To stifle the Badgers’ revamped offense, the Irish must neutralize dual-threat quarterback Colton Joseph and maintain their historical dominance against Wisconsin’s signature rushing attack to secure a season-opening win.
Notre Dame kicks off its 2026 season this weekend and the Fighting Irish defense gets its first chance to show it is one of the nation's best units. Notre Dame got off to a slow start last season, but it finished on a strong run, ranking among the nation's best defenses by season's end.
Notre Dame faces a Wisconsin offense that went hard to the portal after major struggles in 2025. Wisconsin is expected to be improved on offense, especially after the arrival of Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph. Notre Dame will face a more talented Badger offense than we saw last season.
If the Irish are going to start the season off with an impressive victory the defense will need to thrive in four key areas.
1) Be Ready For Early Wrinkles - Wisconsin will have a different look on offense in 2026. It's not a complete schematic overhaul, but the addition of Joseph changes things dramatically from a how they hurt defenses. Over the last two seasons, the Wisconsin quarterbacks combined for 155 total rushing yards. Joseph had two games better than that in 2025, including 179 yards against Indiana alone. In fact, Joseph is the only player to top 100 yards against the Hoosiers in the regular season. Calling a game with Joseph at quarterback will be much different for coordinator Jeff Grimes, which means Notre Dame defensive coordinator Chris Ash needs to have his unit ready for some new wrinkles early in the game. That includes preparing them for quarterback run schemes as well as containing Joseph as a scrambler. It also means adjusting in game to the new wrinkles that Wisconsin is implementing in the run game.
Being prepared for wrinkles against the Badgers also includes being ready for trick plays, double moves and other calls Wisconsin will make to earn some chunk plays against the Irish. Wisconsin's coaches won't say it, but they know that Notre Dame is a far more talented team. That means they'll need to be creative with play designs and play calls to slow down the Irish attack, but also to generate mistakes by the defense, which results in big plays for the offense. If Wisconsin has to methodically go up and down the field it will lose and lose big. If it wants to pull off the upset it will need big plays, which is why Ash and the Irish defense will need be ready for them and to shut them down.
2) Shut Down the Run - This one is very simple, if Notre Dame shuts down the Wisconsin run game its odds of winning skyrocket. In the 37 games that Luke Fickell has been the head coach in Madison, the Badgers have rushed for at least 150 yards 15 times. They are 15-0 in those games. In the 22 games where Wisconsin failed to reach the 150 plateau it is just 1-21. The only win was a game the Badgers rushed for 139 yards. Adding Joseph to the lineup only adds to the importance of the run game to Wisconsin, and adds to the importance of shutting down the run for Notre Dame. Having a plan to shut down designed quarterback runs will be crucial for the Irish against Joseph.
3) Keep Colton Joseph in the Pocket - Part of shutting down the run is making Joseph beat you from the pocket. Joseph is a solid passer, having passed for 2,624 yards and 9.0 yards per attempt last season. He can make throws in rhythm, but he's not a player that is going to rip a defense apart throwing from the pocket all day. His game is about making plays with his legs on designed runs, scrambling for big plays and then making plays on the move with his arm. He is solid from the pocket, but if you shut down the mobile part of his game and keep him in the pocket the defense's odds of shutting down the offense are greatly enhanced.
Being able to get pressure on Joseph with the front four is crucial, which means big games are needed from Boubacar Traore, Bryce Young, Keon Keeley and the edge players, who need to handle the Wisconsin tackles. Notre Dame's interior defenders will need to get a good push up the middle while maintaining gap disciplining and not opening up scramble lanes for Joseph. If the front four can get pressure on the quarterback without blitzes it allows the Irish linebackers to get coverage drops, which also means an extra defender on the second level to handle Joseph if he is able to get free.
4) Be Disciplined - The theme here is simply make Wisconsin earn every yard it gets. No bad penalties that extend drives, no assignment mistakes that give Wisconsin cheap yards, tackling well and playing sound football. If Ash allows the defense to play fast, and the defense plays with discipline within that system, Wisconsin will have little hope of moving the football with any kind of consistency. Notre Dame is far more talented and far more athletic than Wisconsin, and if the Irish play disciplined the scoreboard will reflect that. If the Irish play sloppy football on defense, Joseph will make big plays, the Badgers will get cheap yards and this game will be much more competitive than it should.
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