The IB team dives into the keys to success for the Notre Dame defense in the matchup against Purdue
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The play of Riley Leonard and how he's been used, because they go together. And his play, first and foremost, is an even bigger problem than how he's used, because there have been some chances for him to make some plays and he hasn't taken advantage of it. The second one is the play, the defensive line. Like, the one thing we talked about before the season is you can't have regression. You can't regress, like, you need to build up areas where you weren't as good, but you can't have regression from returners. You have to be as good or better. And we said if the defensive line is simply as good as it was last year, you've got a top 10 caliber defensive line. They've regressed. They're not only not stopping the run, they're getting gashed even more than they got gashed last year, but they're not having the counter to that, which is creating negatives and rushing the quarterback. They're doing neither of those two things right now. And that's got to get fixed, so you have to be good up front. No one for the rest of the year is going to be afraid of this defensive line, ever, at all. Matter of fact, Northern Illinois went into that game knowing that they could, or believing that they could push Notre Dame around, and that's exactly what they did. Well, Purdue averages, I believe, slightly more pounds on average across the board than what Northern Illinois did. And we've seen it late last year, they had two 300 yard games. Now, they're not a physical run team, guys. They're more of an air raid team, but they've got some size. They will try. They will run zones. They're going to try to move you off the ball. You have to be able to handle that. And then number two, you've got to get some pressure on the quarterback. That's a big thing, guys. So the defensive line, Ryan, is my number one key. They have to be good. They have to get back to what they were and what they're capable of being. It begins up front. And inside, excuse me, it begins inside with mills and cross, they have to both play a lot better. And then they're going to need to see something from the edge. Especially since I would argue, but Telho's been good so far. This the other end that's been really good. Probably isn't playing on Saturday and Josh Burnham. And so some guys got to step up big time. This defensive line has to be good in this game, right? Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. You can now win up to a hundred times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks. 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Choose between flavors like buffalo, honey barbecue, garlic palm or if you're a real heat seeker try spicy ghost pepper only on Wendy's signature spicy nugs. I dare you that's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love. Pick a flavor grab some extra napkins and prepare to nug like you've never nugged before. For a whole new way to nug it's got to be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. Yeah yeah I mean the defensive line's just kind of been passive. I think for the lack of a better word over the last couple weeks. I mean it's just they just kind of seem like they're I don't know they're just kind of playing the point of attack. They're just trying to wait for plays to come to them and not being like overly aggressive. This team is the four star like left tackle to right guard are all serviceable football players in my opinion. Like Corey Stewart was a transfer from Ballstage who's a solid player at left tackle. Gus Hartwig has been there now for 19 years like at center like solid players. The Marcus Bowe kid at right tackle apparently the M is not pronounced so it's Marcus Bowe. He's a good football player man. Like I kid I know some people in the scouting business thing that could be a top 100 player in April. So right you and I were texting about him when I was putting that all opponent team together. Yes I had him on my side. You know what do you think of this kid Adam on my second second team all opponent team and it's like if he doesn't get hurt last year. There's a lot more buzz about that kid coming into the season is an all big 10 preseason player. And despite him being a junior a lot of people in the NFL circles are kind of expecting him to be a part of the 2025 NFL draft which I think kind of speaks volumes to just kind of the appreciation for his game. But overall man like still even with that in mind of Perdue being a solid unit up front or good unit even potentially up front Notre Dame should dominate that game in theory. I mean nobody should be no interior player should be able to handle Howard Cross one on one. They should be able to handle the talent of Riley Mills one on one in theory. Right but at the end of the day we don't profit off of theories we profit off of practicality and we need Notre Dame to show up and I mean like where's RJ open. Like where are some of these guys man like there are no shows so far this year. I mean RJ open played what 10 snaps last week like it's just because he was so bad. Yeah I mean some of these some of these guys need a reality check man like Howard Cross Riley Mills RJ open they all came back to school to hopefully raise their draft stock and to showcase how good of a player they are and all those players have underperformed at this point. The only one that I've watched and I've been consistently like you know but tell us play it hard man like he's played a pretty good ball overall and then I have to see like a couple backups have had flashes but overall this defensive line really needs to hold their weights and to hold up to their reputation because if they are able to create negatives in the run game and also get after Hudson card Hudson card is a good college quarterback but he's a rhythm based player like he's an RPO kid he's a guy that likes to work off of that easy structure. If you mess up his structure and you mess up his process. He could be in for a little bit of a tough day so the defensive line is going to make a break this football game. 100% you can't to take that a step further and I'll make this quick here because I know we're rolling. If you're a coach if you're the D line coach if you're the defensive coordinator. I understand that you had fifth year guys come back to be a part of this program to help raise their draft stock. But this isn't the NFL draft yet and if they're not being effective on your team currently. You have to sub them out for somebody else don't just keep them in for the sake of saying we're going to keep them in. Right I don't want to I don't want to say Notre Dame should be rotating defensive lineman every other two plays if they don't do one assignment correct thing but if you're going through an entire first half. And you're starting D line is getting pushed back you have to give guys like Devin Houston and our male muckum a look to try to change the pace of something. Because doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result we all know what that is. So that that's another thing that I would be looking for from the D line this week to. Let's get to number two guys when you look at the number two key for this Notre Dame team is per do doesn't do as much pre snap as Northern Illinois did. But they do enough to where it can create problems but if I had to guess Ryan. I would think they're going to ramp it up a little bit this week with what they saw