Notre Dame Football Opponent Preview: LSU Tigers Defense
By Andrew Hall
The Notre Dame football team faces one of the toughest defenses in the country. Arguably, LSU’s defense might be the strongest that the Irish play all season. Here is a brief preview of the Tigers defense.
Defensive Line
The Defensive Line is more experience than the Linebacker unit. The three-man group of LaCourture, Gilmore, and Lawrence has a combined 45 starts.
Christian LaCourture tallied 63 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 6 sacks in the regular season.
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Linebacker
NFL teams think highly of Linebacker Arden Key. The good news for Notre Dame is that Key will not play in the Citrus Bowl. Fellow Linebackers Donnie Alexander and Corey Thompson will not play either.
In the 3-4 defense, the Tigers plan to start with Michael Divinity Jr., K’Lavon Chaisson, Tyler Taylor and Devin White. All of these players are underclassmen. This group only has 19 starts.
Sophomore Rover Devin White leads the team in tackles with 127 tackles and 12.5 tackles for loss. Neutralizing White is a key for the Irish offensive attack.
Defensive Back
Strong Safety John Battle ranks third on the team in tackles with 59 total stops. He also added an interception in the regular season.
Alongside Battle, Freshman Grant Delpit starts at the Free Safety spot. He collected 52 tackles and an interception in the first twelve games of the season.
Donte Jackson and Andraez Williams roam at the Cornerback positions. Williams leads the team with 5 interceptions. Wimbush needs to note where Williams is at all times.
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Bottom Line
The LSU Tigers allows 18.8 points per contest, which ranks 14th in the nation. Only Georgia ranks higher among 2017 Notre Dame opponents. This is a tough test for the Fighting Irish. However, the losses along the Linebacker corps might make a huge difference in the game. With a healthy Josh Adams, Notre Dame should be able to establish the running game. With the Tigers playing lots of man-to-man coverage, Brandon Wimbush might be extremely dangerous in the running game.