Notre Dame’s secondary will be handed its toughest exam of the season Saturday at Death Valley, with answers needed for Clemson’s efficient sophomore quarterback, DeShaun Watson.
This super-talented group underperformed in its only road game of the season, in which it allowed Virginia quarterback Matt Johns to look like John Elway (26/38, 289 yards, two touchdowns). Two weeks later, Johns was yanked after completing 12 of 25 passes with three interceptions at home against Boise State.
While Watson hasn’t shown it in three games this year, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in college football. He’s a guy that may not need a gadget play — as Virginia and UMass successfully ran against Notre Dame — to have success on Saturday.
“The secondary’s feeling fine,” cornerback KeiVarae Russell said. “We’re disappointed that we gave up another trick play, right, but as far as playing guys, we’re feeling fine. Clemson’s got some good guys … but we’re just as good as them. They’re just like Notre Dame. When we play opponents like this we usually up our game and do that, especially in the back end.”
[MORE: Notre Dame gets starters valuable rest with Clemson on deck]
Notre Dame’s secondary has allowed 12 passing plays of 20 or more yards (70th among FBS teams) and six passes of 30 or more yards (82nd). That total would've increased had UMass quarterback Blake Frohnapfel not overthrown a receiver who burned cornerback Devin Butler during Saturday's blowout (a good throw would've resulted in a big-chunk touchdown).
But outside of that Virginia game — and even at times in it — this group has been solid, and ranks 15th in passing defense S&P+. Take away those two trick plays and Notre Dame improves to a respectable 47th in allowing plays of 30 or more yards. We’re dealing with a small sample size of just four games, in which successes and failures can be magnified.
What coach Brian Kelly, defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder and secondary coach Todd Lyght want to see is more consistency from his secondary.
“There's times where we're competing and challenging throws, and then there's some times that we're not,” Kelly said. “I think that if you're asking coach VanGorder and coach Lyght, I think what we're looking for is consistency and competing for the ball. Some of it is technique where we're losing at the line of scrimmage in some instances, and then some of it is just not being as aggressive as we'd like to be to the ball. So at times, we are getting those two things. We just need to get it more consistently.”
In the hostile confines of Death Valley, one mistake from someone like Max Redfield — whose tackling ability remains a concern after he broke his thumb earlier this month — could prove to be disastrous. Ceding momentum to a top-12 team and presumptive ACC favorite by allowing a big-chunk passing play is one of the ways Notre Dame could let Saturday’s game slip away.
[MORE: Brandon Wimbush flashes upside for Notre Dame]
But a focus this week will be on stopping those gadget plays, because Notre Dame’s secondary is confident it can otherwise succeed.
“We never want to get beat on any trick play,” cornerback Cole Luke said. “But personally, if that’s what you have to do to beat us to score, then it’s a compliment. We definitely want to slim that down so we can take away those gadget plays.”