Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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date only 20 hours per week of prep time with the players — who also are responsible for a full load of college classwork. VanGorder's halcyon days in college came under Mark Richt at Georgia from 2001-04, but the current Irish defensive coordinator admit- ted last fall that the game has signifi- cantly evolved. "When I was in the SEC about the only one doing [spread principles, u p - t e m p o ] w a s South Carolina," VanGorder said. "The Auburns, the Te n n e s s e e s , t h e LSUs, they were all pro-style. Ole Miss with Eli [Manning]. They were all high execution, pro-style offenses. The single wing, the tempo and some of that stuff have changed. "I don't think it's a big enough change to necessar- ily mean that we can't play better de- fense against it, but I do believe how you build your personnel is extremely important against today's offenses." Kelly echoed the constructing of per- sonnel statement this November. "I still think it's personnel-driven. You're still looking at who you're put- ting on the field," Kelly said. "I think Brian has brought the kind of pressure and aggressive defensive play that we're looking for in a transition." It won't be easy in coming years for Notre Dame to have the combination of experience and personnel it did in 2015. Potentially, next year's defense might be without Smith, the Butkus Award winner, and possi- bly Russell. It defi- nitely will be sans its All-American l i n e m a n , s e n i o r Sheldon Day; end Romeo Okwara, who has developed well; and safety Eli- jah Shumate, who Kelly wishes had another season to play. That's the college game. Players move on quickly. It also will be minus line- backer Joe Schmidt, whose value was in aligning everybody i n Va n G o rd e r ' s complex approach. There might be more youth in 2016, which hasn't nec- essarily translated well to VanGorder's scheme. It was a little disheartening that among so many defensive back can- didates — including sophomore Nick Watkins and freshman Nick Coleman — the Irish had to turn to junior slot receiver Torii Hunter Jr. as its stop-gap measure at nickel back. Stats That Matter The 2015 Notre Dame defense finished a re- spectable 34th in scoring defense (22.4 points allowed per game). Part of it was half the schedule finished 70th or lower in scoring of- fense, including UMass (109th), Wake Forest (120th) and Boston College (121st). Three more under-the-radar stats have been more telling: • Last year, opposing offenses scored touch- downs 70.0 percent of the time in the red zone (35 of 50) for a 116th ranking. This year, it wasn't much better at 67.6 percent (23 of 34), notably 5 of 5 at Stanford. • Notre Dame generated only 13 turnovers this season (five fumbles and eight intercep- tions), which tied for 110th among 127 teams. That and the 13 in 2013 were the fewest in a regular season dating back to until 1951 (the 2013 team finished with 17 after forcing four turnovers in a bowl win over Rutgers). • Notre Dame allowed 23 touchdown drives of 75 or more yards this season (plus three more of at least 70). During the 12-0 regular season in 2012, it allowed one, although the following year it did permit 20. — Lou Somogyi