The Notre Dame defense, specifically the secondary, has a tough task this upcoming weekend when they travel down to Fayetteville, Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks and this Bobby Petrino offense. Arkansas ranks No. 15 in the country in points per game (43.5), No. 15 in the country in passing yards per game (324.3) and No. 4 in the country in passing touchdowns (13). The Fighting Irish defense ranks No. 132 in the country in passing yards allowed (289.3), No. 130 in the country in yards per completion (14.0) and No. 105 in the country in passing touchdowns allowed (7). This unit is shades of where they were a season ago; head coach Marcus Freeman spoke today around what needs to be done to right the ship.
"When we’re playing man coverage, we have to play with better fundamentals,” Freeman explained. “We have to play with better fundamentals and better technique. That’s going to help you execute at a higher level. Or, you might have to change a technique that you’ve been playing with in order to give yourself a better chance to execute at the level we need."
Freeman went on to talk about zone coverage as well, something the Irish run significantly more of now that defensive coordinator Chris Ash is calling the plays.
"As you evaluate the zone coverage aspect, if you get beat in man you play zone,” Freeman stated. “There’s holes in zone coverages that are only covered up by how fast you play, recognition of routes, different concepts and breaking off the quarterback. We aren’t playing with the velocity right now in some of our zone defenses to cover up some of the open areas that zone defense presents. It’s our job as coaches to make sure that we attack those issues and those areas and get them to play with faster velocity. We have to get them to execute at a higher level because that’s what matters. It doesn’t matter what the issues are, we have to continue to find ways to get them perform at a higher level. I’m confident that we will."
These issues will have to get fixed and fixed quickly. Ideally, Notre Dame's star sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore will be available for this matchup against the high-powered Arkansas offense. Moore is one of, if not the best, cover corner in all of college football and his responsibilities may changes because of that fact.
"He’s as good as I’ve been around at that position,” Freeman said about his standout sophomore cornerback. “We’ve had discussions on if we need to match him up with the best wide receiver no matter where he’s at. You also have to be able to do a good job doing that and be able to play zone. We can’t just tell the offense ‘hey, we’re playing man.’ No defense is good enough to say ‘hey, we’re playing man’ and stop them every play. We have considered that and we’ve talked about it. We need to get him available and ready to go before we do that. That might be this week, he’s still questionable right now, but we’ll see if that’s what we decide to do."
Like we've seen in previous seasons, we will also need to see some young players step up with guys like DeVonta Smith dealing with injuries. Last week, true freshman Dallas Golden answered the bell and impressed in his collegiate debut.
"I think his ceiling is extremely high,” Freeman said about the true freshman corner. “He is an extremely athletic and talented player. He has a lot of play making ability. As you watch him in high school, he’s probably as good on the offensive side as he is on the defensive side. He’s an athletic, athletic player. He wants to be great; he wants to be coached. We moved him to nickel last Monday. For him to put himself in the position to play 60 to 70 plays, it’s a testament to the work he’s put into it, but also his ability. Like any freshman in your first game, there was some ups and some downs but I’m very confident in where he’s headed."
With their backs against the wall, the Notre Dame defense will have to elevate their level of play in their second road test of the season. This is an Arkansas offense, led by quarterback Taylen Green, that can rip you apart if you're not disciplined and the correct calls aren't being made. The secondary will be tested in a big way Saturday afternoon down in Fayetteville.
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