Notre Dame vs UNLV - Keys To An Irish Victory - Defense Edition

Breaking down the keys to victory for the Notre Dame defense in its matchup against the UNLV Rebels

Notre Dame (3-3) looks to get back on track today against the UNLV Rebels (4-3), who have lost two straight games. The Notre Dame defense has played well this season, but it has not come close to living up to its potential as a unit. Al Golden and the Fighting Irish defense will look to get on track against a quality UNLV offense.

As is true for the offense, the defense needs to not only thrive against the Rebel offense, it needs to show improvement in areas that will help with victories over Syracuse, Clemson and USC down the stretch.

Here are our keys to victory for the Irish defense:

1. Dominate Up Front - This is the key most weeks, but it's especially true this week. That is even more true if UNLV quarterback Doug Brumfield plays. Brumfield left the San Jose State game early with a concussion and missed last week's loss against Air Force. This is a different offense without him. If he plays the Irish front needs to completely shut down what has been an up-and-down ground attack and then keep Brumfield in the pocket. If they can keep him contained and also get consistent pressure he'll make mistakes and the offense will sputter.

Defensive end Isaiah Foskey really needs to step up this week against UNLV tackles that shouldn't be able to contain him. Foskey had a rough game against Stanford, and the staff needs to get him back on track against the Rebels.

2. Be Disciplined - UNLV does a lot to try and create mistakes by the defense. The Rebels have quality athletes on offense, with Brumfield and Michigan State transfer wide receiver Ricky White, among others. UNLV is not, however, so talented that they can just go win one-on-one matchups over and over. The coaches do a very good job of using a variety of looks, pre-snap movement and post-snap action to confuse defenses in hopes of generating big plays down the field and holes in the run game.

If Notre Dame can play disciplined - which means being assignment correct and playing fundamentally sound - it is unlikely that UNLV can score enough to win this game. If the Irish play like they did against Stanford and North Carolina and in the second half against BYU there is no doubt the Rebels have the talent to make them pay.

3. Get The Ball - Notre Dame is one of the worst teams in the country at forcing turnovers. If the defensive front does win that battle there will be mistakes made that can and should return in turnovers. The question is can Golden and the staff get the defenders playing comfortable and confidently enough to fly to the ball, be more disruptive and get the football.

4. Linebackers Must Show Improvement - Notre Dame's weakness on defense this season has been the linebackers. A unit that was expected to be a strength has struggled with being assignment correct, they haven't tackled well and they struggle in coverage, among other things. There's simply too much talent and experience there for this unit to be this bad. It's up to Golden to simply things enough to allow the backers to play more free, play more confidently and play faster. If they do that the Irish will thrive, if they don't you'll see UNLV gash the Irish defense.

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