Irish secondary firepower promises takeaways. Can a vulnerable fumble recovery unit reclaim championship-caliber dominance for Notre Dame's 2026 title pursuit?
The goal of any college football team is to be the last one standing at the end of the season, hoisting up the National Championship trophy. For Notre Dame, they've gone without a title since 1988, but have had some close encounters. Head coach Marcus Freeman is heading into his 5th year at the helm and is looking to bring home the 12th national title to South Bend.
In order to do that, there are some key areas of focus this program will have to hone in on during the 2026 season. Some areas are closer than others; certain areas of focus are up to par based on the 2025 season while others need significant improvement if the Irish wish to close the gap. Forcing turnovers has been key to any national title run; Notre Dame will have to remain an aggressive, turnover forcing defense this upcoming season.
In 2025, they finished the season ranked 21st in the country in total turnovers forced in 12 games played. In those 12 games, the Irish racked up 21 interceptions which ranked 4th in the country. With players like Leonard Moore, Christian Gray, Adon Shuler and Tae Johnson returning in the secondary, that's something I'd expect to remain consistent in 2026. The best secondary in college football will be in South Bend, Indiana.
The biggest drop off from 2024 to 2025 was their ability to force and recover fumbles. In 2024, the Irish finished ranked No. 2 in the country in fumbles gained with 14. This past season, they finished ranked No. 128 only recovering two on the year. With the personnel they've added and have returning along the defensive line and linebacking corps, I'd also expect this number to rise this upcoming season.
Nonetheless, ranking in the Top 25 in total turnovers is a spot where you want to be, and that's something we've seen from other previous national championship winners. Indiana, who is fresh off of their first title win in program history, finished the year ranked No. 3 in the country in turnovers gained with 19 interceptions and 11 fumbles recovers. In 2023, Michigan finished ranked No. 4 in turnovers gained with 18 interceptions and nine fumbles recovered.
In 2020, Alabama finished No. 6 in the country in turnovers gained with 12 interceptions and 10 fumbles recovered. The LSU Tigers finished No. 23 in 2019 with 17 interceptions and five fumbles recovered.
With any statistic, there are always outliers; Ohio State's defense in 2024 ranked 54th in the country in turnovers gained with 10 interceptions and nine fumbles recovered. But they also finished No. 1 in scoring defense, No. 3 in rush defense, No. 3 in pass defense and No. 2 in sacks. When you rank Top 5 in several meaningful categories on defense, it more than makes up for not being turnover forcing machines, but that certainly helps.
For Notre Dame, we need to see more of the defense we saw in the final eight games of the regular season. In their first four outings against Miami, Texas A&M, Purdue and Arkansas, they totaled four interceptions. In their final eight games, they racked up 17 including a stretch from Boise State to Boston College where they had at least two in every game. The only game in their final eight where they didn't record an interception was against Navy.
This defense has the opportunity to be turnover forcing machines, and that will have to remain consistent in the post season as well. Key turnovers forced against Indiana, Georgia and Penn State were crucial.
Their forced fumble and recovery in the National Championship game in 2024 helped fuel their comeback attempt. If defensive coordinator Chris Ash attacks this season with the philosophy from the final eight games, there's no reason this group can't be a Top 5 unit when the 2026-2027 season comes to an end.
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