Analysis: Notre Dame's defense is a disaster
Notre Dame, once considered a College Football Playoff contender, is now sitting at 1-3 with a defense that has surrendered 134 points in its first four games. Simply put, Touchdown Jesus wouldn’t mind looking down on a few three and outs this fall.
Brian VanGorder, one of the nation’s highest-paid defensive coordinators, has been unable to coax even competent play out of his much-maligned defense. Dating back to the end of last season, opponents have gouged the Irish to the tune of 36 points per game over their last six contests.
Notre Dame’s pass-rush has been nonexistent in 2016. Nyles Morgan finally broke their sack-less streak, recording one in the second half against Duke. That’s just one sack against 111 pass attempts on the year, dead last in all of FBS. Equally troubling has been the Irish’s play against the run. VanGorder’s unit entered their game against the Blue Devils as the nation’s 101st-ranked rush defense (198 yards per game) and Duke broke the 200-yard barrier with ease. The battle in the trenches was easily won by the Blue Devils down the stretch, as David Cutcliffe dialed up run after run on their final game-winning drive.
Duke’s Daniel Jones, in just his fourth-career start, torched the overmatched ND secondary on Saturday afternoon in South Bend. Jones' 290-yard, three-touchdown performance could signify the end of the VanGorder-Kelly professional relationship. VanGorder has worked under Kelly dating all the way back to 1991 when he joined Kelly’s Grand Valley State staff. Despite their history, his longtime boss can’t keep covering for his old friend. Kelly was recently asked how he’s dealt with defensive issues in the past, and he bluntly responded, "(We) scored more points.”
It’s time for another option, Coach Kelly. Try canning your downtrodden defensive coordinator.
A narrow loss to Duke only shone a brighter spotlight on the Irish’s overall imbalance. DeShone Kizer’s impressive touchdown total through the first month of the season (16) is simply a footnote due to their sub-.500 record. If the Irish are hoping to reverse the trend of wasting some prolific performances from their redshirt junior quarterback, a shakeup of the coaching staff may be what the doctor ordered.
Making matters worse is that the sledding doesn’t get any easier for the Irish next month, with back-to-back dates at home against Stanford and Miami before Halloween. The rest of the schedule could very well feature eight bowl teams, now that Army is playing its best football in close to 20 years. The reality is that there aren’t any games on the schedule to “work out the kinks,” so to speak. And you can bet that the outside pressure from the boosters and the growing social media mob that’s popularized #FireVanGorder make the chances of VanGorder surviving the 1-3 start slim to none.
From the CFP to the brink of bowl-game eligibility, heads will roll in South Bend. And you can count on VanGorder’s rolling first.