Every game is a different game...

this, I haven't seen the ND defensive down four play explosive since Freeman's first year as DC when we played Florida St. It was like those guys were shooting out of a cannon at the snap and getting to the QB, similar to how the D line for some of the great Bama and Georgia teams played. Then, the aggressiveness seemed to go away from that point forward and now we play this controlled pass rush under Ash. Golden realized his didn't have the best down four, so he brought blitzers for the pressure and I will say he did a great job creating ways to get to the QB. If you can get to a QB with just 4 guys, it does wonders for the defense. If you blitz, you have to get there. The lack of pressure this season is concerning because I felt that the NC and BYU QB's had way too much time to throw and pick apart the secondary playing zone, granted Bear was getting rid of the ball quick for the most part. If we can't get to the QB, I don't see how we stop Miami. I guess I just feel like what was supposed to be an overall strength this year with the defense being a dominating unit has not impressed me all that much. They aren't horrible by any means, but maybe it's just how bad they looked against BYU, their first test of the season, that has bothered me. They didn't look great against NC either. I feel on paper, it might be the most overall talented ND defense in a while and think Golden would be running it better than Ash. Just my opinion.