Notre Dame Football: The most important storyline through four games

Notre Dame football is now a third of the way through the 2019 season. What is the most important aspect of the program that has showed itself thus far?

It’s hard to believe that the Notre Dame football season is nearly a third of the way complete already. As always seems to be the case, the Irish have had an eventful start to the season with major storylines and controversies among fans abound. But through it all, there has been one storyline that emerges as the most important for the long-term health of the program.

Under Defensive Coordinator Clark Lea, the Irish defense has been nothing short of stellar.

Some may argue that a slow defensive start against Louisville and a few struggles defending the pass against Virginia may indicate otherwise, but given the questions that Notre Dame had defensively entering the season, things couldn’t go much better on that side of the ball for the Irish.

To briefly recap, here’s what we’ve seen from the Irish so far: After getting off to a bad start against Louisville and giving up touchdowns on the first two defensive possessions of the season, the Irish adjusted and surrendered only 3 points the rest of the game.

From there, the Irish picked up steam.

Lea’s defense surrendered 14 points to New Mexico and entered the biggest game of the season against Georgia and played lights-out football. It took a heroic effort from Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm for the Bulldogs to come away with a victory in Athens.

And then on Saturday against Bryce Perkins and the Virginia Cavaliers, the Irish defense showed its true capabilities.

Down 17-14 after halftime, the Irish were on the ropes, but the defensive line asserted its dominance and took the game over for the Irish. Virginia was only able to muster a field goal in the second half and the Irish came away with the win.

In short, Notre Dame’s defense is playing at a championship level and has shown that it can overcome the need to replace major cogs to play at a high level. And perhaps the best news for the Irish is that this defense is that the likes of Daelin Hayes and Kyle Hamilton will step into more prominent roles next season. The Irish defense will be poised to continue their dominance for years to come.