Notre Dame's defense took another step forward yesterday afternoon against the Boise State offense. The Broncos came into this game averaging 38.5 points per game, 520 total yards of offense, 221 rushing yards and 299 passing yards per game this season. The Fighting Irish defense held them to seven total points, 315 total yards of offense, 215 passing yards and 100 rushing yards. This unit is still far from being a finished product, but they are looking more like the unit we thought they could be at the start of the season. Like we do every week, we've broken down the key takeaways from Notre Dame's defense against the Boise State offense.
Defense Is Looking More Comfortable
Big picture, there was no major schematic shift. What we did see, however, was a unit playing more aggressive, fast and downhill. There were some major hits yesterday afternoon and the linebackers and safeties were flying around. The defense ended the game with 4.0 sacks and four interceptions, three in the second half. Safety Tae Johnson is looking more comfortable by the minute and linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa has been a force throughout the season. He was tied for the lead in tackles yesterday, had three solo tackles and a pass breakup. The defensive line was able to get home with some effectiveness against the Boise State offensive line as well.
Turnovers Were Key
For the first time this season, we saw a defense reminiscent of the 2024 unit when it came to forcing turnovers. Notre Dame won the turnover battle this afternoon by four after picking off quarterback Maddux Madsen once in the first half and three times in the second half. Johnson picked off Madsen to end the first half while star sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore picked off the Boise State quarterback twice in his first game back after missing the last two. Safety Luke Talich also picked up an interception in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame came into this game with three interceptions on finished the afternoon with seven total on the season. Great work by Mike Mickens and his unit.
Pass Rush Starting To Heat Up
According to PFF, the Notre Dame defense has a total of 33 pressures against Boise State on Saturday including seven hits plus sacks on the quarterback. Head coach Marcus Freeman has been talking about 'marrying up' the pass rush and the coverage for weeks during his press conference and yesterday afternoon, it looked to finally come together. Again, this wasn't perfect, as the Notre Dame pass rushers missed several opportunities to bring Madsen down in the backfield, but their total output was a major improvement and another solid step forward in the right direction. If this unit can maintain this trajectory, this program will be red hot at the right time in the season.
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