Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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yielded, behind only the 195.42 figure during the 3-9 meltdown in 2007. Even subtracting triple-option teams Geor- gia Tech and Navy from the equation, it was 159.0 yards allowed per contest, which would have ranked 52nd na- tionally. • The pass efficiency defense (ranked 57th) was so-so, but what hurt more was seldom making the game- shifting plays either with sacks (tied for 75th nationally with 25) or inter- ceptions (tied for 91st with nine). • Going back to the record books in our office that date back to 1951, we have not found a season where Notre Dame forced fewer turnovers than the 14 this year. Conversely, Michigan State had double that with 28, while other top teams such as Ala- bama, Oklahoma and Iowa had 27, and Clemson 25. The Irish lost the turnover battle in defeats to Clemson (4-1), Stanford (1-0) and Ohio State (2- 1), and only forced one apiece in near upsets by Virginia, Temple and Boston College. SUMMARY Seldom will a Notre Dame defense have as much all-around experience than in 2015. The debates are endless about whether coordinator Brian Van- Gorder 's scheme is more tailored to the NFL than to college-aged players with much less time to learn, etc. Fin- ishing outside the top 40 in most major defensive categories is not going to Beyond The Red-Zone Data It has been stated hundreds of times on these pages that statistics don't always tell the entire story. That's not to say Notre Dame can't improve on its ranking (88th) in red-zone offense, a consistent woe under sixth-year head coach Brian Kelly. To some, the simple solution is to possess a powerful runner such as Alabama's Derrick Henry or Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott in the red zone. Well, maybe you might be surprised to find that the Crimson Tide was 82nd in red-zone offense (82.3 percent) and the Buckeyes 81st (82.5 percent). Meanwhile, teams with six or seven losses such as Kansas State finished second, sixth (Penn State), 11th (Nebraska) and 13th (Auburn). Even 4-8 Syracuse was eighth. That's in part because the Orange reached the red zone only 39 times. Conversely, Notre Dame scored more than a dozen touchdowns on plays of 50 yards or more, and many other explosive plays from 35 or more yards away. Notre Dame's 14 turnovers the past two years inside the opponent's 20 was the real issue. As Alabama and Ohio State show, there is more that goes into this than just raw data. Meanwhile, in red-zone defense, Notre Dame's ranking of 43rd (40.5 percent) finished ahead of both Alabama and Clemson (tied for 62nd), as well as a third College Football Playoff team in Michigan State (78th) — plus Ohio State (46th) and Stanford (95th). However, delving a little deeper into the stats, one must first take into account the percent of touch- downs yielded as opposed to field goals or no points at all. In 2014, Notre Dame was 116th in percentage of touchdowns allowed in the red zone at 70.0 (35 of 50), and this year it wasn't much better at about 65.9 percent (27 of 41). Notably it yielded five touchdowns in five chances in the loss at Stanford, al- lowed four touchdowns on each of Ohio State's four chances in the Fiesta Bowl, and surrendered two touchdowns in three attempts in the defeat at Clemson. — Lou Somogyi