SOUTH BEND, Ind. — On a sweltering, sun-drenched day last weekend, Miami (Ohio) turned up the heat on Notre Dame.
The home fans watched restlessly as the RedHawks threatened to score twice in the first half, rekindling memories from two weeks earlier when the Fighting Irish suffered an embarrassing 16-14 loss to another Mid-American Conference school, Northern Illinois.
Then Notre Dame’s stifling defense turned the game. Christian Gray broke up a pass that Junior Tuihalamaka intercepted at the Notre Dame 4, the Irish forced a turnover on downs on the next series and freshman Boubacar Traore closed out the first half with two sacks, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
That’s exactly what No. 16 Notre Dame needed last weekend, and it could serve as a blueprint for how the Irish get back into playoff contention.
“We had to make some schematic tweaks, but you have to be committed to the things you felt were sound,” coach Marcus Freeman said. “I think that’s what you’re seeing right now. In our red zone defense, there’s a belief, a mindset, ‘put the ball down, we’re right where we want to be.’ Coach (Al) Golden says all the time, ‘put the ball down, we’re exactly where we want to be.’ It’s a mentality our defense has and they showed it out there Saturday.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Freeman, like Golden, spent most of his coaching career working the defense before ascending to coordinator and eventually becoming a head coach.
And with three preseason All-Americans — defensive tackle Howard Cross II, safety Xavier Watts and cornerback Benjamin Morrison — the natural expectation was Notre Dame would be reliant on a unit capable of shutting down any opponent.
Golden hasn’t played it entirely by the book, but his modifications have worked.
Notre Dame’s defense enters the contest against No. 15 Louisville ranked sixth in pass efficiency (79.13), eighth in interceptions (six), 10th in scoring (9.8 points) and 16th in total yards allowed (256.2) all while limiting Purdue and Miami to a combined 3 of 24 on third down.
The Irish have played so well, it’s gotten the attention of the creatively-minded Louisville coach, Jeff Brohm. His unbeaten team ranks 12th in the FBS in scoring (47.3 points per game) with wins over Austin Peay, Jacksonville State and Georgia Tech.
The game at Notre Dame (3-1) poses a much bigger test.
“They get after the quarterback and hit him a lot,” said Brohm, whose team has no turnovers this season. “So, we’ll have to play well, and we’ll have to be sharp in all aspects.”
What else stands out? Notre Dame’s aggressiveness.
Watts led the nation last season with seven interceptions and was named the Bronko Nagurski Award winner as the FBS’ best defensive player. He’s a perfect fit in Golden’s system, recording 16 tackles, one forced fumble, one interception this year and he has a whole lot of faith this defense will work.
“We trust our coaches,” Watts said. “We trust what they are coaching us to do. We trust what they want us to do, and we’re just out there playing fast. That’s what it comes down to, having a mindset, that dog dominant mindset.”
It showed up when they held Miami (OH) to just a lone first-half field goal, long enough for Notre Dame’s wobbly offense to find its footing. Notre Dame scored two touchdowns in the final 3:33 of the first half and went on to win 28-3.
Freeman saw it as a prescient moment.
“I often say the delayed gratification is patience plus strategy, right?” he said. “It’s not just patience. We just can’t keep doing the same thing and expect it’s going to get better over time. That’s what I call waiting, you know?”
Golden, meanwhile, sees something else. He urges Notre Dame to relentlessly swarm the ball, putting opponents in tough spots while giving the Irish the fortitude to come up with big plays at key moments — as Miami found out the hard way.
“We always look at it like, doesn’t matter how it got there,” Golden said. “(The red zone is) a different area of the field, and you have to have urgency. You have to have a completely different mindset than every other spot on the field. So, for our guys, we just flip the switch and go to work down there.”