the most part, with Kizer passing for just 111 yards, and the Irish offense giving up 10 tackles for loss. Notre Dame finished with 171 rushing yards, but 98 came on one run. On Notre Dame's other 29 carries, it rushed for just 73 yards (2.5 per rush). • Not Much From Fuller. After watching Notre Dame junior wideout Will Fuller thrash Pitts- burgh for 152 yards and three touchdowns, Wake Forest's defensive staff decided not to let that happen to them. With much of the focus on the backend geared towards stopping him, Fuller finished with just 37 yards on three receptions. Two of his catches came in the screen game, the last of which converted a third-and-10. — Bryan Driskell TAKING A CLOSER LOOK