The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are now the 12th-ranked team in the country and have clawed their way back into the playoff conversation after rattling off five straight victories after starting the season 0-2. A big reason for their turnaround has been the performance of the defense. They've made a dramatic shift in performance, philosophy and effectiveness the last month and a half and that will have to continue when they reach November. There are three key areas where Notre Dame's defense will have to continue improve in the bye week and it starts with limiting the explosive plays.
Limit Explosive Plays
Explosive plays are going to happen, especially when you plays Arkansas', NC State's and USC's offense. This defense has done a much better job limiting runs of 10-yards or more and passes of 20-yards or more after their rough start against Miami, Texas A&M and Boise State. With that being said, they've faltered a few times in the last three games. They allowed five explosive plays against Boise State and NC State in each game and allowed eight explosive plays against USC. Some of the big run plays they have allowed have came from scrambling quarterbacks. NC State's quarterback CJ Bailey and Boise State's quarterback, Maddux Madsen, accounted for a couple.
The majority of the big plays they've allowed have come through the air. Notre Dame's defense allowed 11 total pass plays of 20-yards or longer in their last three games and six of them came against USC this past Saturday. There won't be an offense that can test you quite as much as USC's passing attack, but Pittsburgh, Navy and Syracuse have the personnel to hurt you down the field. Limiting explosive plays will be a huge area of focus in the bye week.
Improved Tackling
Missed tackles were a major issue for this defense in their first two games. They missed 12 tackles against Miami and nine against Texas A&M. They turned things around when they faced Purdue, Arkansas and Boise State and only missed a combined 18 tackles in those three games. The last two outings, however, have been a different story. Notre Dame missed 12 tackles against Boise State and 11 tackles against USC. The Wolfpack and the Trojans had some of the best skilled talent the Irish will face in the regular season. Given their five game win-streak, Notre Dame is likely on their way to another playoff bid and they'll face equivalent or better skilled talent in the post season. This improvement is simple, and maybe this team just needed the bye week after some physical games, but tackling will have to improve down the stretch when they face players like Lewis Bond, Desmond Reid and Blake Horvath.
Get Your Depth Some Experience
This is seemingly gearing up to be another long season for Notre Dame; they played 16 games last season and if they want to make another run at a title, they'll likely have play four games in the post season. There are players on defense at both levels that need to get more snaps and getting them ready to do so in the bye week is crucial. On the defensive line, players like Josh Burnham, Elijah Hughes, Cole Mullins and Armel Mukam have to see more snaps, especially with players like Gabriel Rubio, Donovan Hinish and Jared Dawson already missing time. There was a total of 74 snaps played in the last two games between Burnham, Hughes, Mullins and Mukam; Mullins and Mukam didn't play a single snap against USC.
The secondary is another area to get your depth some much needed experience. Freshman cornerback Mark Zackery played zero snaps against USC, eight snaps against NC State and nine snaps against Boise State. Safety Luke Talich, despite having three interceptions in the last four games, has only played 34 snaps in the last two games. True freshman safety JaDon Blair has yet to see the field on defense and he's a player than can, without a doubt, help you in some capacity on defense. If this is going to be another long season for Notre Dame, the entire defensive coaching staff will have to get their young guys ready in the month of November.
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