Notre Dame Football: Why Focus Should Be Irish's Defense in Spring Game

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will play their spring game on Saturday, and there's no real secret as to why people will be tuning in.

The fact that it's Notre Dame football obviously counts for a lot. That reality alone will lead to some solid ratings for NBC Sports Network. 

Hardcore Irish fans will be tuning in primarily to get a glimpse at the quarterback battle, which is one of the most intriguing position battles in the country. There are four quarterbacks vying for the starting job, and it's anybody's guess who is going to emerge as the victor. 

It's not all about the quarterback battle, however. What everyone, hardcore Irish fans included, needs to keep in mind is that Notre Dame is going to build on the success of its defense in 2012 more than it is the success of its offense.

Notre Dame's defense was, for the most part, pretty good in 2011, finishing 20th in the nation in scoring defense with several outstanding defensive efforts along the way. There were, however, a couple games in which is was apparent that there was still plenty room for improvement.

Brian Kelly has a plan to get even better play out of his defense. He's devised a special scoring system for Notre Dame's defense in Saturday's spring game, which was detailed by Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune.

Kelly is going to use what he calls a "team scoring system." The defense will get four points if it forces a stop before midfield, with a stop after midfield earning it two points. A turnover forced before midfield is worth seven points, one after midfield worth three points.

All of this is opposed to an individual scoring system that rewards points for tackles, sacks and so on. Kelly's notion is to get the individual players in his defense to buy into collective success rather than individual success.

Simple, yet very clever at the same time. 

So on the one side, Irish fans are going to have the pleasure of watching four different quarterbacks trying to establish themselves as great individual players; On the other side will be a defense trying to establish itself as a great overall unit.

In addition, Kelly says the defense will have its shot at the quarterbacks.

"They need to be live, they need to be part of it," Kelly said of his quarterbacks in Saturday's spring game, "We can't put a cylinder around them."

Advantage: defense.

If Notre Dame's quarterbacks fail to establish themselves, it will be a bittersweet reality. It will be bitter because Notre Dame desperately needs an answer at the quarterback situation. It will be sweet because the defense will have looked pretty darn good.

Seeing as how Notre Dame's defense will have to be pretty darn good when the real deal rolls around in the fall, that would be a good omen.