last week that's a natural part of an air raid offense. I expect them to have a plan to say look Notre Dame's linebackers are young they make mistakes when you start making them think a lot before the snap. Let's try to create some big plays no name has to have a better plan this week and a better answer for that type of stuff because you know you're going to see it from Purdue because what. What I don't think Purdue will do Brian is I don't think they're capable just like I don't think Northern Illinois was capable of going up and down the field consistently beating you Northern Illinois had zero touchdown drives in that game. That were methodical they had one touchdown in the entire game and it was on a eighty three yard touchdown pass right everything else was just field goals. If you don't give up that eight three or touchdown pass we're having a we're disappointed in how the game went on Saturday but we're still talking about behavior still two and up. Right they're gonna they know produce the same way they know they're not going to just go up on a bunch of eight nine ten yard drives on Notre Dame. They're going to need to generate some big plays which then gets their name on their heels and that's when they can then go on the attack and be more physical. So they're going to try to do that early Ryan no name needs a better plan here's here's my first thought Ryan you tell me if this is nuts. Maybe today at practice they should actually have a real Thursday practice. I think that might be something that they do when you have I don't know a bunch of freshmen a sophomore line backers and haven't played a lot of football. They might actually need to work just saying they might actually need to work ground breaking. It's a solid thought why pay myself the big bucks. Hey Irish breakdown listeners it's Urban Meyer this fall the game changes join me Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and broadcaster Rob Stone as we bring you a new perspective on football and culture every week. We will be joined by the biggest name in sports and talk about everything inside and outside of the lines. Let us guide you through a new era of college football. Watch triple option on YouTube or listen on Apple podcast Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. Hey Irish breakdown listeners it's Matt liner. I've got a podcast called throwbacks with actor J for our will be talking all things sports but also so much more. We'll give you the behind the scenes stories from my days as the quarterback on an iconic college football team to Jerry's days as a star on an iconic TV series. So subscribe to throwbacks on YouTube Apple podcast Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. I think Purdue has some tricky athletes and ultimately the air raid underground Harold is designed to create space like that's all it is right like you're working with splits you're working outside leverage like you're doing those types of things to be able to get your guys in space hopefully so I mean you're going to see screen game this week a ton you're going to see RPO game a ton. They have athletes in the sense of like Max Claire the tight end could work a seam and could create a big play. Jamal Edgerin is athletic enough to create a play both down the field or after the catch and the Devon mock a big kid isn't a great running back but he is a kid that's leggy and can make a guy miss in space occasionally and then Hudson cards a good athlete so ultimately Purdue has enough athletes to create some explosives if Notre Dame isn't playing with proper technique if they're not playing with good pursuit angles if they're not in the right spots. I mean the worst rep last week defensively that I remember him was highlighted by someone on Twitter was they threw just like a screen out there Northern Illinois or just like a quick hitch something where there was two wide receivers and there was one corner and there was no Brian they lined up in twins. Yeah that's it Vince talked about this in the post game show on the part he all he lost it. They lined up in twins. And there's one defend out there and we're like and Benjamin Morris is like hey you know and there's no it's not even like they didn't motion there they just lined up in twins. That happened a couple times last week I mean you mentioned the touchdown to Ontario Brown I mean also I thought that play was doing from the start because Kingston was like kind of playing like an apex almost like he was kind of playing overhang. And then you can see the corner saying like move out more like move out more like they were very uncomfortable against being spread out last week so you're playing it's a team that's going to spread you out ultimately like that's an air raid. They're going to spread you out so you're going to have to be good in space you're going to tackle well you're going to be competitive on the outside you're going to have to stop them from creating any type of explosives. So let's get to this last couple real fast I'm just going to kind of hit these through because I do want to get to the predictions. Number three first down success is key you've got to get Purdue off schedule. They're not a team in my opinion Ryan that is going to just be able to drop back with a third down second and long third and long pass game and have a ton of success on Notre Dame. Northern Illinois had success against Notre Dame it was on first and second down it was in normal down in distances get them off schedule be really good on first down and then the fourth one is Hudson cards a good football player I like Hudson card. He's going to put the ball up and instances where you can go make plays on it or he'll put the ball in the ground. I mean you're going to have a couple chances in this game to get the football. You got to get the football. That's really the last one for me. Those are the last two keys for me on defense last things that you guys have on defense before we move on to our predictions. I mean I just think that Hudson card is not a great downfield thrower I think that's one area that he really struggles with I know Notre Dame fans you know obviously are talking about that in instances from the Notre Dame side but if you watch it I mean Jamal Adrian had a wide open touchdown last week and just kind of overthrow him and that was kind of like it's just a thing last week last year for Purdue. He's a pretty good sound decision maker short to intermediate but he isn't a guy that really pushes the ball downfield at a time. So in this instance don't let that change this week right like he's not not exposed to plays like do not allow them to create chunk plays in the passing game vertically down the field. At the end of the game one just has to play like you can sacrifice two safeties this week to get an extra guy in the box to be able to handle the alleys and to be able to handle the run game because they're just not an explosive passing team but ultimately you have to be able to keep the plays in front of you this week. 100% eliminate the chunk plays against Texas A&M Notre Dame's defense gave up zero plays at 20 yards or longer and they gave up three in the first half alone to Northern Illinois. So keep everything in front of you. And to Ryan's point trust your secondary and the key guys that you have there and save your Watson Ben Morrison and a young Christian Gray and help load the box to stop the run if the D line isn't going to be playing the way they should. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]
