Breaking down PFF grades for the Notre Dame defense in Irish win over Stanford
Notre Dame uncharacteristically gave up 23 points to Stanford, but there were still plenty of solid individual performances from the Fighting Irish defense in a 33-point victory. Pro Football Focus graded every Irish player that appeared on that side of the ball.
PFF gives every player a grade of -2 to +2 in increments of 0.5 for every play. A “0” is average or expected. Each position has its own grading rubric. The plus-minus grades are converted to a 0-100 scale.
Grades in the upper 90s are next to impossible. Grades in the lower 90s are elite. Grades in the 80s are elite to very good. Grades in the 70s are very good to good. Grades in the 60s are good to average. Grades in the 50s are average to below average. Grades in the 40s and below are bad. For reference, UCLA defensive end Laiatu Latu leads all FBS edge rushers with a season-long grade of 95.3.
The following chart is in order of overall defense grade.
Notre Dame defense PFF grades vs. Stanford
RankPlayerSnapsOverall Defense GradeRun Defense GradeTackling GradePass Rush GradeCoverage Grade1LB Jack Kiser2979.870.777.662.076.92LB Marist Liufau3979.474.979.578.671.23DB Thomas Harper3378.262.677.769.475.34CB Cam Hart4476.765.379.6–76.34DE Nana Osafo-Mensah2176.760.774.664.362.06LB JD Bertrand4976.664.969.464.976.47DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste3574.166.975.970.6–8DT Howard Cross III4972.165.466.570.3–9DT Rylie Mills4271.871.774.865.3–10LB Drayk Bowen2971.771.779.762.065.811S DJ Brown5268.765.879.6–68.112DT Gabriel Rubio2567.767.669.761.9–13CB Benjamin Morrison4166.762.437.1–66.314CB Christian Gray3266.572.478.2–68.015S Antonio Carter II1665.760.776.2–65.316S Ramon Henderson3764.565.678.6–62.617CB Jaden Mickey3264.360.421.7–63.918DE Tyson Ford262.860.0–––19DE Jordan Botelho3261.767.453.361.750.920DT Jason Onye2161.558.043.861.960.021DE Joshua Burnham2261.460.972.258.860.022DT Aidan Keanaaina861.362.3–57.5–23DE Junior Tuihalamaka2761.149.119.368.5–24LB Preston Zinter560.060.2–58.060.025S Xavier Watts5659.947.247.360.064.126LB Jaylen Sneed3259.668.436.758.055.527CB Clarence Lewis2657.561.136.7–56.8
Blue & Gold takeaways
• Look at those graduate student linebackers. We still don’t know who among them are coming back or if any of the three (Kiser, Liufau and Bertrand) will be back at all but they really all have had really good seasons for a really good Notre Dame defense this year.
• Harper was a steal of a one-year rental at the starting nickel too. He had another good performance in a year full of them.
• That might’ve been Hart’s last game at Notre Dame. He played well, as he has for the better part of the last three seasons. His length will be missed on the outside.
• Defensive linemen dominated the top 10 versus Stanford. In a game that pits one good team against a bad one, the disparity is usually most evident in the trenches. Notre Dame easily worked over a feeble Stanford offensive line.
• A top-10 placement on 29 snaps is not insignificant for Bowen. He’s a candidate to take a huge leap from his freshman to junior year.
• Another game with all three Vypers ranking toward the bottom of the chart. It’s a weekly exercise to say Notre Dame needs to find a proficient pass rusher at that position for 2024.
• You aren’t going to see Watts third to last in too many of these. PFF maintains he was not as sure-handed of a tackler as usual.
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