Alabama Football: Deep dive into the highly rated Notre Dame defense

Alabama Football: National pundits rave about the Notre Dame defense. Let’s take a close look at just how good it is.

Another example of the changing college football world is buzz about top defenses rarely includes the Alabama football defensive unit. Clemson still garners praise, along with Northwestern, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and a few other teams.

Defensive stats for the Fighting Irish deserved special notice until Clemson ran up 541 yards and 34 points in the ACC Championship game. Even with that blowout, the Fighting Irish rank No. 14 in the FBS in Scoring Defense.

Brian Kelly and Clark Lea appear confident the Irish can slow the Alabama Crimson Tide offense. Let’s see if the Notre Dame coaches have a valid reason for their confidence. A deep-dive into stats for Notre Dame can clarify whether the Irish have a top, or an overrated, defense. Drilling down on the Alabama football offense is not necessary. The Crimson Tide have arguably the best offense in college football.

Thanks to Football Outsiders, detailed stats are available. The site is a stat treasure. In this post, we focus on select data points. First, the Notre Dame defense as shown in the chart below.

Notre Dame Defensive Stats

• Opponent points per-drive – Notre Dame is No. 19 in the FBS at 1.58 points
• Opponent yards-per-play – Notre Dame is No. 29 at 5.36 yards
• Opponent Offensive Touchdowns – Notre Dame is No. 11 with an allowed TD rate of .175
• Opponent offensive first downs – Notre Dame is No. 25 at an allowed rate of .640

The stats are good enough to define a strong defense until a context of opponents’ offensive outputs is considered. Stats from the two Clemson games are pertinent but more important are the nine other offenses Notre Dame faced. Take a look at how those teams did this season. Again, using five offensive stats from Football Outsiders.

Notre Dame Opponent, Regular Season Offensive Stats

FBS Offensive Efficiency

• North Carolina – No. 5
• Louisville – No. 42
• Boston College – No. 53
• Georgia Tech – No. 88
• Florida State – No. 91
• Pitt – No. 101
• Duke – No. 117
• South Florida – No. 118
• Syracuse – No. 124

FBS Offensive Points Per Drive

• North Carolina – No. 5
• Louisville – No. 39
• Boston College – No. 55
• Pitt – No. 82
• FSU – No. 89
• Georgia Tech – No. 95
• Duke – No. 108
• USF – No. 109
• Syracuse – No. 124

FBS Offensive Drive Yards Per Play

• North Carolina – No. 4
• Louisville – No. 21
• Boston College – No. 74
• Georgia Tech – No. 77
• FSU – No. 90
• Duke – No. 95
• Pitt – No. 97
• USF – No. 107
• Syracuse – No. 125

FBS Offensive Touchdown Rate

• North Carolina – No. 5
• Louisville – No. 39
• Boston College – No. 63
• Georgia Tech – No. 69
• FSU – No. 89
• Pitt – No. 103
• Duke – No. 109
• USF – No. 112
• Syracuse – No. 123

FBS Offensive First Down Rate

• North Carolina – No. 6
• Louisville – No. 25
• Duke – No. 76
• Boston College – No. 89
• Georgia Tech – No. 92
• Pitt – No. 96
• FSU – No. 107
• USF – No. 121
• Syracuse – No. 124

With many schools in the SEC having down seasons, did the Crimson Tide play a tougher or easier schedule than the Fighting Irish? Based on Strength of Record, ESPN has the Alabama Crimson Tide No. 1 and Notre Dame No. 2.

Comparing Football Insiders data again, by using Officiency Efficiency, the Crimson Tide are No. 1 and the Fighting Irish No. 16. From the same set of data, Notre Dame played six teams with defenses rated No. 75 or higher. The Crimson Tide played only two.

Admittedly this post offers a load of data and conclusions can be flawed. The general conclusion being offered is Notre Dame, while good defensively, has artificially higher performance from playing inferior offenses.