Notre Dame Football: 3 hot takes for Irish in victory over Purdue

Defense played much better as a unit

The Notre Dame defense had its up and downs during the first two weeks of the year against Florida State and Toledo. It was not the welcome party that fans wanted with new defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman coming over from Cincinnati.

The famous saying of Rome was not built in a day fits here. Think it’s only fair to give Marcus Freeman a little time to get his defensive schemes and game plan out there for the Notre Dame defensive unit.

It was not a perfect showing out there, but today was a lot better on the defensive side of the ball. The tackling, flying to the ball, creating turnovers, and just the energy looked a whole lot better than it did in the first two weeks of the year.

Notre Dame held a Purdue team who came into Saturday already scoring 79 points in two games to only 13 on the scoreboard. The Irish also forced Purdue into two interceptions, and three sacks with five tackles for a loss as well. Purdue came into Saturday with no interceptions on the season.

What has hurt Notre Dame so far in 2021 is giving up the big plays on defense. This is something that really did not happen under former defensive coordinator Clark Lea which is what Irish fans were used to seeing the last few seasons.

The Irish did a good job against Purdue as the Boilermakers longest play was for 32 yards on the day. Still want to improve on that as a unit, but was a lot better than previous weeks.

Marcus Freeman and the defensive coaching staff knew coming in that they had to know where wide receiver David Bell was on the field at all times. Bell finished the game with seven receptions for 64 yards, but Notre Dame was able to keep him out of the end zone.

The Purdue star wideout David Bell had to, unfortunately, be carted off the field after taking a crucial hit late in the game. Hopefully the injury is not as serious as it looked on the field.

Every Irish player and coach on the defensive side of the ball will tell you there is always something you can do to improve and get better as a team. Saturday was a step in the right direction and I believe it’s easy to see why Marcus Freeman was such a hot commodity by so many big-time college programs last offseason.

This is just the start for Freeman. Expect a lot more to come in the foreseeable future. The Irish are in good hands with Marcus Freeman in charge of the defense.