Notre Dame Defense Has Traveled A Long Way In A Short Period

Notre Dame's defense has made dramatic strides in the last three seasons

Matt Cashore, USA TODAY Sports

When Notre Dame takes on Bowling Green this afternoon there will be a familiar face on the other sideline. Bowling Green’s defensive coordinator is Brian VanGorder, who led the Irish defense from 2014 through the first four games of the 2016 season.

He coached 30 games at Notre Dame, which makes it ironic that he returns with Notre Dame having played 30 games since it overhauled the defense. 

That makes it the perfect time to show the dramatic improvement that Notre Dame has made in a very short period of time since he was running the show.

Notre Dame went 19-11 with VanGorder on staff and 22-16 in the three seasons where he spent time on the sidelines.

Notre Dame has gone 25-5 since that time under the leadership of Mike Elko (2017) and Clark Lea (2018-present) running the defense.

TOTAL DEFENSE

The VanGorder tenure started off well, with the Irish giving up just 11.5 points per game, 343.8 yards per game and 5.1 yards per play in his first four games, all double-digit Irish victories and included a 31-0 victory over Michigan.

In his fifth game, a 50-43 win over North Carolina, the Irish defense gave up 36 points, 516 yards and 6.1 yards per play. It was a sign of things to come, and over the next 25 games Notre Dame never showed the level of play it did at the beginning of that 2014 season.

VanGorder’s defenses tended to give up yards and points in bunches, feasting on inferior opponents but struggling mightily against the better teams on the schedule. In VanGorder’s final 25 games it gave up at least 30 points 12 different times, over 400 yards 14 times and over 500 yards six times.

Notre Dame simply gave up too many big plays and far too often made winning difficult, and the Irish needed an all-time great offense in 2015 to get to the Fiesta Bowl. That season Notre Dame set a program record with 7.0 yards per play. The Irish went 12-13 in the two seasons the surrounded that campaign.

Mike Elko was hired following the 2016 season to turn the defense around, and he brought with him linebackers coach Clark Lea. Elko laid the foundation in 2016, with the Irish making dramatic improvements, holding each of their first eight opponents to 20 points or less. That season ended with Notre Dame keeping the LSU offense in check to help earn a 21-17 victory in the Citrus Bowl.

Notre Dame’s defense carried the team to a 12-1 record in 2018, the first of Lea’s tenure as defensive coordinator. The Irish finished that season ranked 10th in defensive efficiency according to the S&P+.

In less than three seasons since the end of the VanGorder era, Lea has built Notre Dame into one of the best defensive football teams in the country.

RUN DEFENSE

Notre Dame had the worst three-year stretch of run defense in school history from 2014 to 2016, and when VanGorder was let go after four games in 2016 the Irish were giving up 201.0 yards per game that season.

The Irish finished between No. 72 and 74 nationally in run defense in VanGorder’s three seasons in charge. His defenses gave up 177.5 yards per game and 13 of Notre Dame’s 30 opponents rushed for at least 200 yards.

It started off well, with the Irish holding its first two ranked opponents (Stanford, Florida State) in 2014 to a combined 97 rushing yards. In the next eight games against ranked opponents, VanGorder’s defense gave up an average of 228.5 rushing yards and 4.9 yards per rush, with six of those teams rushing for at least 212 yards.

Notre Dame is still not as good as it needs to be as a run defense, but it has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. Notre Dame gave up 139.5 yards and 3.84 yards per attempt during its 12-1 season a year ago.

An interesting statistic is that the tackle for loss numbers are almost identical. 

The Irish had 123 non-sack tackles for loss for minus-326 yards under VanGorder and 125 non-sack tackles for loss for minus-295 yards in the 30 games of the Elko/Lea tenure. The difference is that Notre Dame gave up a higher volume of big plays and were often gashed by opponents.

PASS DEFENSE

Notre Dame ranked 86th in pass efficiency in 2014, 79th in 2016 and 57th in 2015. It ranked 84th, 54th and 83rd in those same years in yards allowed per attempt. Notre Dame also struggled to consistently get after the quarterback and it picked off 16 passes in VanGorder’s first season, but it had just 13 the next two seasons (17 games).

Notre Dame has been one of the best pass defenses in the country the last season and a half, and it has shown incredible improvement in this area since Elko and Lea took over. The improvements have been especially dramatic since Lea took over for the 2018 season.

The Irish ranked 46th in pass efficiency defense in Elko’s first season, but it ranked sixth last fall and currently ranks 21st. Notre Dame ranked 16th in yards allowed per attempt in 2017, ranked second in the country a season ago and currently ranks 33rd.

Notre Dame has been especially good against the pass under Lea, with the defense picking off more passes (17) than it has allowed touchdowns through the air (13). 

Notre Dame had just three games with at least four sacks under VanGorder and only once went over four. Notre Dame had six games with at least four sacks in the last three seasons, which includes five games with at least five sacks.

The Irish racked up eight sacks in its win over Virginia last weekend, which was the highest total of the Kelly era. Notre Dame had just 14 total sacks in the 2016 season, and five came in one game.

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