Notre Dame's key strength on defense ready to carry Marcus Freeman to his first College Football Playoff
Notre Dame put everything together in Saturday's 49-7 splattering of Stanford on Saturday. Riley Leonard looked like the elite quarterback the Irish need him to be. The run game was efficient like they have been all year. But the one key defensive strength of Notre Dame shined brighter than perhaps anything else.The Notre Dame pass […]
Notre Dame put everything together in Saturday's 49-7 splattering of Stanford on Saturday. Riley Leonard looked like the elite quarterback the Irish need him to be. The run game was efficient like they have been all year. But the one key defensive strength of Notre Dame shined brighter than perhaps anything else.
The Notre Dame pass defense and more specifically the versatile depth of pass rushers just absolutely annihilated Stanford up front all game long. The team tallied four sacks, and and nearly 20 pass rush pressures in this one game alone. Howard Cross was the star this time around as he racked up multiple sacks and four total tackles by himself. Rylie Mills, Loghan Thomas, and Ben Minich all snagged at least a partial sack as well.
The Irish now have over 100 pass rush pressures and 20 sacks on the season. Those marks will surely rank among the best pass rush attacks in the nation following the complete destruction of Stanford. But it's not just about raw totals. It's about the elite playmakers and the supporting cast around them that make Notre Dame tough to prepare for each week.
Following the game to no one's surprise Marcus Freeman gave credit to his superstars stating that both defensive tackles Howard Cross III and Rylie Mills "dominated the game", which is a bit of an understatement.
Both Mills and Cross generated at least three pass rush pressures, made multiple run stops, and were disruptive throughout. After strong performances from Ben Minich, Loghan Thomas, Jaylen Sneed, and (finally) RJ Oben the Irish now have 13 defensive players with 4+ pass rush pressures on the season. That gives them one of the deepest sets to defenders who can get after the passer in the nation.
Thanks to that nearly unmatched depth of pass rush talent Notre Dame already ranked Top 15 in defensive yards per play, defensive pass efficiency, and first down rate allowed coming into Week 7. They'll almost assured rank Top 10 in all those metrics and more now.
If Notre Dame continues to get creative with where they bring their pass rush pressure from every single week they're going to be an extremely tough defense to score on through the air. And the great news is that those big bodies who are so great at getting after the passer are in many cases just as good at stopping the run.
This week's dominant performance may have come against a weaker opponent, but Notre Dame's pass rush is truly beginning to look like they might be able to carry Marcus Freeman to his first ever College Football Playoff appearance.
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