Despite elite run defense and creating negative plays, secondary struggles surfaced, highlighting Notre Dame's mixed defensive performance against Boston College.
Big picture, we should feel better about Notre Dame's defensive performance right? They held Boston College to 10 total points, 281 total yards of offense, racked up 12 tackles for a loss and allowed a grand total of 12 rushing yards to Boston College including sacks. It was their performance to end the first half and throughout the third quarter that left a bad taste in my mouth. To start the second half, they allowed Boston College to go on a 21-play, 74-yard drive that resulted in a field goal. Luckily, those were the last points the Eagles would score on the night. Here are my key takeaways from the Notre Dame defense in their 25-10 win over Boston College
The Run Defense Is Elite
Turbo Richard is a good running back, we said it all week at Irish Breakdown. Yesterday, he was held to 26 rushing yards on 16 total carries averaging a mere 1.6 yards per carry. As a team, Boston College rushed for 12 total yards on this Irish defense, but quarterback Grayson James accounted for negative 21 sack yards. Accounting sacks, the Irish defense held Boston College to 45 total rushing yards, their best performance of the year. Chris Ash made some questionable changes upon his arrival in South Bend, but his improvement in the run game can't go unnoticed. This was a collective effort, but the front seven of Notre Dame's defense has been stout against the run over the last month and a half. That will have to continue as they prepare to take on the Navy Midshipmen next weekend in South Bend.
Inconsistency In The Secondary
The performance on the back end of Notre Dame's defense has some highs and some lows this past week. There were a few blown coverages including a 21 yard catch to tight end Kaelen Chudzinkski on their 21-play drive. They also came away with three interceptions and had the opportunity for a couple more; safety Tae Johnson had two of them. We saw some glimpses of their soft, unaggressive coverage scheme allowing their No. 1 receiver, Lewis Bond, to catch eight passes for 92 yards. Freshman cornerback Mark Zackery, who started for Christian Gray who was held out at kickoff with a hip injury, played extremely well and was rarely targeted throughout the afternoon. Nickel corner DeVonta Smith made his first appearance in a couple of weeks and looked rusty, but came into his own as the game progressed. Star cornerback Leonard Moore had an up and down game, allowed a touchdown and missed a few tackles.
Created More Negatives
One of the reasons Boston College struggled to put points on the board was due to their inability to limit negative plays. Notre Dame recorded 5.0 sacks and 12.0 tackles for a loss yesterday with linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa leading the charge with 1.5 sacks. Linebackers Drayk Bowen and Jaylen Sneed also record a sack while Josh Burnham, who played significantly more yesterday, recorded a sack as well. Burnham also recorded 3.0 tackles for a loss and was easily in contention for defensive player of the game. Eight different defenders for Notre Dame recorded tackles for a loss; the defense as a whole did a significantly better job finishing on those plays than in previous weeks.
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