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A statistic that defines Notre Dame football defensive back play

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•04/08/23•

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Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison (Chad Weaver/Blue & Gold)

Notre Dame was one of the worst teams in the country in 2022 at passes defended. The Fighting Irish recorded 34 passes defended according to CFBstats.com for an average of 2.62 per game. That ranked No. 125 out of 131 teams in the FBS.

But by way of that low total and a breakout season for freshman cornerback Benjamin Morrison, who had 6 interceptions, Notre Dame ranked third in the nation in INT-to-passes-defended ratio. Per ESPN, Notre Dame was one of five teams nationally to hold onto at least 30 percent of all passes defended.

ESPN had the Irish good for intercepting 32.3 percent of their passes defended. Notre Dame had 10 interceptions as a team. Some outlets register passes defended in different manners which results in discrepancies in the actual number of passes defended. But even by CFBstats.com’s totals, Notre Dame still intercepted 29.4 percent of its passes defended.

Highest INT-to-PBU ratios in the country in 2022 per ESPN

  1. Southern Miss (32.7 percent)
  2. UConn (32.5)
  3. Notre Dame (32.3)
  4. USC (30.6)
  5. Western Kentucky (30.2)

Being top-five in this category isn’t necessarily a sign of success. The other teams that picked off at least 30 percent of passes defended were not exactly world-beaters outside of USC. Southern Miss, UConn and Western Kentucky combined to go 22-18. The Trojans were the outlier in going 11-3. Generating turnovers was about the only thing USC could consistently do defensively. That eluded them in their hiccup games.

In their three losses, the Trojans gave up an average of 45.3 points. They did not intercept any passes in that trio of defeats despite ranking tied for third nationally with 19 INTs.

Notre Dame ranked tied for 68th nationally with its 10 total team INTs. That was the lowest total among teams ranked in the top five of ESPN’s INT-to-passes-defended ratio. In essence, it’s just another metric that shows how much Notre Dame needs to improve in getting to the football in the defensive secondary. Interceptions are game-changers, but not every pass defended can be an INT. Sometimes simply getting the ball on the ground is more than enough.

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