Grades: Notre Dame Defense, Defensive Line vs. USC

It was a tale of two halves for the Notre Dame defense.

The Irish held USC to just three points and 146 yards in the first two quarters, but it gave up 24 points and 280 yards in the final two quarters. USC scored on all four of its second half possessions.

Notre Dame went with a different defensive look against the Trojans.

On series one, the Irish implemented their normal four-down look with the Buck linebacker (Asmar Bilal) and the Rover (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) in the game, but it took out the Mike linebacker (Drew White) and replaced him with a third safety (Kyle Hamilton).

On the second series, Notre Dame took out one of its interior defensive linemen and replaced him with the Mike (Drew White) while keeping the three safety look, which it implemented throughout the game.

Here is that look:

USC had a hard time with this look in the first half, especially in the pass game. The Trojans passed for just 74 yards in the first half and went just 2-8 on third-down.

At halftime the USC coaches made adjustments to counter this look, and that is when the Irish defensive performance started to suffer. Instead of using more four-receiver looks, which it did for much of the first half, USC used its tight end more in the second half.

This adjustment allowed USC to gain numbers and leverage advantages over the Notre Dame box, and allowed the run game to be more effective. USC’s backs averaged 7.3 yards per rush in the second half after averaging 5.6 in the first half.

USC was also able to attack the middle of the field with its pass game more effectively. Trojan QB Kedon Slovis completed 14 of his 18 passes attempts and threw for 181 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.

As I discussed in the Irish Breakdown Podcast, USC was able to adjust with offense it has used, while Notre Dame had to counter with a system it just implemented. Advantage offense.

The Trojans moved the ball at will against Notre Dame in the final two quarters, facing just four third downs the entire second half, and they converted three of them.

USC became the first team all season to top 400 yards of offense against Notre Dame, and the Irish allowed a season-high 27 points in the game. Its 6.09 yards per play were the most allowed by a Notre Dame defense in the regular season since it gave up 6.67 yards per play against Wake Forest on Nov. 4, 2017.

DEFENSIVE END

#53 KHALID KAREEM (49 snaps)

Stats: 7 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack

Kareem was solid throughout the game, and at times he was very good. For the most part, the Irish senior end was stout at the point of attack when asked to set the edge, but he wasn’t as effective getting off blocks and making plays.

One example was in the first half, when Kareem was unable to beat a cut block and close down the cutback lane, which allowed for a 19-yard run.

Kareem was more effective rushing the passer, although USC’s quick passing game limited the number of times he could actually get to the quarterback. He led the Irish defense with hurries in the game, and he combined with Julian Okwara to force Slovis to scramble on a third-down that ended a drive and forced a field goal.

Kareem had a huge play on the snap before that third-down pressure. Slovis had a receiver open for a touchdown, but Kareem’s pressure forced him to throw off his back foot and the ball fell short. KAREEM GRADE: B

#42 JULIAN OKWARA (47 snaps)

Stats: 3 tackles

Okwara was effective as a pass rusher when give the opportunity, finishing with five quarterback pressures on just 17 pass rush snaps, which is an outstanding success rate. I mentioned the third-down pressure above with Kareem, but Okwara had two more hurries in the second half that forced Slovis out of the pocket and into incompletions.

Okwara was a bit up-and-down in the run game. He had an impressive edge play on the third series of the game that forced the runner to slow down and allowed Asmar Bilal to make the tackle for loss. There were other good edge snaps in the game, but Okwara also got knocked back on several snaps, including a 3rd-and-1 that opened up a huge cutback lane for the USC runner. OKWARA GRADE: B-

#91 ADE OGUNDEJI (22 snaps)

Stats: 2 tackles

Ogundeji had a bad read on an outside zone play early in the game, which allowed USC to get the ball outside. Beyond that he was solid to good at setting the edge in the run game, but he was not as effective getting off blocks and getting to the ball.

Ogundeji had a solid game as a pass rusher in regards to being able to get a push into the backfield, but like the run game he didn’t do a good enough job getting off blocks and getting faster into the backfield in order to cause more pressure. OGUNDEJI GRADE: C

#44 JAMIR JONES (30 snaps)

Stats: 2 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 1 break up

Jones wasn’t as impactful as Kareem or Okwara as a pure pass rusher, but he made a lot of plays in this football game. He set the edge effectively in the run game, did a good job getting off blocks and got to the ball carrier.

He had several clutch plays in the game, which included tackling a USC running back in space to force a third-down pass. On that third-down pass, Jones jumped the USC back in coverage, stayed with him and broke up the pass in the end zone. JONES GRADE: B

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

#95 MYRON TAGOVAILOA-AMOSA (45 snaps)

Stats: 2 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sack

There were two extremes with Tagovailoa-Amosa against USC. On the one hand, he was very active and disruptive, showing the ability to get a push when asked to be physical, and the ability to get into gaps and into the backfield when asked to penetrate. He was effective at getting to the edge of blockers and closing up run lanes.

Tagovailoa-Amosa had multiple good interior pass rushes and he was arguably the most disruptive run defender Notre Dame had up front.

The negative was that he had a couple of missed tackles that could have been big plays. He was unable to bring down a back on a 3rd-and-1, which came a snap after he teamed with Kurt Hinish to register a sack. Yes, the USC blocker was pushing him in the back and a penalty should have been called, but Tagovailoa-Amosa had a chance to make the tackle there even with the hold, and he needs to make it.

Those mistakes aside, the junior outplayed USC’s much more highly regarded tandem of Jay Tufele and Marlon Tuipulotu, who coincidentally are the players USC chose to take over the Irish defender when he was a senior in high school. TAGOVAILOA-AMOSA GRADE: B

#41 KURT HINISH (37 snaps)

Stats: 1 tackle, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sack

Hinish was asked to do a lot of dirty work against USC and he did it well. Outside of a few snaps where he couldn’t get movement against double teams, I felt the Irish junior was stout and aggressive in the game. In fact, there were times when the three-down alignment resulted in him getting triple teamed, but he held up well.

Hinish gave the USC interior blockers problems all game long with his quickness off the line, his pad level and his motor. HINISH GRADE: B

#57 JAYSON ADEMILOLA (12 snaps)

Stats: 1 tackle

Ademiola was limited from a snaps standpoint due to Notre Dame’s three-down alignment, but when he was in the game he was active and disruptive. His quickness allowed him to get a good push at the snap and he was able to get into the USC backfield on multiple snaps. ADEMILOLA GRADE: B

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