Notre Dame has no obvious weaknesses in its defensive front, and its secondary might be the best Indiana has faced.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – One of the fun things about the Indiana-Notre Dame College Football Playoff matchup is how it matches so many strengths against strengths.
The numbers aligning are interesting, but it merely spells out the obvious: Notre Dame’s defense is very good. The Hoosiers will have to find a way to solve it when they face the Fighting Irish at 8 p.m. ET on Friday at Notre Dame Stadium. But it’s run defense where the Fighting Irish really excel up front. Linebacker Jack Kiser is rated as an 83.7 run stopper by PFF.com. Linebacker Jaiden Ausberry has an average score of 78.3.
“We'll be very aware of when he's on the field and making sure that we're calling in that situation our up front, if we're able to get some double-teams on him, we'll take advantage of that if we can,” Shanahan said. The heart of Notre Dame’s defense is its secondary, and Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts is the straw that stirs the Fighting Irish drink as pass defense is concerned. He ranks 34th nationally among all defensive players with a pass coverage rating of 89.3. His rating is sixth-best among College Football Playoff defenders.
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