The Notre Dame football team sits at 0-2 to start the year in large part because of its defensive collapse from the 2024 National Title Game team.
Fans didn't expect this year's defense to regress so much, and so quickly. It has been an alarming fall to say the least. The defense shone last year as Notre Dame made its run to the College Football Playoffs and then in its run to the title game. To watch this unit incapable of getting stops in any meaningful spots this year has been highly concerning, and projects doubt from fans about improving moving forward.
Below are the biggest concerns for this defensive unit moving forward, and some speculation about whether it can improve to help Notre Dame win their next 10 games.
The Notre Dame football team's defensive line has no push or pass rush
A perfect place to start is with the big boys up front. Notre Dame has generated no pass rush through its first two games.
Last year's unit was not filled with pass-rushing experts either, but with Howard Cross and Rylie Mills in the middle, they generated good push in the run game and some good juice in getting after quarterbacks up the middle. In fact, Mills, Cross, and current defensive tackle Donovan Hinish generated 16 sacks last season combined. No defensive end finished with more than three sacks.
This season, many fans expected better numbers, as Notre Dame brought back Boubacar Traore and Jordan Botelho from injury, who both flashed ability last year before getting hurt. They also brought back the aforementioned Hinish and added experienced Jared Dawson in the middle. Explosive edge rushers at linebacker, including Jaylen Sneed, Kyngstonn Villiamu-Asa, and Jaiden Ausberry, were also back.
However, Notre Dame has not been able to generate any pressure on opposing quarterbacks so far. Against Carson Beck and Miami, Notre Dame finished with just two pressures and one sack, by Traore late in the third quarter. Against Texas A&M, Notre Dame failed to tally a single sack. Not one. They did generate a better pressure rate, getting 12 of those, but failed to turn any into sacks.
It is not a surprise that Notre Dame is at the bottom of the pack in the country in tackles for loss, sacks, pressure rate, havoc rate, and turnovers. It all stems from the complete lack of rush up front.
Against Texas A&M, Notre Dame started better, which does give me some optimism that this will improve moving forward, as I felt like the linebackers, especially, were getting to Marcel Reed.
Additionally, Miami and Texas A&M, apart from being two top 10 teams nationally, are also arguably two of the best offensive lines in the country, and the argument can be made maybe the two best, period.
The simple fact is that Purdue, Boston College, Navy, and others simply do not have the talent that Miami and A&M did. This will also help create more pressure.
However, it cannot be stated enough that the guys upfront must play better, play more physical, and start getting pressure if Notre Dame wants to win games. Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash needs to get creative in his blitzes, and start scheming some pressures also.
The linebackers need to start hitting
Coach Marcus Freeman made headlines after the Miami game, stating Notre Dame plays football, not fitball. He was specifically referencing his linebackers and their lack of aggressiveness.
Things did improve against Texas A&M, and special shoutout to Captain Drayk Bowen on this one. Bowen had a few huge hits, including a massive goal-line thumping that prevented a touchdown.
He did also completely blow his coverage on the final touchdown of course, with many fans wondering why he was even on the field there while better coverage guys like Villiamu-Asa sat on the bench watching.
All this to say, the linebackers have not been good enough for Notre Dame. Have they been as bad as the pass rush and defensive line? Absolutely not. And most certainly have not been as bad as the coverage on the back end.
But this was supposed to be the strength of this team. Bowen was a returning emerging star and captain. We heard all summer that Jaylen Sneed had finally figured it out. Ausberry was back. Villiamu-Asa was healthy. Heck, this group was so talented and so good that prized five-star prospect Madden Faraimo could not even find playing time all summer.
This group has simply not been that good. Sneed and Ausberry have not figured out the pressure they were supposed to get. All of the units have missed tackles in big spots. They have not filled zone coverage well either.
I do hold a lot of confidence in this group moving forward. Bowen already feels back on track. KVA has been really, really good this year in limited action. He will start playing more. Ausberry and Sneed are simply too talented not to improve, and if not, Faraimo is ready in the wings, possibly.
I feel most confident that this group will figure it out first, and might just jump-start the rest of the operation.
The secondary can't cover a traffic cone
Save the worst for last, right?
The coverage so far has been nothing short of abysmal for Notre Dame and is the direct cause for the 0-2 start in my mind. Against Miami, Notre Dame defensive backs made a handful of the worst plays of the game. We all remember Adon Shuler not breaking up the touchdown before halftime. Christian Gray's pass interference on the final drive did not help either. Karson Hobbes is lost in coverage on the crosser for the first score.
After that Miami game, fans, coaches, and media personnel were all rightly very critical of Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash's approach. He abandoned the man-to-man defense Notre Dame deployed last year in favor of a soft zone mindset that killed Notre Dame throughout.
It is almost impossible to think that against Texas A&M things actually looked WORSE.
Outside of Leonard Moore, who only allowed 1 completion all night for 11 yards and also registered an interception to set up the Irish early, the rest of the coverage unit looked downright unplayable.
Christian Gray is still getting targeted on the outside, much like last year against USC and Ohio State, endlessly, as teams avoid Moore entirely. He has not shown he can cover well enough to compete at that level.
He also got hurt for the second straight game and committed another killer penalty on the final drive. On a massive third and 16 that ended up being incomplete, Gray got called for a holding penalty, giving A&M another first down and eventual touchdown.
The worst of the group was clearly Karson Hobbs again. Fans later found out that transfer nickel corner Devonta Smith got hurt pregame, leading to Hobbs' long day. A&M, especially Mario Craver, took Hobbs for a ride Saturday night after he struggled to cover Malachi Toney against Miami.
To make matters worse, Hobbs also dropped what would have been a game-clinching interception in the end zone on the third down play. A&M scored on the next play to win the game.
At the safety position, Adon Shuler has been disappointing after a breakout 2024 season. Luke Talich has looked a step or two slow at many times and failed to really cover the deep outside plays. Jalen Stroman, after a strong debut, blew a coverage assignment on the 86-yard Craver touchdown early and failed to really get involved after that.
Only freshman safety Tae Johnson stood out Saturday. He returned a block punt for a touchdown, registered two pass breakups, and finished second on the team with six tackles. The most concerning part of all of this, though, has definitely been the zone coverage. None of the secondary looks comfortable, receivers are running wide open downfield, and Chris Ash refuses to adjust his schemes.
Marcel Reed completed just 48% of his passes and still finished with over 350 yards through the air and two scores. Carson Beck threw for 200 yards and two scores, and that was with Miami up multiple scores most of the way and running out the clock.
This Notre Dame pass defense ranked as the third-best nationally last year, and now seems incapable of stopping anyone. The zone coverages are leaving massive zones wide open while defenders stand in no-man's land, covering no one.
Do I think part of this is that they are playing some really good teams and quarterbacks? Yes. Carson Beck and Marcel Reed currently top many Heisman charts. But how much of that is because they lit up the Irish? I think a lot.
Also concerning is that where I think other groups improved week over week and will get better, the Notre Dame pass coverage unit is going to face a few other really tall tasks. USC, Arkansas, and Boise State all have good passers and receivers. Heck, Syracuse and former ND Quarterback Steve Angeli lead the nation in passing yards this far.
I am not confident that this unit fixes its issues, and I think this will continue to be problematic all year. The only question will be how much an improved pass rush and better linebacker play mask some of these problems, and how much more man defense Chris Ash will be willing to play.