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Link: 5 Stats Notre Dame Football Needs to Change in 2017
if ND is going to have a successful season the defense will have to get more sacks (3x what they had last season) and that should force more turnovers. I also think offensively with the returning starters the running game should average at least 5-6 yards per carry. Winning the time of possession/clock will go a long way to keeping the defense fresh IMO.
Long's offense is fast faced, runs a lot of plays, and isn't necessarily built to win the time of possession battle.
Brian Kelly's MO when he came to ND?
I don't think we ever saw a fast paced offense like he had at Cincy.
Championship teams/programs don't win a lot of close games. ND needs to be blowing out some of the weaker opponents, playing non-starters in the second half--that will keep starters fresh/healthy during the course of the year, and build depth for the future.
If your games come down to the final drive, you just simply aren't going to win most of them.
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There aren't great readily available stats on missed tackles.
Notre Dame would certainly be at the top (or bottom?) of that list if there were though.
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Tackling was sloppy, assignments were missed, overpursuit was common, and the defensive line rarely, if ever, got any kind of decent penetration.
Hell, special teams cost us the margin of victory in at least 3-4 games last year, and almost ended up costing us the Miami game as well. That could easily have been a 3-9 season, despite the fact that these are all Brian Kelly's players that he developed throughout the years, in his scheme, and using his methods.
If he can't figure it out in 2017 (by getting at least a 10 win season), then he's getting the heave-ho.
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unfortunately, it's likely very low as well. Until that changes and is consistently well above average the win rate will not change.
Duke, Navy, Virginia Tech, Stanford, and Michigan State were all games that Notre Dame couldn't convert on 3rd down in at crunch time.
If ND makes more 3rd downs in those games, we're talking about at worst a team that went 7-5 and lost close games with a really young roster. That is a MUCH different narrative than what took place all off-season.
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