Georgia Tech has faced some solid defenses this season. But Notre Dame’s defense appears to be the toughest by far to this point.
The Fighting Irish (5-1), ranked 12th overall in The Associated Press poll, rank among the best in the country in a litany of defensive statistical categories. The Yellow Jackets (5-2), who haven’t scored less than 19 points in any game since the start of the 2023 season (an average of 31.7 points per game over that stretch), have their work cut out for them starting at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
“They’ve got good players and a good scheme. They’re not an ultra-complicated scheme,” Tech coach Brent Key said Tuesday about the Notre Dame defense. “They have enough compliments within their scheme where it looks the same, and then they’ll blitz out of it or send pressure out of it, tweak some of the coverage. But at the end of the day, they’re gonna line up, play four-down (linemen) and they’re gonna play man coverage and challenge you at the receiver spot and make you throw on time, try to limit the run game with an extra hat in the box, and they got good players doing it.
“The head coach (Marcus Freeman) is the defensive coach, but they have one of the better defensive coordinators in the country in Al Golden calling the defense. You can see the tenacity in the defense and them take on that personality as well.”
Golden, a former Penn State tight end and head coach at Temple and Miami, is in his third season with the Irish. He’ll bring to Atlanta with him a unit with ranks fourth nationally by stopping the opposition on fourth down 20% of the time, fifth in passing-efficiency defense (93.7), sixth in pass defense (148.7 yards per game allowed), eighth by allowing only 11.7 points per game, 10th with only 89 first downs allowed and by letting teams convert a third down just 29.3% of the time and 11th in total defense (270 yards per game allowed).
Notre Dame also averages 2.67 sacks and 5.2 tackles for loss per game and has 10 takeaways (seven of which are interceptions).
“Just a great effort defense. They’re really coached really well,” Tech running back Jamal Haynes said. “You’re talking about guys that play sideline to sideline, really aggressive, definitely in the box, a lot of man (coverage) on the outside mixed in with a little bit of Cover 3. Really gonna have a good defense. But overall (for us), just playing within the scheme against them and really go take on what we have.”
The Irish will play without one of its better defenders Saturday in junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison, who suffered a season-ending hip injury Saturday against Stanford. Morrison (6-foot, 190) had 20 tackles and four pass breakups this season.
But Notre Dame still has plenty of playmakers on its defense, notably tackles Howard Cross (6-1, 288) and Boubacar Traore (6-4, 243) who have combined for 10.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Behind the Notre Dame front reside three linebackers who all have at least 20 tackles in Jack Kiser, Drayk Bowen and Jaden Ausberry.
Safety Xavier Watts and cornerback Jordan Clark lead Notre Dame’s secondary. Watts has a pair of interceptions and a team-high five pass breakups, and Clark is the team’s second-highest rated cover man, according to Pro Football Focus.
Tech, meanwhile, is fresh off its best offensive performance of the season (against an FBS team) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It put up 41 points, 371 yards rushing, 505 yards of offense, gained 7.1 yards per play and 7.7 yards per carry in a 41-34 win at North Carolina.
But the Jackets may or may not have starting quarterback Haynes King available against Notre Dame. King, injured in the fourth quarter at UNC, has been day-to-day this week with the unspecified injury. Backup Zach Pyron played the final 11 minutes Saturday at Kenan Stadium.
Regardless of who is behind center for Tech against the Irish, it may behoove the Jackets to keep the ball on the ground anyway. In Notre Dame’s only loss this season, Northern Illinois rushed for 190 yards on 45 carries (4.2 yards per gain) on Sept. 7. Thus, winning the physical battles at the line of scrimmage and creating running lanes likely is the recipe for success for the Tech offense in cracking the Notre Dame defense.
“That’s what this team, that’s what this offense focuses on: physicality,” Haynes said. “That’s controlling the line of scrimmage, that’s running in trenches, that’s making perimeter blocks when we need to. That’s definitely one of the things that we harp on.”
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