Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 7, 2016 29 ery day … I think he's been that con- sistent performer for us." DEFENSE THRIVES USING AGGRESSIVE GAME PLAN Fifth-year senior nose guard Jarron Jones was the ringleader of the de- fense, but he was certainly not alone. Outside of some third-down strug- gles during the third quarter, the Notre Dame defense played strong football. The Irish pressured Miami junior quarterback Brad Kaaya all game, finishing with a season-high five sacks and 12 tackles for loss, the most by an Irish defense in head coach Brian Kelly's seven seasons at Notre Dame. The defensive dominance was most evident in the run game, with Notre Dame holding Miami to just 18 rushing yards on 35 attempts. Mi- ami's running backs combined for just 53 yards on 29 carries. Junior Joseph Yearby — a 1,002-yard rusher in 2015 — was held to just one yard on six rushes. "I thought it was a complete effort from a defensive standpoint," Kelly said following the victory. "There are things we can do better, there's no question, but I thought the run de- fense was solid." Miami entered the game with a big offensive line that averaged 308.6 pounds across the board. All five of Miami's starters weigh at least 305 pounds. Notre Dame could not sit back and let the Hurricane line dic- tate play. The Irish used their line to constantly pressure the backfield, which helped the linebackers play an aggressive downhill game. "One of the things that was re- ally, really important here was we knew more than anything else in this game that we had to attack the line of scrimmage," Kelly explained. "It's a big offensive line, and they had tal- ented backs. If we didn't dent every gap and they caught some seams, we weren't going to catch them. "We needed to attack the line of scrimmage." The Irish defensive staff devised a game plan that threw a number of different looks at the Miami offense, and all of them were built around attacking. "I thought it was an outstanding game plan that our defensive coaches put together," Kelly said of his staff. "That was really aggressive at the line of scrimmage. … We were run blitzing a lot more today than at any other time." Notre Dame's aggressive scheme not only pleased the head coach, it provided inspiration for the play- ers, who thrived in the aggressive schemes. "It lets us impose our will on our opponents," Jones noted. "When we impose our will on opponents we can be a very dominant defense. It moti- vates us. Within our scheme it lets us get a little more loose and gives us an opportunity to make more plays." SECONDARY HOLDS IT OWN Notre Dame's aggressive game plan put the young cornerbacks on an island for much of the game. Head coach Brian Kelly said it was the most one-on-one coverage his secondary has been responsible for all season. NOTRE DAME VS. MIAMI QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 9:30 5:26 3:47 7:45 14:56 11:32 26:28 Third-Down Conversions 5-6 0-3 0-2 3-5 5-9 3-7 8-16 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1 Average Field Position ND-44 ND-28 ND-36 ND-35 ND-37 ND-35 ND-36 Miami 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 5:30 9:34 11:13 7:15 15:04 18:28 33:32 Third-Down Conversions 0-3 2-6 4-5 1-5 2-9 5-10 7-19 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 Average Field Position UM-23 UM-32 UM-29 UM-26 UM-29 UM-28 UM-28 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND UM (-) Yards 5 13 0-5 Yards 38 41 6-9 Yards 12 7 10-19 Yards 7 12 20-29 Yards 3 4 30-39 Yards 0 0 40-49 Yards 1 0 50 or more Yards 1 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 5 2 3 0 Miami 3 2 1 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 1-10 ND38 Kizer pass complete to Stepherson for 53 yards to the UM9 • 1-10 ND25 Kizer pass complete to Stepherson for 25 yards to the 50 • 3-1 UM41 Adams rush for 41 yards and a touchdown Senior cornerback Cole Luke made five tackles and had an interception that set up Notre Dame's second touchdown of the game. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • With the victory over Miami, Notre Dame improved to 2-2 against the Atlantic Coast Con- ference this season. • Notre Dame outgained Miami 143-2 in the first quarter, while jumping out to a 17-0 lead. • Miami's 18 rushing yards are the fewest al- lowed by the Notre Dame defense since it held Oklahoma to just 15 yards in a 30-13 victory in Norman, Okla., on Oct. 27, 2012. • Notre Dame sacked Miami junior quarter- back Brad Kaaya five times, which is the most by an Irish defense since it registered six in a 37-34 victory over Arizona State on Oct. 5, 2013. • Senior defensive end Isaac Rochell re- corded his first sack of the season during the second quarter, and sophomore linebacker Asmar Bilal's second-quarter sack of Kaaya was the first of his career.