Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/621849
FAN FORUM PASS/FAIL My father passed away in late Sep- tember. He went to his grave lamenting the porous play of Notre Dame's defensive secondary over the past few seasons. Despite being ill and failing, nothing could have been more accurate than his final observa- tions as the final moments of the heartbreaking Stan- ford loss unfolded. Actually, it wasn't just the game-win- ning drive, but the whole game when Stanford's Kevin Hogan (arguably the weakest pass- ing quarterback in the entire Pac-12) picked apart the I r i s h s e c o n d a r y like so many before him. Yes, Hogan has won a tremen- dous number of games at Stanford, but that has been on the strength of the Cardinal running game and solid defense. Against the Irish, receivers ran wide open down the middle of the field, leaving the confused secondary in their wake. Brian VanGorder 's decision to blitz without ever getting to the quar- terback left the Irish secondary, already troubled, at a disadvantage all season. Quite simply, the Irish offense was great all season, and the defense was not. The argument about being four points away from being undefeated can also be restated to read that the team was 14 points away from being 7-5. Many of their last-minute victories were the result of great, individual athletic plays being made that overshad- owed the team's deficiencies. As long as Van- Gorder and his underachieving defense are al- lowed to continue, the Irish will be n o t h i n g m o r e than a pretender drawing its fans into the dream of greatness only to disappoint them in the end. Ray Sullivan Jr. Sonoma, Calif. M r. S u l l i v a n , we're sorry to hear about the passing of your father. The foremost pri- ority against Stanford was to stop the run, specifically Heisman Trophy runner-up Christian McCaffrey, and the Irish fulfilled that objective by limiting him to 94 yards on 27 carries (less than four yards per attempt). However, as is often the case, when you emphasize one area, it can set up a deficiency somewhere else. The onus was put on Hogan to beat them — and he did. The way football is played today and with Junior cornerback Cole Luke and junior safety Max Redfield are part of an Irish secondary that has had an up-and-down season. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA