Notre Dame remains ranked No. 24 in the AP Top 25 despite opening the season 0-2 with losses to No. 4 Miami and No. 10 Texas A&M.
For as much as the conversation entering the season was about how the Irish would fare offensively with freshman CJ Carr taking over as starter, it’s been the defense that has had the most problems. Notre Dame has given up 68 points in the first two games of the season, with Texas A&M moving the ball at will in their 41-40 win over the Irish in a thriller on Saturday night in South Bend.
As the Irish shift focus to Purdue this week, coach Marcus Freeman is not planning on making any changes to who calls the defensive plays, but the former defensive coordinator is going to look into spending a bit more time with his defense to try and get them back on track.
“I spend a lot of time with our defense, that’s obviously where my background is, and I’ll continuously do it,” Freeman told ESPN. “Will I spend more time? Maybe. If that’s what’s necessary, I will, I’ll spend more time there. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that we improve and we have a performance that we believe is the standard for Notre Dame football.”
Notre Dame has a new defensive coordinator this year, Chris Ash, who took over for Al Golden after he departed for the same job with the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL. Golden’s defenses were in the top 10 in points per game allowed over the last two years, and the coordinator change has not resulted in a seamless transition. This summer, Ash insisted that there wouldn’t be major changes schematically to what Notre Dame is doing, but something is getting lost in translation early this season.
“In terms of scheme, it’s all about concepts,” Ash said back in August, per WNDU. “The concepts that I like are the same things that they have had here in this package, and that’s really where it’s at. We are just trying to get better every single day. The guys are confident in what we are doing, and they have a lot of belief in themselves and they are flying around and competing. They are having a lot of fun out here right now.”
For an Irish team that played fast and confidently under Golden, they look a step slow and often not on the same page in 2025. Freeman said that while there were certainly execution mistakes from the defense, those ultimately fall on the coaching staff to put players in the right positions and ensure the players on the field can execute what they’re being asked to do.
Notre Dame has had to replace some key players, including All-American safety Xavier Watts, but the talent on the roster coming off a national title game appearance figured to still be capable of playing defense at a high level. That hasn’t happened to this point, and while Freeman isn’t ready to make a quick hook on Ash’s play-calling duties, he may have a bit more input going forward in practice and game planning.
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