SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame football is taking the … fourth. Literally, And on both sides of the ball.
Heading into its quasi-neutral field game Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta (3:30 p.m. EDT; ESPN) against Georgia Tech (5-2), the 12th-ranked Irish (5-1) trail only three teams in the FBS when it comes to the frequency in which they’re stopping opponents from converting on fourth down.
After Stanford went 1-of-4 Saturday in a 49-7 ND home win, Irish opponents are a collective 3-of-15 for 20% this season. That’s an improvement from 41.7% last season, 45.5% in 2022 and 56.3% from the final season under Brian Kelly, in 2021.
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The only season Notre Dame finished in the top 10 nationally in fourth-down conversion defense since the NCAA first started chronicling it as an official stat in 2005 was in 2013. The Irish were eighth that year, allowing conversions on 31.6% of their opponents’ tries.
They bottomed out at 115th in 2015 under defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, at 63.6%.
The Irish are also trending in the right direction with their fourth-down conversion offense. After going 3-for-3 on Saturday against Stanford, Notre Dame is at 70 percent (7-of-10) this season, which is the 24th-best.
That’s up from 58.8% (44th nationally) in 2023, 43.8% (92nd) in Marcus Freeman’s first season as ND head coach and 52.5% in 2021 (60th).
It’s not that unusual for teams to be good on fourth down on both sides of the ball. Six other FBS teams rank in the top 25 in both categories — Tennessee, Louisiana-Monroe, Cincinnati, BYU, TCU and future opponent, Army.
“The game plans in terms of what we do on both sides of the ball have been really good on fourth-down in the execution,” Freeman said Monday during his weekly press conference at Notre Dame Stadium. “But it’s a confidence. A confidence that I have as a head coach to offensively go for it on fourth down knowing that I believe we’ll make it.
“But also there’s a thought [that] if we don’t, I have a lot of confidence in our defense to stop the opposing offense. The same thing: fourth-and-1, fourth-and-short mentality on defense. Those guys have a lot of confidence. Make the call, coach [Al] Golden, let’s go.
“They’ve really done a good job of executing exactly what we’ve asked them to do. You have to be simplistic. You can’t have too much for fourth-down defense, but we have enough that our guys understand and can play fast doing it.”
King for a day?
Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key offset Notre Dame’s bombshell injury news, regarding the season-ending status of cornerback Benjamin Morrison, with a sour headline of his own.
At least Key’s, regarding starting quarterback Haynes King, appears to be short term and perhaps even resolved before the teams play on Saturday.
“He’s a tough kid,” Key told radio station, The Fan 680, as reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “Day-to-day with it right now. He’s going to be out there [at practice on Tuesday]. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll see how the week progresses. It’s that time of year. Everybody’s banged-up — our team, other teams. So, survival of the fittest at this point.”
Key did not disclose what specifically the injury is, but it’s been speculated as an arm or shoulder injury. Backup Zach Pyron finished out at QB in Georgia Tech’s 41-34 win at North Carolina on Saturday, playing the final three offensive series.
That included the tiebreaking one in which running back Jamal Haynes broke loose for a 68-yard scoring jaunt with 16 seconds left in the game.
Pyron has completed 5 of 7 passes this season for 64 yards and a TD with no interceptions. Pyron does have four rushing touchdowns and has run for 60 yards on 17 carries while playing a role in short yardage in the red zone.
The 6-3, 220-pound redshirt sophomore was a four-star prospect coming out of Pinson Valley (Ala.) High in the 2022 recruiting cycle.
King is Georgia Tech’s second-leading rusher, with 353 yards and six touchdowns on 62 carries (5.7 yards per carry average). In the passing game, he’s completed 136 of 191 for 1,568 yards and eight TDs with one interception. That translates to 34th nationally in pass efficiency.
“Both quarterbacks can run the ball,” Freeman said. “I know King went out during the game last week, but their offense really didn’t change much.
“They’re both threats with the ball in their hands. [King] also does a good job in the passing game. Doesn’t make many mistakes. They don’t turn the ball over. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”
Georgia Tech, in fact, has turned the ball over just twice this season. Only Army (1) has committed fewer nationally. And the Yellow Jackets lead the nation in fewest sacks allowed (1) and sack yardage allowed (1).
More Moore
During training camp preseason All-America cornerback Benjamin Morrison in his early impressions of Irish freshman cornerback Leonard Moore predicted a higher ceiling and better college career for the June enrollee.
Eventually.
Wide receiver Jayden Thomas, who regular dueled with both in practice over the summer in fall camp, seconded the notion.
“When you get a cornerback who has that length and the skill in the boundary, it’s unstoppable,” Thomas said of Moore. “BMo is more physical, I would say, even though he doesn’t look physical. Leonard has the length, which is more than BMo. If he gets the feet right, it’s going to be scary."
After filling in for an injured Christian Gray on Sept. 28 against Louisville, Moore will start alongside Gray against Georgia Tech on Saturday.
“When you recruit him, sign him and develop a relationship with him, you understand he has the talent, he has the length, he has the skill set,” Freeman said. “He’s a super intelligent young man. But it still takes time to play fast in a new defense.
“He was a guy in fall camp that you said, ‘OK, he’s playing fast already.’ We knew he would help us this year, and at some point if injuries happened, he would have to start for us. He’ll be ready. We have a lot of confidence in Leonard Moore.”
Offensive checkpoint
Notre Dame’s offensive numbers continue to churn toward respectability, with Notre Dame’s No. 16 rush offense ranking being the most impressive, followed by its No, 27 in scoring offense.
Senior quarterback Riley Leonard on Saturday against Stanford put up the best pass-efficiency rating of his career (205.2), excluding two FCS opponents.
The Irish improved significantly in its two eyesore stats, team pass efficiency (102nd to 74th) and third-down efficiency (102nd to 80th).
“[Are we] where we want to be after six games? Yeah,” Freeman said of the delayed growth curve the coaching staff anticipated. “But not where I want to be after seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 [games], because we're improving.
“And that's what you see from week 1 to week 6. There's improvement, but there's another level. There is. There's more, and I believe we'll get it, because they'll put the work in that it takes.”
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