Last week wasn’t all pretty, at least on the offensive side of the ball, but in the end the Irish did enough to overcome a slight halftime deficit and add a convincing top-20 win to their resume. The defensive line, led by Julian Okwara, finally displayed the type of dominance we’ve been waiting to see from the unit all year.
As a group, the defense recorded:
- 13 tackles for loss
- 8 sacks
- 4 rushing yards allowed
- 3 fumble recoveries
- 2 interceptions
- 1 touchdown
That’s about as dominant as a defensive performance as you’ll see all season and it was needed for a game where the offense struggled and couldn’t seem to find any sort of rhythm.