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Notre Dame Defense Establishing Consistent Culture

During Brian Kelly’s 23 minutes spent with the media following the first spring practice last Thursday, the questions centered primarily about the offense.

How is Tommy Rees adapting to his new role as coordinator?

Can the running game improve (more on that later this week)?

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What’s the next step for quarterback Ian Book?

Where does receiver Kevin Austin stand after sitting out all the games last season following a suspension?

It wasn’t until about the 22nd minute that a specific inquiry was made about the defensive personnel, namely TaRiq Bracy at cornerback.

Defensive coordinator Clark Lea's troops have ranked among the best nationally the past two seasons.
Defensive coordinator Clark Lea's troops have ranked among the best nationally the past two seasons. (Mike Miller)

That’s what can occur when a certain area of a team might be considered a strength: The stronger a position group might be perceived, the less questions that will be asked.

Yet to automatically assume the 2020 Fighting Irish defense will define the team strength again would be premature.

Graduating six of the 11 starters from last season’s defense that finished No. 5 overall in the Football Outsiders Fremeau Efficiency Index (behind Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia and Auburn) can be a setback to any unit. This includes losing four captains from the group, including a pair of ends in Khalid Kareem and Julian Okwara who could be selected in the top three rounds of the NFL Draft.

Both safeties, Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliott, also served as captains and mainstays, while Troy Pride Jr., provided speed and stability at one corner and linebacker Asmar Bilal became one of the team’s most improved players.

The defense has stabilized significantly the past three years since falling apart in 2014-16. In place of Kareem and Okwara, there are two more fifth-year seniors in Daelin Hayes and Ade Ogundeji who could have future pro careers.

In place of Gilman and Elliott are two former top 50 recruits in Kyle Hamilton and Houston Griffith, plus a top-100 prospect in Ohio State graduate transfer Isaiah Pryor. Hamilton was a freshman All-American last season.

The linebacker group collectively is much more seasoned than last year, led by rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Mike linebacker Drew White, the top two tacklers on the 2019 team.

In the last two years with Clark Lea as the defensive coordinator, Notre Dame has posted back-to-back seasons of permitting less than 20 points per contest for the first time since 2001-02.

Achieving it a third straight season in 2020 (when including bowl games prior to 2002 as well) would be a first since 1987-89, a period where the Irish recorded a school record 23 consecutive victories.

Since the end of the Lou Holtz era in 1996, allowing less than 20 points per contest — again, when including bowl games — has occurred in only five seasons.

Throughout the 1980s, Notre Dame’s defense allowed more than 20.0 points per game only once. That occurred in 1985 (21.3) following the 58-7 debacle in the season finale at Miami.

By the 1990s, scoring started to become more prominent in football while rule changes continued to favor the offense, and by 2014 the Fighting Irish allowed a school record 29.2 points per game, followed by marks of 24.1 in 2015 and 27.8 in 2016.

More than ever, prolific offenses have taken the lead in college football, while defense since the turn of the century has become more about damage control than dominance.

Here are the five lowest scoring averages by Notre Dame’s defense since 1997, with the season record in parentheses:

1. 2012 (12-1) —12.8

2. 2002 (10-3) — 16.7

3. 2019 (11-2) — 17.9

4. 2001 (5-6) — 19.5

5. 2018 (12-1) — 19.8


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