Notre Dame’s Defense Improved, But Still Way Behind SEC’s Best

Published: 10^th Jan 12 2:37 pm

RANT It!

John David Mercer, US Presswire

When watching last night’s BCS National Championship Game, I came away amazed by how great and how well coached Alabama’s defense is. Their stats throughout the entire 2011 season can attest to that fact.

Over the course of 13 games, Bama allowed only nine touchdowns. Yes, that it is not a typo. NINE TOUCHDOWNS. Didn’t Clemson allow that many in their entire bowl game against West Virginia? Unbelievable.

The unreal stats don’t end their. Heading into last night’s matchup, Bama’s D allowed only 8.8 points per game. The next closest team was LSU at 10.5 points per contest.

Looking at pretty every defensive statistical category, the Crimson Tide are at the top in the country, whether it be against the run, pass or total defense. Their D on averaged only allowed 191 total yards per game; 116 yards through the air and 75 yards on the ground. The last defense to be first in every defensive statistical category was the 1986 Oklahoma Sooners.

The Tide saved their best performance for last during last night’s game in New Orleans though. They held the Tigers to under a 100 total yards of offense and the #1 team heading into last night’s game didn’t cross mid field into halfway through the fourth quarter.

Honestly, I don’t think I have ever seen a more dominant performance by a defense.

As I was watching the game, I was thinking about Notre Dame’s defense and how far behind they are compared to Alabama’s. There is no question that Brian Kelly has improved the talent dramatically in his two season in South Bend, but there is still a lot of room to grow before the Irish get close to the Tide’s and other other top SEC defenses.

Where Kelly has improved the Irish D the most is on the line. Upcoming sophomores Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt are special talents and showed a lot in their first year’s of playing collegiate ball. Kelly has also two blue chippers coming in for this year’s class and might add one more in Arik Armstead before National Signing Day.

Despite those things, the Irish front is still behind the Crimson Tides’. At times, it is hard to differentiate between members of their defensive line and their linebackers. That is how quick and athletic their d-line is and they were a pain all night long for LSU’s run attach and for Jordan Jefferson.

What largely separates the Notre Dame defense from Alabama’s defense is at linebacker and in the secondary. Manti Te’o would start on Bama, but that is about it as far as the Irish linebackers go. The rest just simply don’t stack up with the speed, size and athleticism of Jerrell Harris, Dont’a Hightower, Courtney Upshaw and whoever else Nick Saban is throwing out there.

Both Hightower and Upshaw are expected to go in the first round of April’s draft.

The starkest difference between the two defenses comes in the secondary though. There were times when the Irish secondary, mainly Gary Gray, struggled in pass coverage this season. Things won’t get any easier for the Irish with Gray, Robert Blanton and Harrison Smith moving on and graduating and a bunch of youngsters competing for three spots in 2012.

As far as their draft status goes, Smith might be the only member to be selected in April. Gray will probably go undrafted and Blanton could be on the outside looking in depending on well he performs in his workout.

That isn’t the case with members of Alabama’s secondary. Dre Kirkpatrick, who hardly had his name called on last night because he was so good in coverage, is pretty much a lock to be a Top 10 pick. Mark Barron is another player who is expected to go off the board within the first couple of rounds. A couple of others will more than likely be picked before the end of seven rounds.

Now, it is hard to compare the two defenses because the schools so different in contrast. The academic requirements at Notre Dame are much more strict compared to what they are at Alabama. Saban also uses and abuses kids medical issues and features the greyshirt quite a bit. That usually doesn’t end up being the case in South Bend.

With all those things against them, Notre Dame might never have quite the level of talent that Alabama has on the defensive side of the football, but they can eventually compete with them as long as Kelly continues to recruit well and the defense takes the steps needed to improve.