Notre Dame's defense will shut down the long ball. Discover how they plan to eliminate explosive pass plays in 2026.
It was a tale of two different seasons for Notre Dame's defense. The first three games were atrocious while the final nine games were spectacular. One of the things that plagued this defense early on was their allowance of explosive plays. Now, Notre Dame's coaching staff defines explosive plays as 20 yards in the pass game and 10 yards in the run game. When you break down these two facets of this defense, it's also a tale of two different stories for Chris Ash's group. But before we dive into each phase of the game, let's look at the numbers overall.
On the season as a whole, the Irish ranked No. 4 in the country in plays of 30-yards or longer allowed from the line of scrimmage with 13 total allowed. Unfortunately, they ranked No. 42 in the country in plays of 20 yards or longer from the line of scrimmage allowing 45 total. Part of the evaluation this coaching staff has to look at this offseason is their defense, specifically the pass game, between 20 and 29 yards. When you break down the season into three windows, it backs up what we saw on the field.
Notre Dame ranked No. 87 in the country in plays of 20 yards or longer allowed in the August/September window allowing 21 plays of 20 yards or longer. In October, they improved significantly and only allowed 12 plays of 20 yards or longer. They replicated those same numbers in November but played in two more games than they did in October. The improvement was there, but they have to have a better start in 2026 to the season. That will be crucial.
Pass Game Numbers
Let's dive into the pass game, and this is where the bulk of the improvement needs to come from. On the season, they ranked No. 8 in the country in 30 yard pass plays allowed and only gave up 10. On the flip side, they ranked No. 84 in the country in 20 yard pass plays allowed and gave up 39. On the season, Notre Dame gave up 45 total plays of 20 yards or longer; 39 of them came in the pass game. Breaking the season down, the August/September window was abysmal. They ranked No. 115 in the country in pass plays of 20 yards or more allowed giving up 18 in their first four games.
They ranked 76th in the country in October in pass plays of 20 yards or longer and only gave up 11. But like we always say 'context matters' and this team only played three games in October. They finished the season on a high note and ranked No. 31 in the country in pass plays of 20 yards or longer allowed with 11. Yes, that's one more than the month of October, but they played in two more games in November than they did in the previous month. Almost half of the explosive plays they allowed in the pass game came in the first four games. Again, starting the season off strong is imperative in 2026.
Run Game Numbers
This phase of the game was the anchor of the defense from an explosive plays perspective. I'd also argue that the run defense in general was the anchor of the defense all season. They finished the year ranked No. 6 in the country in run plays of 20 yards or longer allowed and only gave up six. Notre Dame also finished the season ranked No. 17 in the country in run plays of 10 yards or longer allowed with 37 given up in 12 games. Similar to the pass defense numbers, the first window of the season was rough. In the August/September window, they gave up 17 runs of 10 yards or more which ranked 50th in the country.
Things quickly turned around for Ash's unit and October had a much different outlook. The Irish defense allowed seven runs of 10 yards or more in October and only gave up and average of 3.3 runs of 10 yards or longer in the three games they played; that ranked No. 8 in the country. They finished the season on a high note ranked No. 20 in the country in runs of 10 yards or longer allowed giving up 13 in the final month of the regular season. That also included a matchup against a triple option team in Navy that finished the season ranked 1st in the nation in rushing offense.
I'm going to sound like a broken record before the offseason concludes, but a faster start in every phase of the defense is imperative next season. The coaches failure, from the top down, to make adjustments to the rotation and scheme played a role in this team missing the playoffs. These problems need identified much earlier in the season, ideally before the season begins. That being said, this Notre Dame finished the season off on an exceptionally high note. Carrying that momentum over in 2026 bodes well for Ash, the rest of the defensive staff and this extremely talented roster.
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