SOUTH BEND, Indiana – It looks like Notre Dame’s defense has taken a turn.
Four games into last season, it was answering the question of whether it was strong enough to help the Fighting Irish win the title. Four games into this season, the numbers suggest there isn’t much doubt.
The third-ranked Fighting Irish (4-0) allow the fewest yards per game and second-fewest points per game in the Football Bowl Subdivision before Saturday’s game at North Carolina.
“They’re playing better,” coach Marcus Freeman said. “There’s no magic formula. It’s work, it’s practice, it’s understanding what, why and how to execute on game day. It’s believing in what we’re doing and playing with increased velocity and violence.”
Right now, the numbers show no team understands those details better than the Irish.
They are giving up only 199.3 yards per game, the only FBS team allowing less than 200. They’re allowing 8.3 points per game, just below Iowa’s 8.0 and a fraction of last year’s four-game average of 27.8. Additionally, they have only allowed one touchdown in the second half, that touchdown coming with 6 seconds remaining in a 49-10 loss at Purdue last weekend.
They did all this despite losing preseason All-American safety Bronte Johnson and his replacement Luke Talich to injuries.
How good have they been? While the Irish gave up 23 points, the defense nearly made up for that total by scoring three touchdowns.
The criticism is that Notre Dame hasn’t really played the killer lineup of opponents – Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State and Purdue.
And the biggest test so far is against North Carolina (2-1), which is scoring 23.3 points and producing 366.0 yards, nearly half of it on the ground.
Yet for Notre Dame, playing a potentially stronger offense won’t change its preparation.
“It’s going out and performing with intensity, not taking a rep lightly, whether it’s a coverage rep, a tackling rep, a pass-rush rep, a run rep, just a regular run,” said running back Drake Bowen, who returned a fumble for a TD last weekend. “That’s one of the things that allows us to play so fast. We go into practice week with such good intensity, you see it on Saturdays. We recognize things. We play fast. We play physical. It doesn’t necessarily matter who the opponent is. We really think about it almost as a faceless opponent.”
And by virtually any measure, Notre Dame has excelled.
The Irish have held five straight opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing. Michigan State ran for only 40 yards, a gain of zero, in the second half. Rice produced only 128 total yards, the lowest total of any Notre Dame opponent since 2008.
Linebacker Jaylen Sneed believes the difference over the last 12 months has come due to experience on the field and familiarity with second-year coordinator Chris Ash.
“I think having everyone back is what really made it successful,” Sneed said. “We were firing on all cylinders (at the end of last year). We won 10 games at the end of (2025). This year, we already know how to talk to each other, how to communicate with each other, how to play together. I felt like it made it so much easier.”
He added: “Since (Ash) came from the NFL, he hadn’t coached in college in a while. He had to learn how to talk to college kids again, learn how to work with college kids again.”
The results are evident on the field, on film and in the numbers that show Notre Dame’s defense is one of the best in the country, potentially good enough to end the 1988 national championship drought.
“Part of leaving no doubt is having that mentality of going to practice every day, performing with that intensity and then going to the game and playing to leave no doubt,” Bowen said. “It’s making sure you’re doing everything you can to make sure your team comes out on top.”