Defensive Grades: Notre Dame at Stanford

The championship dreams of the Notre Dame football team came crashing down around them on Saturday, as the Fighting Irish were felled 38-36 by the Stanford Cardinal on a game-winning field goal as time expired in Palo Alto.

The ND offense had little trouble moving the ball up and down the field (although they struggled to score touchdowns in the red zone), but Notre Dame defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder’s defense just couldn’t stop the Stanford offense from driving down the field and scoring. Whether it was the constant small chunks of yardage picked up by Stanford RB Christian McCaffrey, or the bigger chunks QB Kevin Hogan amassed via passes to wide open receivers, the Irish simply couldn’t quite muster the effort to get a stop when it counted, including Stanford’s drive into field goal range with just 25 seconds on the clock.

Let’s take a look back at each unit of the defense and how they performed in the regular season finale, and hand out some single-game grades for the final time this year.

Defensive Line: B

Coming into the game, the main question of the Irish front seven was how well they could contain McCaffrey, who entered the game second in the country in rushing and one of the main Heisman candidates.

With the return of sophomore DL Daniel Cage to help shore up the middle, the defensive line (and linebackers) answered that question with a resounding “we got this.” McCaffrey rushed for just 94 yards on the evening, with a remarkably-low-for-him 3.5 yards-per-carry average and a long rush of just 11 yards. Focusing on McCaffrey didn’t mean another Stanford rusher took over, either, as the rest of the team combined for 60 yards on 15 carries. Thus, in the run game, the defensive line did its job.

November 28, 2015; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey (5) runs the ball ahead of Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive lineman Romeo Okwara (45) during the first half at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Senior Romeo Okwara led the unit with 8 tackles, including 1 tackle-for-loss, junior Isaac Rochell added 3 tackles, senior captain Sheldon Day had 2, and Jerry “Terry Jillery” Tillery and Andrew Trumbetti contributed 1 tackle apiece, with Jillery especially looking strong corralling ball carriers in the middle.

However, for as well as this unit played the run, it was unable to do enough against the pass. The pass rush Notre Dame got on Stanford QB Kevin Hogan was poor, with no recorded sacks by the defensive line. This allowed Hogan to both stay in the pocket comfortably and to scramble out of it to buy more time when he was pressured a bit, as the line lost containment on the deceptively quick quarterback various times. This lack of a consistent pass rush has plagued the team all year, and certainly cost the Irish in this one, as Hogan was able to make passes to wide open receivers all game, carving up a secondary that struggled to cover the Cardinal receivers. It should be noted, however, that Stanford’s offensive line appeared to have held Notre Dame players on several plays, especially Sheldon Day, who was still fairly impressive in his ability to wreak havoc despite the possible holding offenses.

Furthermore, on the final drive, when a sack or some major pressure would have been huge, the defensive line was unable to get it done, and Rochell even picked up an immensely costly facemasking penalty when trying to affect a throw by Hogan. That penalty, along with not enough pressure otherwise, allowed the Cardinal to move quickly down the field and set up the winning field goal.

Linebackers: B

As with the defensive line, the linebackers deserve to be commended on bottling up Christian McCaffrey. And, with the added responsibility of having to cover him out of the backfield, the linebackers did an excellent job of bringing him down as a runner and preventing big plays from him as a receiver, as he finished with just 3 catches for 19 yards.

November 28, 2015; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal running back Christian McCaffrey (5) is brought down by Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Jaylon Smith (9) during the first half at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Junior captain Jaylon Smith, in what could possibly be his last regular season game as a Notre Dame player, put together another spectacular performance. Smith was all over the field, running McCaffrey and other ball carriers down in space and filling lanes perfectly, all while also doing his job in pass coverage. He finished with 15 total tackles and a tackle-for-loss, and was far and away the best athlete on the field.

The rest of the linebackers played well, especially in the absence of junior James Onwualu, one of the better pass coverage linebackers in the country. Senior captain Joe Schmidt had 5 tackles, sophomore Greer Martini had 3 tackles and the team’s lone sack, senior Jarrett Grace made 3 tackles of his own, and sophomore Nyles Morgan even got in on the action with a tackle. Freshman Te’von Coney got some action early on the goal line, but looked lost in coverage and appeared to bite on the run on a touchdown pass lofted to a wide open receiver in the front corner of the end zone.

That miscue by Coney was representative of the linebackers as a whole in pass coverage, because, although they contained McCaffrey extremely well, the Stanford wide receivers and tight ends constantly found wide open spaces in the middle of the field and behind the defense. The middle of the field gaps can certainly be attributed some to the linebackers (specifically Schmidt on the late pass that set up the game winner), and so the group certainly could have done a better job in that regard.

