EagleOutsider.com

1. Notre Dame has improved dramatically under the Brian Kelly regime. How much of this do you attribute to Bob Diaco and his defense?

Eric Murtaugh: I attribute a ton of the improving over the past three years to Bob Diaco and his defense. You have to remember the season prior to Kelly & Diaco taking over the Irish defense was at an all-time low. Possibly the worst in school history. The players had been through multiple coordinators over 4 years. There was a grab-bag philosophy with players moving positions every offseason with each new system that was installed.

Three years later the defense has done a complete 180. And it's not like it took this long to improve the defense either. From the first game under Diaco the defense began tackling much better and stopping the run. They weren't quite the elite unit they've become in 2012 but you could see the vast improvement in fundamentals and in players knowing what they were supposed to do within the defensive system.

Now after 5 years of Charlie Weis teams that were all offense and no-defense, Notre Dame has finally built a team that revolves around the dominance of the defense and Bob Diaco deserves most of the credit for that.

2 . What can you tell us about the philosophy behind Diaco's "no crease" defense?

Eric Murtaugh: We covered the basics of Diaco's defense this preseason with a chapter devoted to it in our digital magazine. We made that chapter available to our readers so if you really want a more in-depth look at Diaco's philosophies you can read it here:

Here's the quick synopsis.

It's a 3-4 defense whose primary goal is to stop the run. The secondary goal is to keep everything in front of the defense. And lastly tighten up in the red zone and keep points off the scoreboard.

The defensive linemen's job is to eat blocks and let the linebackers fill gaps and make tackles. He wants 300 pound ends, and a big "War Daddy" nose tackle who can demand double teams. The nose guard is the key in a lot of ways the Irish have an enormous talent in Louis Nix who does this and makes everyone else's job easier.

The middle linebackers are the guys putting up the big tackling numbers as they read the defense and fly to the ball on running plays. One of the outside linebackers (called the Cat) typically plays with his hand on the ground up on the line. His main responsibility is to set the edge, but he's also a rush linebacker who occasionally drops into coverage. The other outside linebacker (called the Dog) has a role that is primarily based around covering tight ends and slot receivers.

The secondary plays a ton of Cover-2 soft zone that sacrifices a lot of underneath stuff in exchange for preventing big plays. If you check out the stats this year it's worked to perfection for Notre Dame. Some teams will dink and dunk down the field but they inevitably make a mistake and punt the ball or turn it over. Another aspect of the secondary is how much tackling is stressed. Diaco is always talking about size and he expects his corners and safeties to come up and make tackles at the line of scrimmage.

3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of his defense?

Eric Murtaugh: There are a lot of strengths to Diaco's defense when it's being executed properly, but you could say that about just every defense couldn't you?

I think the big strengths are what I mentioned above: Stopping the run and preventing big plays. When you put so much focus on that and you're able to do it you're going to win a lot of football games.

I think a weakness of the offense is that it's susceptible to a really smart and accurate quarterback. The scheme will give you a lot of underneath throws and in the past the Irish have been vulnerable to a lot of crossing patterns and little dump offs in the flat. There have been some games in the past (like the Oklahoma game this year) where the opponent is just easily throwing little 5 yard passes and moving down the field with ease.

I also think it's a scheme in which you really need top-notch talent to execute, to an extent. Diaco has that talent at his disposal now, but if the defensive line can't get pressure or eat blocks with just 4 players things can start to crumble from there. He doesn't like to blitz a lot and if the line isn't getting pressure they are giving the QB a lot of time to make some pretty easy throws.

Unfortunately, Notre Dame has been able to get a lot of pressure without blitzing. If you have the talent to do that it will take away a weakness of the Diaco defense.

RegalBCeagle {l Wrote}:

BCEaglesFan {l Wrote}:

31southst {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:reports coming out that indeed bates met with disco

We will never see 12 superior athletes on the defensive side .....

Bunratty {l Wrote}:

RegalBCeagle {l Wrote}:

BCEaglesFan {l Wrote}:

31southst {l Wrote}:

commavegarage {l Wrote}:reports coming out that indeed bates met with disco

We will never see 12 superior athletes on the defensive side .....

I agree. But can we hope for 11?

Cadillac90 {l Wrote}:

mloyko54 {l Wrote}:Schefter says many NFL coordinators are interested in becoming BC Head Coach..Lists - Kromer, PCMJ, Roman, Sullivan, Kevin Gilbride and Chris Palmer

What is it and Kevin Gilbride????? Enough already.

