Notre Dame Pass Rush Continues Upward Trend
The sign of a strong program is one that can lose talented players and still produce at a high level, and the best programs are capable of even making a jump in production.
Such was the case for Notre Dame in 2019.
Developing a strong pass rush had been a challenge for Notre Dame for much of Brian Kelly’s first seven seasons, and it was certainly a problem the decade before he arrived. The two best pass rushing seasons during Kelly’s first seven seasons were 2012 and 2015, and it’s not a surprise that also happened to be the team’s two best seasons under Kelly.
Notre Dame’s 2018 pass rush fueled one of the nation’s best defenses, and the Irish rode that defense to the College Football Playoff. The pass rush was driven by Jerry Tillery and Julian Okwara. Tillery was second in the nation in pressures by an interior player and Okwara ranked seventh in the country in pressures.
The 2019 pass rush did not have a single player that came anywhere close to the individual production that Tillery and Okwara put up the previous season. It was successful because defensive line coach Mike Elston could throw waves of productive pass rushers at opponents.
According to Pro Football Focus, Notre Dame registered a pressure on over half the time the opposing quarterback drop backs, which was one of the best rates in the country. It improved its overall pressure rates, it’s sack rate and its hurry rates. The pass rush finished with more hits on the quarterback than it did the prior season.
The percentages above refer to the number of drop back snaps in which the Irish defense registered a pressure (Total), and those pressures are broken down into snaps that ended with a sack, snaps that ended with a hit on the quarterback and snaps where a hurry was registered.
Percentages give a much better view than total numbers. The reason is Notre Dame’s 2018 opponents dropped back 542 times compared to just 431 in 2019.
Despite the loss of Tillery, an early season injury to end Daelin Hayes and a disappointing season from Okwara, the defensive line was even more effective at pressuring the quarterback in 2019.
PFF started breaking down college games in 2014, and this past season was by far Notre Dame’s more disruptive in terms of pressuring the quarterback.
The sacks + hits number was up just 0.1%, but the overall pressure numbers were up significantly. That’s quite impressive when you consider it was without Tillery, without Hayes for nine games, with Okwara missing the final four games and Okwara not being nearly as disruptive as he was the previous season.
Notre Dame’s linebackers also saw a bit of a jump in pass rush success.
Being better than it had been the previous seven years isn’t really a major accomplishment when you consider the pass rush had been rather pedestrian for much of Kelly’s tenure. But Notre Dame’s pass rush stacks up well against the top pass rushing defenses in the country.
You can see that here:
This is a list of the top pass rushing Power 5 teams in the nation this past season. The numbers are based off Pro Football Focus pressure numbers and opponent drop back numbers.
As you can see, Notre Dame ranked sixth in the nation in total pressures and fourth in quarterback hurries. Being this disruptive was a factor in the Irish defense ranked fourth in the nation in turnovers gained, and why the defense led the nation in fumbles recovered. Notre Dame also had the most run-game tackles for loss of the Kelly era, so the disruptiveness from the front seven came in the run game as well.
Where Notre Dame must still show improvement is with hits ability to actually finish off pass rushes with hits on the quarterback. Notre Dame registered more sacks per pass attempt this season, making a significant jump from 6.7-percent to 5.2-percent, but the drop in hits on the quarterback fell by almost the same number.
The overall sacks + hits rate was just 0.1% higher in 2019. The positive of that is that the defense did finish more of its pressures with sacks, but a jump in overall hits on the quarterback is the next step for the Irish pass rush. Notre Dame ranked just 15th in sack + hit rate last season.
While the Irish ranked ahead of Ohio State and Clemson in pressures and hurries, both defenses had significantly higher rates of finishing off pressures with hits on the quarterback.
Ohio State - 21.6%
Clemson - 20.6%
Notre Dame - 16.9%
The good news is unlike 2018, Notre Dame had a better overall pressure rate and hurry rate than Clemson. Notre Dame also closed the gap in regards to sacks + hits, but this is one areas where improvement can continue to be made.
If Notre Dame can keep its pressure rate where it is and do a better job of finishing at the quarterback it will quickly become one of - if not the best - pass rushing teams in the country.
When you think of how bad the defense was at rushing the quarterback in 2016 you get a much, much greater appreciate of the job that Clark Lea, Mike Elston and Matt Balis have done the last three seasons.