I'm all in. I've even wagered my dog on this most recent bet. I have all my chips on Notre Dame's secondary this season. That said, I feel like I have pretty good cause to believe that this is as talented a group as has been at ND for a long time.
Notre Dame returns all but one DB/CB starter, Terrail Lambert, for the 2009 season. As I write this I am smiling. Last season Notre Dame started out slow, the dink-and-dunk games of Notre Dame's first few really hurt their raw pass defense numbers and led to a fairly low pass defensive rating. This steady inclined until it was all the way to the 22nd pass defense in the country, just before USC. After, it was given the rating of 30th best in the country. That's pretty respectable, not true BCS top ten last season, but respectable. That's all good and well, it really means nothing on the surface, but lets look at some other numbers , shall we? USC had the number 1 rated pass defense, ( go figure right), that allowed roughly 122 yards per game. Notre Dame allowed roughly 184. Thats a 62 yard per game difference. Thats a big number, however, don't be discouraged.
Notre Dame at the end of the regular season after the USC game had a pass efficiency defense rating of 18th in the nation. Thats right, you read that number right, 18th in the nation. Pass efficiency is argued by some to be a much better determiner of a secondary's strength because it takes more into account. Pass efficiency defense takes not only their yardage, but pass completion percentages, both INT total and percentage of INTs thrown, TD total and rate, yards per attempt and yards per completion into account to then give an overall rating. So while several teams, USC, in particular, were able to throw on Notre Dame with some success, when everything else is figured in, Notre Dame's secondary is sitting pretty.
Notre Dame lost David Bruton to the NFL Draft, which is a blow as he was the leader of interceptions made. However, the rest of the crew was right behind him here is how the stats crumbled:
| Name | Interceptions | Yardage | TD | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruton,David | 4 | 57 | 0 | ||||
| McCarthy,Kyle | 2 | 18 | |||||
| Blanton,Robert | 2 | 47 | 1 | ||||
| Gray,Gary | 2 | 65 | 0 | ||||
| McNeil,Raeshon | 2 | 47 | 0 | ||||
| Neal,Kerry | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Kuntz,Patrick | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Team Totals | 14 | 236 | 1 | ||||
Gary Gray showed his skills as he picked off two, and was a solid tackler throughout the season having 15 solo tackles. Darrin Walls is back who had a break out season in 2007 with 32 tackles and and INT returned for a touchdown against Penn State. Walls missed last season due to personal reasons but has returned possibly in better shape than he left and has already made his way into the starting rotation. Jamoris Slaughter has yet to play at Notre Dame, but from the coverage skills he showed during the spring and the spring game, fans will surely see him on the field this season.
No one knows what the starting rotation will be, there is just to much talent, but it is going to be great to watch. Throw in Harrison Smith back a FS and he will make his share of interceptions this season as well. Kyle McCarthy will have to fight with a ton of talent to make picks, but he will surely get his tackles.
So to wrap up, a total pass efficiency defense ranked at 18. Not bad, I think that is something Notre Dame can build on. Corwin Brown has brought something special to ND. Look for teams to run often on Notre Dame because their throws will be few and the completions fewer.