HJS {l Wrote}:

mloyko54 {l Wrote}:Schefter says many NFL coordinators are interested in becoming BC Head Coach..Lists - Kromer, PCMJ, Roman, Sullivan, Kevin Gilbride and Chris Palmer

Outside of Diaco and guys who aren't interviewing who should be (Calhoun, Hudspeth, Dykes), the NFL guys are much better than the college candidates. I also wouldn't mind seeing guys like Jay Gruden and Mike McCoy mentioned. As for Gilbride and Palmer, they are both the same age as Spaz... which means that they can't get the job. We are talking major age discrimination case here at BC after what Spaz did to the program.

footer20 {l Wrote}:Tough to say that Diaco's defense would be successful immediately. We don't have that legit DT. It would b great if Kaleb comes back for another go. Montgomery could be the guy but I can't see him being the guy for another year or two. If Diaco comes here his first priority should be flipping Hurst and MacDonald. The defensive ends are also a problem. If Diaco wants them big I would assume that Edebali, And Borcich see the majority of the time as "run stoppers". Regardless of the scheme, our DLine is weak and will be a liability. Moving on to the LBs, Diaco's philosophy would work. We are known for our excellent linebackers and KPL, and Divitto could definitely play the outside positions. Divitto would be the cat and KPL the dog. Duggan must get bigger and we must find another linebacker to fill the middle. Maybe Steven Daniels can but he looked slow and out of shape. We'll have to wait and see if Joy, Strizak, or Wolford develop into quality players too. The DBack philosophy is what we've done for the past 10 years. ALJ needs to come back healthy and Simmons, Sylvia, and Rositano are decent enough tacklers. The big question mark is wether or not Asprilla plays. Personally I don't think he's good enough but Sylvia just isn't fast enough to play corner. We'll see how everything plays out but if Diaco comes it might be a few years until he can establish his personnel. He better be as good of a recruiter as people say he is.

bluefishskip {l Wrote}:What is the story behind Diaco and his supposedly being uncomfortable with the Press? I've heard things about him having personality issues.

Walsh601 {l Wrote}:According to blauds and his new BB-must-hire-a-coach-yesterday agenda, Cal's AD has already met with Diaco, Hazell and Narduzzi

DuchesneEast {l Wrote}:

bluefishskip {l Wrote}:What is the story behind Diaco and his supposedly being uncomfortable with the Press? I've heard things about him having personality issues.

According to some dickweed Holy Cross grad, no one cares about BC in Boston anyway.

bluefishskip {l Wrote}:What is the story behind Diaco and his supposedly being uncomfortable with the Press? I've heard things about him having personality issues.

HJS {l Wrote}:

Walsh601 {l Wrote}:According to blauds and his new BB-must-hire-a-coach-yesterday agenda, Cal's AD has already met with Diaco, Hazell and Narduzzi

BB has met I person with at least as many and has talked to many more. He just hasn't told the fat fuck what he's doing. I expect the Leahy interviews mid-week with a hire on Friday.

claver2010 {l Wrote}:

HJS {l Wrote}:

Walsh601 {l Wrote}:According to blauds and his new BB-must-hire-a-coach-yesterday agenda, Cal's AD has already met with Diaco, Hazell and Narduzzi

BB has met I person with at least as many and has talked to many more. He just hasn't told the fat fuck what he's doing. I expect the Leahy interviews mid-week with a hire on Friday.

This.

Blauds is just pissed that he's been cut off and now is exclusively relying on the nexus & the blogs

apbc12 {l Wrote}:Heard this evening that the unnamed California caller made a strong impression and has not been topped over the weekend. Timing may be important, though - supposedly Bates and the caller have different ideas of when the job might start. Still won't tell me who it is.

bluefishskip {l Wrote}:California Candidate must be Roman.........Bates would want him on the job immediately, 49ers/Roman wait till after NFL Playoffs?

claver2010 {l Wrote}:

HJS {l Wrote}:

eagle9903 {l Wrote}:

twballgame9 {l Wrote}:If Roman and Diaco are interested, as it seems they are, the list should be 2.

Seconded

Thirded

Fourthded

Rex isn't getting fired

HJS {l Wrote}:I'm a huge fan of Greg Roman. However, there is zero buzz about him and this job. Now, there isn't much buzz about this job... PERIOD.