Notre Dame’s defense spent the back half of last season looking like a different unit than the one that stumbled out of the gate. After giving up 27 points to Miami, 41 to Texas A&M and 24 first-half points to Purdue in its second home game, Marcus Freeman and first-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash had to steady the ship fast. They did exactly that.
From there, the Irish held every opponent but one under 20 points. Only three of their final nine opponents got past 10 points the rest of the way. Now Ash enters year two with most of his starting lineup from 2025 back in place, and the expectation is simple: if Notre Dame makes a few key adjustments, this could be the best defense in college football.
The biggest shift has to be philosophical. Notre Dame needs to be more aggressive when the game gets tight and the opponent gets dangerous.
Last season, the Irish were at their most passive against their three toughest opponents. Miami, Texas A&M and USC all moved the ball comfortably at times, with each averaging at least 5.0 yards per play and piling up at least 339 total yards in those matchups.
That has to change in the moments that matter this season, especially on October 17, November 7 and November 21. It’s one thing to dial up pressure against Boise State at home, Syracuse at home or Boston College on the road.
It’s another to stay aggressive against offenses like BYU, Miami and SMU. The rest of the tweaks Notre Dame needs all flow from that mindset.
No, it doesn’t mean sending seven or eight rushers every snap. But the intent has to be there.
On third and long, the secondary also has to tighten up. Too often last fall, Notre Dame’s defensive backs gave receivers too much room, which let offenses catch the ball on the move and pick up first downs, or at least set up manageable fourth-down tries. The Irish were simply poor in those situations, and the fix starts with cutting down the cushion.
There’s also a technique issue in zone coverage that has to get cleaned up. Ash leans on zone more than the previous defensive coordinator, and that in itself isn’t the problem.
Plenty of championship defenses have lived in zone. The issue is that Notre Dame’s defensive backs aren’t getting hands on receivers to reroute them, especially on vertical routes.
That showed up throughout the 2025 regular season and again in the Blue-Gold game. It wasn’t just a young-player problem, either.
This is coming from the top down, and it has to be corrected.
The front seven should help drive that change. Notre Dame has the talent up front and at linebacker to attack more often, and last season showed what happens when Ash lets them go.
Middle linebacker Drayk Bowen finished with 28 total run stops, but 21 of them came in the final seven games, when he got more comfortable and was allowed to fly downhill. He also had 17 pressures, with 10 of those pressures and five of his hits plus sacks coming in that same seven-game stretch.
The defensive line needs to match that energy. Boubacar Traore, Bryce Young, Keon Keeley, Jason Onye, Elijah Hughes, Armel Mukam, Tionne Gray and Francis Brewu are all in the mix, and Notre Dame will need that group to be disruptive.
The Irish may return what is being called the best secondary in the country, but no back end can cover for seven or eight seconds forever. If Notre Dame wants to turn a strong defense into a dominant one, the front and the coverage have to work together.
In Other News...
Notre Dame Just Got A Massive CJ Carr Statement
Notre Dames quarterback room just got a major vote of confidence heading into 2026, and it starts with CJ Carr. The Athletic slotted Carr into its top quarterback tier, putting him in the conversation with the sports best passers and pointing to the kind of ceiling that can change the outlook of an entire season. Carr already flashed that promise in 2025, most notably helping spark a comeback at Miami and following it up with a strong showing against Texas A&M.
The bigger challenge now is carrying that momentum into a year where the Irish will ask even more of him. With key pieces gone from the offense, Carr is expected to be the focal point of the attack, and the standard around him has clearly risen with the ranking. The next step is less about talent and more about the finer points, from decision making to the kind of consistency Notre Dame will need when the schedule tightens and the pressure follows. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Is Still Recruiting Like A National Title Contender
Eli Ledermans latest tiered look at the 2027 cycle puts Notre Dame right where it wants to be in the national recruiting conversation, among the programs still stacking elite talent while the class takes shape. Texas A&M sits atop the consensus board, but the Irish are grouped with the likes of Texas, Ohio State and Oregon, a reminder that the race for top-end talent is already being treated like a title chase.
For Notre Dame, the most encouraging part is how much of the class has come together lately. Fifteen of its 19 blue-chip commits have arrived since the beginning of March, giving the Irish a late-cycle surge that has helped them stay in the hunt with the sports heavyweights. The class has also built real depth in the trenches and on defense, with several key additions coming out of the Chicago area, even as the board still leaves room for more movement before signing day. [Read more 🡒]