Notre Dame Football, Early Season Reactions: Strength, Weakness, It Factor

My Notre Dame Fightin' Irish are 3-0, YAY! Yes, I know "they don't ask how, they ask how many," but still, after seeing three games, I think it's a good spot to take a step back and truly see what we have and where it can go with this team in 2026... or 2027, I guess, since the ultimate goal is a late January game. If you just score watch, 41-13, 52-0, and 27-10 in rainy conditions all look very nice, but we need to dive in deeper, see what is our strength, weakness, and IT factor.

Strength: The Defense

Through three games, they have given up only two touchdowns, and that is while facing two P4 teams. Now yes, Michigan State is most likely a 5-7 team at best, but Wisconsin has not only put up points since the Notre Dame game, but done it in bunches. So holding them to 13 now is looking very good. Other than the stats, I am truly very excited about our depth. It has shown up already multiple times, and this is something that Notre Dame seemed to never have. We could always line up our ones with almost anyone, but the twos would fall off a cliff. Well, not this year. Already, some banged-up starters have been replaced and their backups have shown not only to be ready, but to excel in many ways (yes, I'm talking about you, Luke Talich). I've always worried about the secondary, but our two-deep this year feels very solid to withstand season-long bang-ups.

This team will be a team built on defense; it shows at all levels. This past Saturday, they gave up 167 yards, with 53 (a crazy catch) coming on one play. So that means for the rest of the game, they had just 114 yards on 61 plays. This week, though Purdue is not very good, their open style of offense will be another good test for the defense to look at different offenses and see how they will try to attack us.

Weakness: Running Game

Wow... this feels weird. A Notre Dame running game is our weakness? It almost feels like a bizarro world. Still, unfortunately, this is the truth. Through the first three games, it just has not been our strong suit, and I am heading into "it's a problem" tier. This part of the game needs to be fixed if we want to have any shot at winning a championship. Can we make the playoff with an average to below-average run game? Yes. Can we win in the playoff, though? No. Now, the one plus I will say for the run game has been the ability to improve as games go on, which means we have the capability to wear down opposing defenses. Nolan James Jr. last week had about 100 of his 120 yards in the second half alone. Also, while I'm on James, I do think he is our best overall back moving forward, as he has a little more big-play ability in him. This isn't saying we abandon Aneyas Williams, it's just Nolan should be getting the lion's share for the time being. We don't need to be running for 250 a game, but I do think for championship aspirations, we need to be around the 175–225 range. This was my one worry in the offseason with who we lost; hopefully, the run game can gain some momentum as the season marches on.

IT Factor: The Secondary

It's tough, as we have CJ Carr, Jordan Faison, and an O-line that has future NFLers on it, but still, I truly believe this secondary is our IT factor. Starting with Leonard Moore, the shutdown corner, to Adon Shuler, the do-it-all safety, this DB crew can take us very, very far if they continue to be a QB's worst nightmare. The addition of DJ McKinney and Jayden Sanders, who both truly could be CB1 anywhere else, is a game-changer, as it allows Christian Gray to work in the slot and the safeties to feel freer to ball-hawk. Oh, and also, we have only gotten one half of football with Brauntae Johnson, another All-American-level safety. This secondary's play will be the key for us over the rest of the season.

The season is still very young, but teams' identities are beginning to take shape. For Notre Dame, they have found a groove on defense and in the passing game with Carr. Now, we just have to hope for the running game to follow suit, and we could have something special on our hands. The schedule, as we get into October, will begin to tighten up, so we will need to be firing on all cylinders soon. Go Irish!