Notre Dame’s defense has overcame an onslaught on injuries this season. Would this finally be the game that those started to catch up with them? To a certain degree, yes. The level of fatigue from a short week of preparation was on display in the first half of the Orange Bowl. Uncharacteristic mistakes were being made by veteran players. The defensive line struggled early, and allowed Penn State to establish a perimeter run game. Once Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen burst past the line of scrimmage, tackling was an issue throughout the night.
With all that being said, when the defense had to step up tonight to force a stop, they did. Penn State had the opportunity to go up 14-0 in the first half but the defense held them to a field goal. Penn State had an opportunity to go down to field and kick a game winning field goal at the end of the game, but when it matter most, the Notre Dame defense forced a turnover, an interception to be exact, that gave the offense the ball in plus territory which eventually led to a Mitch Jeter game winning field goal.
There are things the defense will have to clean up before January 20, but they will now have their longest stint of recovery since their break before the Sugar Bowl. Here are some key takeaways from their performance in a 27-24 thriller against the Nittany Lions.
Tackle, Tackle, Tackle
Last night, strong open field tackling was few and far between. As a team, Notre Dame had 15 missed tackles on the night, which is a steep drop off from their performance in the Sugar Bowl where they had four. Mistakes were made at all three levels; defensive lineman had opportunities to make plays in the back field on their running backs and on Tyler Warren on occasion and were unable to finish. Linebackers in space were inconsistent and the safeties did not have their strongest performance when bring down Penn State ball carriers…