Game Observations - Defense: Notre Dame Beats Syracuse

Analysis of the performance of the Notre Dame defense from the 45-21 victory over Syracuse

The Notre Dame defense was just as sloppy as the offense, but like the offense the defenders made big plays in key moments as the Irish rolled to a 45-21 victory.

Schematically there weren't any issues that led to the overall poor performance, but the Irish playing off coverage early did allow for the Orange to complete some early throws. That actually made sense, as the Irish wanted to keep everything in front of them early and force Syracuse to go on sustained drives, which it couldn't do.

Notre Dame didn't seem to be as aggressive attacking the line early in the game, which again made sense when you consider how poor Syracuse was at running the ball.

Syracuse came in averaging less than 80 rushing yards per game, but the Irish allowed the Orange offense to rack up a season-high 229 yards on the ground. The previous high was 163 yards back on Sept. 26.

Notre Dame allowed Syracuse to go for 414 yards of total offense, which was the first time the Orange topped the 400 mark all season. There was a blown coverage early in that resulted in Syracuse going for 37 yards to convert a third-down, but it was such a bad blown play that I honestly don't know who was supposed to drop and cover the back.

Syracuse came in as one of the nation's worst third-down offenses, but it went 5-9 against the Irish defense in the first half. Notre Dame buckled down in the second half, forcing Syracuse off the field on all five of its third-down snaps.

Notre Dame only gave up one sack against an offense that gave up a lot of sacks this season, but the main reason for that was how quickly Syracuse was getting rid of the ball all night.

The positive is Notre Dame forced four turnovers, and two of them came in the third quarter, which protected its own offense, which turned it over twice in the third quarter.

Now let's move onto individual players.

*** The front four was not as dominant as I expected, but there were some impressive moments worked in throughout the game. 

*** Veteran ends Daelin Hayes and Adetokunbo Ogundeji both had huge plays in the second half. Ogundeji had an impressive strip in pursuit that forced a fumble and gave the Irish the ball. Hayes dropped underneath a curl route and picked off a pass to give the Irish another third quarter turnover.

*** Back up ends Justin Ademilola and Ovie Oghoufo had quality moments in the game. Ademilola was strong on the edge against the run and Oghoufo had a couple of quality pass rushes, including one that resulted in him getting up and breaking up a pass. Oghoufo had two break ups in the win.

*** Senior defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa had some. big moments for the Irish line. He had a sack (he forced a fumble on that play) and also recovered a fumble on a hustle play. The recovered fumble impressed me from an attitude standpoint because on the play before Tagovailoa-Amosa got smashed off the line and was put on his back, but he bounced back on the very next snap with a big play. Tagovailoa-Amosa also had an early run stuff that resulted in Syracuse getting off schedule and ended with a three-and-out punt.

*** Freshman defensive tackle Rylie Mills probably had the best game of his career. He held up well at the point of attack, but he used his athleticism to get multiple penetrations that included a first-half tackle for loss in which he destroyed the Syracuse guard off the ball. Sophomore Howard Cross III was a bit more up-and-down. Cross had a couple nice moves off the line, but he also got pushed around a bit too frequently in the run game.

*** Senior rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah had an outstanding performance for the Irish, doing a little bit of everything for the defense.

*** Owusu-Koramoah broke up a pair of passes while playing man coverage, he had a tremendous forced fumble on a hustle play down the field, he had multiple impactful pressures (he needs to finish better at the quarterback) and he was excellent in space against the run.

*** His hustle in this game was one of the things that stood out. Owusu-Koramoah always plays hard, but his backside pursuit was especially impactful in this game.

*** Linebacker Drew White was a bit slow out of the gate, but he settled in and played well in my view. He and the rest of the inside linebackers had some fit issues, which often left the A gaps exposed, but far too often I couldn't tell which linebacker was supposed to secure the gap.

*** When White got turned loose he was effective against the run. He had impressive back-to-back run stops on a series in the third quarter, and he timed the run stunt on the second stop so well he almost beat the running back to the handoff.

*** Buck LB Shayne Simon struggled in limited snaps. He was late and slow to react to a wheel route on Syracuse's first series, which allowed them to convert a third-down. He also had a bad run fit on the first long Syracuse rushing touchdown.

*** LB Bo Bauer was very active in the game. He had a couple of bad run fits and ran into blocks, but he also played aggressively and was one of the better run defenders when he was in the game. Bauer had six tackles and two tackles for loss in the win. When he was decisive, Bauer exploded downhill and played physical ball. One particular snap was a 2nd-and-3 run in the second quarter where he crashed from the backside and stopped the back short of the sticks.

*** Safety Kyle Hamilton had a couple of bad run fits, including on the first long Syracuse touchdown run. He was also late closing on a couple of quick throws. I expected a big game from Hamilton, but he wasn't around the ball much in this game.

*** Veteran safety Shaun Crawford took away an early post, and he had some quality run fits and zone pickups in coverage. He also had two missed tackles, including one on the long Syracuse TD run in the third quarter.

*** Syracuse picked up freshman cornerback Clarence Lewis all game long. Lewis led the defense with 12 tackles, and a big part of that was how many balls that Syracuse completed against him. They were mostly short throws, but he made a poor read in the first half and stepped inside on a ball that was thrown to his man, and the result was a third-down conversion. Lewis also got beat on a slant route that allowed SU to convert a fourth-down.

*** Lewis had a couple of snaps where he didn't do a good job getting off blocks, but overall I thought his perimeter support against runs and screens was quality work. On one particular first half play he beat his man inside and forced the ball carrier to cut right into the arms of Owusu-Koramoah. He also read the early reverse well and held it to a 4-yard gain. 

*** Senior Nick McCloud had two bad plays in this game, and both resulted in touchdowns. The first was on a second quarter throw where McCloud tried to jump the pass but he missed, and the receiver shook him off and raced for a touchdown. On the 40-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, McCloud did a poor job getting off the block and getting to the ball carrier.

*** There were also several quality coverage snaps from McCloud, who for the most part held the Orange wideouts in check outside of the third quarter mistake. McCloud also did a good job coming up against the quick perimeter throws.

Note: Video highlights courtesy of the Atlantic Coast Conference

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