Another week, another new wrinkle from Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman.
In a counter to Wisconsin’s run-oriented offense, Freeman unfurled a 4-4-3 defense on early downs in the No. 9 Irish’s 41-13 defeat of the Badgers Saturday. Sophomore vyper defensive end Jordan Botelho served as the eighth man in the box, lining up as a second-level player or on the line of scrimmage. He replaced safety Houston Griffith, leaving safety Kyle Hamilton as the lone deep player.
Botelho played 29 snaps, his first action on defense this year. Griffith played 31, but about half of those came in the fourth quarter when Notre Dame switched to its base 4-3 defense after taking a 24-13 fourth-quarter lead. At that point, running wasn’t a viable option for Wisconsin.
All told, Notre Dame ran 28 defensive plays in the 4-4-3. Wisconsin called 13 runs and 15 passes against it.
There were some successful passing plays. Wisconsin saw the 4-4-3 on the first play of the game, called a play-action pass in response and gained 22 yards. It gained 43 yards when it had tight end Clay Cundiff one-on-one with rover Jack Kiser running a seam route. A creative shovel pass to running back Chez Mellusi netted 35 yards.
But Notre Dame was fine with forcing Badgers quarterback Graham Mertz to try and win the game. Hamilton’s range, of course, will make any coordinator feel comfortable with him as the lone high safety too. If Wisconsin challenged Notre Dame downfield often enough, chances are Hamilton would show up.
