Changes in defensive philosophy on display for Notre Dame

The Notre Dame defense allowed just three 60-yard plays in three years under defensive coordinator Clark Lea, who left the program this offseason to become the head coach at Vanderbilt. The Fighting Irish have allowed two plays of at least 60-yards in Marcus Freeman’s debut against Florida State. The Athletic’s Pete Sampson brought this fact to light during the season debut, citing the stark difference in philosophy.

“We said the Irish would roll the dice on defense,” Sampson posted. “And they have.”

Freeman comes to Notre Dame after four seasons as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, which finished as a top 10 team last season. He also won the 247 Sports Defensive Coordinator of the Year award in 2020. During his playing days, Freeman was a two-time All-Big Ten linebacker at Ohio State before being drafted into the NFL in 2009.

Results on Sunday

Rolling the dice provided mixed results for Notre Dame early as the Florida State offense followed two backward drives with an 89-yard run through the middle of the defense for a touchdown. The big play tied the game 7-7 and ranks No. 5 in Florida State history for longest play.

The Fighting Irish continued their bag of mixed results throughout the second half, stopping the Florida State offense on fourth down inside its own territory before giving up a 15-play touchdown drive to bring the Seminoles to 28 points. Notre Dame gave up 28 points just four times last season, with three of the four coming against College Football Playoff teams.

“I’m in favor of execution,” head coach Brian Kelly said after the game. “Maybe our entire team should be executed tonight.”

He continued: “Clearly, the big plays have to be eliminated on defense and we’ve got to execute a little better on third-down. We had too many third-down situations and we had that lull there in the fourth quarter. Look it’s the first game. We’re happy we got the victory but if we want to be a playoff team and compete for a championship. We gotta get a lot better and we gotta get a lot better soon.”

The aggressive mindset appears to benefit preseason All-American Kyle Hamilton, who made two interceptions from the safety position. ESPN analysts Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay rank Hamilton as one of the top five prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft. His ability to sit in center field and make quick reads to jump on the ball lends itself to the new system under Freeman.

“The two-quarterback system they have, they created all kinds of problems,” said Kelly. “We’ve got some work to do. I like our team. I like our players. I love their commitment and the way they fought. We’re gritty but we got a lot of work to do. It’s nice to go back and do the work after a win. It was hard.”