Midweek Musings: Notre Dame Defense Needs To Simplify, Youth Movement

Midweek thoughts on Notre Dame football ahead of its matchup against California

Thoughts on Notre Dame and college football ahead of its week three matchup against the California Golden Bears.

NOTRE DAME DEFENSE NEEDS TO SIMPLIFY

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden did a masterful job getting his team ready to play against the vaunted Ohio State Buckeyes, and having the entire offseason and fall camp to get ready for the game allowed the Irish to perform well.

The Irish didn't look nearly as sharp against Marshall, and once again the defense struggled to stop the run and had issues on third-down. There were plenty of reasons for Notre Dame's disappointing performance against the Herd, including the fact the Irish were coming off a disappointing loss to Ohio State.

There were, however, some aspects to the first two performances that raise some red flags. Notre Dame's returning star players on defense (Isaiah Foskey, Jayson Ademilola, Cam Hart) have underachieved through two games, and the play of the linebackers has ranged from average to bad. Notre Dame's backers have played far too passive, and the defense has struggled to keep contain on the edge.

Some of the issues are a new defensive coordinator learning his players, and the players learning new coaches, but there's more to it than that. Golden came to Notre Dame from the NFL and he's an incredibly smart coach. One must question if the defense had too much put on its plate mentally leading into the Marshall game, and executing when they didn't have a whole month to implement a game plan resulted in a far more undisciplined and less productive performance from the defense.

Notre Dame's coaches and players spent a lot of time talking about how the linebackers were cross-training at every position, and learning all the positions. That needs to be addressed, and the backers need to first master their first position before moving onto a second, and a third.

Golden needs to get back to basics a bit, to steal an old cliche, make sure the players have a strong grasp of the base defense, their base roles, and get this unit back to playing fast. Once that happens they can build on that foundation and add more to the scheme, calls and checks.

2022 CLASS NEEDS TO BE USED MORE

It's always easy to point to talented or highly ranked freshmen and say, "Play the young guys." It sounds good, but it's not always the answer. Sometimes it is, as in the case of 2022 standout Tobias Merriweather, who needs to be on the field, immediately.

We are already seeing 2022 standout cornerbacks Benjamin Morrison and Jaden Mickey making an impact on the defense.

Notre Dame can't, and shouldn't, just toss in every player from the class into the rotation. The whole, "they've got nothing to lose" response doesn't fly. Notre Dame has 10 games it could lose, and all of them are important. The number one priority for the coaching staff right now is to beat California. After that it's to beat North Carolina, then BYU, and so on.

Coaches owe it to the entire team to do what it takes to win games, now.

That's why I want Merriweather to play, because I believe he can help this team win now, assuming the coaches do what they need to do to get him into the rotation and put him in position to succeed.

There are other freshman that need to get on the field more.

We've seen freshman linebacker Junior Tuihalamaka getting action on special teams, but with the linebackers struggling it wouldn't be a bad idea to give him a shot there as well. Getting freshman Jaylen Sneed more involved on defense is also a must, and if the defense is too complex for him to see the field, alter the defense. The days of Notre Dame running schemes that make it too hard for young players to get on the field needs to become a thing of the past, beginning now.

We also need to see Sneed, Josh Burnham and Nolan Ziegler playing more on special teams. That's a great way to get their feet wet, but also takes some of the reps burden off of a defense that has worn down in the fourth quarter of its first two games. 

I have had a hard time believing that freshman tight ends Eli Raridon and Holden Staes can block any worse than what we've seen at tight end the first two games. They are certainly better athletes than what we are seeing at the No. 2 tight end spot.

There is a lot of talent in the freshman class, and a lot of that talent is at spots where the current roster is struggling to produce. If you're going to not play well, at least give the more talented players a shot to perform. That's what the 2022 class is in many spots.

BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR THE ACC

The start of the 2022 season has been a bit up and down for the ACC, but overall the conference has had some big wins so far. Florida State beat LSU in New Orleans, Duke is coming off a win over Northwestern despite going in as 10.5-point road dogs. Vanderbilt was a hot pick to upset Wake Forest, but the Deacons pounded the Commodores. 

There are other good wins, like Louisville going on the road to beat UCF and Pitt beating West Virginia. There have been some bad losses as well, and some ugly wins. Virginia Tech lost to Old Dominion, Boston College lost to Rutgers, and both North Carolina and NC State had ugly wins in week one.

Pitt lost a chance to earn a big win for the league when it lost at home to Tennessee, but overall the conference has looked good, especially in week two.

Week three presents a big chance for the ACC to make a statement.

Miami travels to Texas A&M this weekend with a chance to earn a huge early statement win for Mario Cristobal, and it would knock the Aggies out of the Top 25 and be another big ACC win over a SEC school.

Syracuse has a chance to get a Big Ten win for the conference and NC State has a chance to earn a Big 12 win.

Another strong weekend by the ACC will force many analysts who disparage the league from having to take a second look at the direction the conference is going, especially after an offseason of strong coaching hires.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Notre Dame veteran Josh Lugg talking about quarterback Drew Pyne, who takes over as the starter due to an injury to Tyler Buchner.

☘️ @jluggnut with great insight on QB @dpyne10 #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/CFihhw7UMb

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 14, 2022

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Yesterday we broke down areas where the Notre Dame offense must adapt to build around Pyne, and to improve upon its struggles.

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Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense

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