Nov. 18--SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- What happened to Notre Dame's defense?
Early in the season, the unit looked dominant, a pleasant surprise that helped Notre Dame get off to a 6-0 start.
But over the last five weeks, the Irish haven't allowed fewer than 31 points, and Saturday's performance might have been their worst yet: 547 yards allowed to a Northwestern offense that had a previous season high of 394.
The overtime loss to the Wildcats was the culmination of a number of issues plaguing the Notre Dame defense -- missed assignments, lackluster communication -- but the struggles were primarily due to injuries and the number of young players in key positions.
It was already a young unit, and senior cornerback Cody Riggs is not 100 percent as he plays through a foot injury while junior Sheldon Day, Notre Dame's best defensive lineman, left Saturday's game with a sprained knee.
The Irish entered the season down three key defenders in cornerback KeiVarae Russell, defensive end Ishaq Williams and linebacker Kendall Moore, all suspended in the school's academic probe.
Then they lost middle linebacker Joe Schmidt for the season to a fractured and dislocated ankle suffered Nov. 1 against Navy. Schmidt was the one player the Irish said they could not live without on defense.
All the losses and injuries have finally caught up to Notre Dame.
"There's a lot to it," coach Brian Kelly said of the defense's struggles. "We're obviously playing a lot of young guys that are struggling and they're doing their best, but too many young guys on the field.
"That's probably the biggest issue right now that we're just trying to fight through."
To replace Schmidt, the Irish have leaned on freshman Nyles Morgan from Crete-Monee at middle linebacker, the most important position in coordinator Brian VanGorder's defense. Morgan made his second start Saturday and registered 10 tackles, tied for the team lead with linebacker Jaylon Smith, although Morgan also drew a needless personal foul penalty.
"It's a process," Kelly said. "I thought he was a little bit more comfortable out there."
Even with their depleted depth, the Irish players are not using that as an excuse. The "next man up" cliche has been bandied about numerous times in the last few weeks.
"We're missing Joe, we're missing a lot of people," Smith said. "This is football. Injuries ... you can't dwell on anything like that."
Instead, the Irish are left to dwell on their results. It hasn't been pretty lately, but they insist it's not a lost cause.
"If everybody does their job, we'll be fine," sophomore cornerback Cole Luke said. "We'll play like we had in the beginning of the season. We just need to minimize explosive plays. I feel like we'll be all right."
chine@tribune.com
Twitter @ChristopherHine
