In the Notre Dame football team's first loss of the season, there was plenty that went wrong. People are still trying to figure out why running back Jeremiyah Love had just 10 carries when the Irish spent the whole offseason hyping him up. But what really has people concerned is the performance of the defense. Especially the pass rush after Marcus Freeman and Co. talked about how good they thought the defensive line would be this fall.
After the game, Freeman addressed the media about the things he thought his team did well and what he felt they needed to improve on. When it came to the pass rush, Freeman went with the old K.I.S.S. analogy.
Marcus Freeman addresses Notre Dame football’s lack of pass rush vs. Miami
"We've got to be better with our four-man rushes," the Notre Dame head coach said when asked about why his squad only pressured Miami quarterback Carson Beck four times. He definitely kept it simple.
However, Freeman did expound after the initial answer. "If we need to blitz five, we will, but you're not going to be really successful on defense if you can't get pressure on the quarterback with four-man rushes."
He also felt as though the Hurricanes were well prepared and played well against Notre Dame's defenders. "I felt like they did a good job protecting the quarterback. I think there were times where Beck had ...enough time to really figure out what coverage we were playing and put the ball where it needed to be put."
"We got a little bit better pressure maybe in the end of the third, fourth quarter, but the expectation is throughout those four quarters, you've got to be able to get four-man pressure, rolling guys in there and create some pressure on the quarterback."
The Notre Dame football team now has an extra week to prepare and get ready for its next big test. It has a bye this weekend before a Week 3 matchup against a solid Texas A&M squad. Should they lose that game, the season will be over before it really began.