Secondary: D-

The secondary, per usual , was solid in run support. Senior Elijah Shumate and junior Max Redfield each had 10 tackles, and Devin Butler, Cole Luke, and Matthias Farley added 3, 2, and 2 tackles, respectively. However, the positive analysis of the secondary mainly ends there.

November 28, 2015; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal wide receiver Devon Cajuste (89) catches a pass against Notre Dame Fighting Irish cornerback Devin Butler (12) during the second half at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Stanford’s Kevin Hogan certainly wasn’t pressured much by the Irish defensive front, and to an extent, that hung the Irish defensive backs out to dry. However, the amount of mental lapses and instances of the Stanford receivers just outplaying the ND DBs was substantial. Junior Devin Butler, playing in place of the injured KeiVarae Russell, was the only defensive back to break up a pass. Butler, actually, didn’t look as bad as expected in his role filling in for the team’s best corner, and if it weren’t for an abysmal missed tackle that allowed a Stanford receiver to essentially walk into the end zone, one could argue he played a decent game, although he still was beaten by Stanford receivers on a number of plays.

The rest of the secondary, however, was just plain bad in pass coverage. Hogan was 17/21 on the day with 269 yards and 4 TD, and this group is largely to blame. Luke was typically in pretty good position covering receivers, but they always seemed to come down with the ball despite that, as he still shows a lack of ability to find the ball in the air and make a play on it. Redfield and Shumate, known for one or two miscues per game, had more than just one or two of them as Stanford’s not-incredibly-fast receivers constantly got behind them for big gains or found themselves in the middle of the field with tons of green space, uninhibited by the threat of safeties quickly bearing down on them.

Stanford receiver Devon Cajuste finished the game with 5 catches for 125 yards and a touchdown. To put that into perspective, Cajuste had just 232 receiving yards on the season heading into the ND game. He increased that total by more than 50% against the Irish, also setting a personal season-high with 5 catches.

And the drive that ended up winning the game for Stanford? After the costly penalty by Rochell, the secondary played incredibly conservative defense (insane, considering Stanford only needed a field goal), giving the Cardinal receivers plenty of cushion and allowing the 27-yard pass to Cajuste that set up Conrad Ukropina’s winning field goal. The secondary just simply didn’t bring their A-game against a good quarterback who had a stable of quality receivers to throw to, and it ultimately burned the Irish despite the offense’s heroics in scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just 30 seconds left in the game.

Overall: C

The Notre Dame defense did a fantastic job in holding McCaffrey under 100 rushing yards for the first time since September 12th. They tackled well and were not pushed around by Stanford’s big, physical offensive line. However, with a meager pass rush and terrible pass coverage, the Irish defense simply didn’t do enough to help the offense win this game. Allowing 422 yards, 38 points, 8/12 3rd down conversions, and surrendering 5 scoring drives of at least 74 yards is just too much to overcome. And, although you could point to three offensive possessions that should have been touchdowns for the Irish that instead were field goals, as well as a missed field goal opportunity when Kizer fumbled at the end of the first half (15 points left off the board), the argument becomes that the offense should have scored 51 points against the 9th-ranked team in the country, which is a ridiculous argument to make, as scoring 36 points should be enough to win just about any football game.

VanGorder’s defense, two years into his tenure as defensive coordinator, needs to be reworked. Labeled as an aggressive defense, it rarely forces turnovers or even gets a consistent pass rush. The secondary is constantly giving up big plays, and the players’ lack of awareness at times is baffling. Furthermore, it appears that its complexity forces players like Joe Schmidt to have to try to do more than they’re capable of, while more physically gifted players like sophomore Nyles Morgan can’t find their way onto the field, for one reason or another.

Brian Kelly needs to sit down with VanGorder and figure some of these things out, as the defense is mainly what is holding the team back. Yes, the offense’s red zone play calling is questionable at best, and ND has had plenty of bad luck with all of the injuries they have sustained. However, when it comes down to it, VanGorder has been unable to put out a high-quality defensive product despite having some of the best individual defensive players in the country at his disposal in Jaylon Smith and Sheldon Day, among various other talented players like Rochell, Luke, Redfield, etc. At some point, he needs to either change his system, or Kelly needs to make a change at defensive coordinator. This group can and should be better, and the improvement needs to happen as soon as possible. Starting with the bowl game would be a fantastic step in the right direction for a defense full of players who deserve better.