Keys To Victory For The Notre Dame Defense vs. Cincinnati

Keys to the Notre Dame defense doing what it needs to do for the Irish to beat the Cincinnati Bearcats

The 9th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-0) host the 7th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats (3-0) in one of the biggest matchups of a weekend filled with huge matchups.

Notre Dame's defense has played outstanding football in recent games, but against Cincinnati the Irish will have to be at their best. Notre Dame must thrive on all three levels against Cincinnati's balanced attack.

Here are my keys to Notre Dame being at its best on defense and keeping the Bearcats in check.

1. Disrupt Desmond Ridder Early and Often - Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder is a talented player and when he is on his gam the Bearcats are hard to defend. A key for Notre Dame is keeping Ridder from getting comfortable. Notre Dame must disrupt Ridder from the outset and never let him settle in.

The most obvious way to disrupt him is to pressure the Cincinnati quarterback, which Notre Dame must do in a number of ways. Primarily the Irish front four must be on top of its game and not only pressure and hit Ridder, but also contain him and keep him from getting outside of the pocket.

The other way to disrupt Ridder is on the shoulders of Marcus Freeman and how he calls the game. It will be determined by how well Freeman is able to dial up pressures in situations that attack the Cincinnati protections and get hits on Ridder without giving away that they are coming. It also means mixing up your presnap looks from both a pressure and coverage standpoint, which keeps Ridder from knowing just who is dropping where, whether its man or zone and guessing as to who may or may not be coming.

If Ridder has a hard time getting a read on what he's seeing pre and post snap it will cause him to make mistakes, and also will give the Irish front four time to get to him. 

A big game from ends Isaiah Foskey and Jordan Botelho would certainly be impactful for the Irish this weekend.

2. Be Disciplined - When Notre Dame is playing assignment sound football and tackling well opponents just cannot move the ball, and that's been true in all four games this season. When teams are scoring on this defense its because the Irish are giving up huge plays, and those huge plays have almost exclusively been a result of a technical or assignment mistake.

Cincinnati is good enough to make some plays based on their talent and scheme, but I don't believe they are good enough to do that for 60 minutes. If Cincinnati is going to win this game it will be due mostly struggles from the Notre Dame offense and the Irish defense playing unsound football.

3. Shut Down The Run Game - The pass game is the strength of the Cincinnati offense, but when the offense is truly rolling it is balanced, using Ridder's legs and the home run ability of Jerome Ford. Notre Dame needs to control the line of scrimmage, play sound football and shut down the Cincinnati ground attack.

The key is accomplishing this with your box (4 down, 2 LB) and not having to commit secondary resources to the run game.

This will serve many benefits. First it will put Cincinnati behind schedule and result in more 2nd-and-longs and 3rd-and-longs, which plays right into the hands of the Irish defense. Second it puts even more pressure on the pass game. If Cincinnati is throwing because it has to it will allow Freeman to attack it more effectively and will result in more inefficiency from the Cincinnati throwing game.

4. Continue Third-Down Success - Notre Dame's third-down defense was bad in the first two games. Notre Dame's third-down defense was excellent in the last two games. 

In games one and two the Irish allowed Florida State and Toledo to convert a combined 42.4% of their third-down chances. Purdue and Wisconsin, however, converted just 16.7% of their third-down chances. Wisconsin went just 1-14 on third-down.

Notre Dame must keep that rolling against the Bearcats.

5. Get The Ball - Cincinnati has turned the ball over 6 times in three games while Notre Dame has forced 9 turnovers in four games. Cincinnati has put the ball on the ground three times already and although Ridder has just two picks already, he'll put the ball up in situations that a good defense can get the ball from him.

When those opportunities come this weekend the Irish defense must take full advantage and get the ball.

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