Notre Dame is heading into the home stretch of their regular season; they're currently riding a six-game winning streak and are the 10th-ranked team in the first College Football Playoff rankings. The success they've had as a team has largely been attributed to their drastic turnaround on the defensive side of the ball. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash and his staff have this unit playing at an extremely high level.
What they need moving forward is more players to get healthy and step up down the stretch to ensure the team is as fresh as possible heading into the postseason. Luckily, Notre Dame's depth is amongst some of the talented in the country. Last weekend, we watched defensive end Josh Burnham have his breakout moment of the 2025 season ending the afternoon with three tackles, 1.0 sack and 3.0 tackles for a loss. Burnham is back, healthy and ready to finish the regular season strong.
"Personally I feel 100 percent," Burnham answered when asked how close to 100 percent he was. "I feel like I’m good and ready to go. I’m glad to be back. I feel like I’ve been pretty good the past couple of weeks. I’ve just been waiting for the opportunity to get out there, and I feel like I got that this past weekend."
Burnham was a game changer along the defensive line last weekend against Boston College in their 25-10 win. The Irish defense shut out the Eagles in the fourth quarter, only allowed them to enter the end zone once, and held them to 12 total rushing yards as a team. Burnham knew early on this would be a strong game for him.
"I think from the start," Burnham said confidently. "Obviously the first one was when I was out covering the point and the receiver caught the little flare screen over there. Just making that I tackled him in space. I think I gained some confidence and realized I am back to how I was and I’m ready to go. I think that showed the rest of the game."
Notre Dame's defense as a whole now leads the country in interceptions this season with 16. Earlier this season, interceptions came at a premium and the defense was working on marrying up their front with their coverage. It's not a coincidence that the increase in interceptions mirrors the increase in overall pressure the defensive line is generating.
"I think we’ve been playing good complimentary football," Burnham explained. "We need the defensive backs to play good, tight coverage so we can get home and get sacks. On the flip side, we need to be able to get to the quarterback and make him throw that ball up so they can get it. It’s been a huge team effort overall."
This week, the defensive line prepares to take on a physical and efficient Navy offense. Burnham, along with the rest of the defense knows their task at hand and are ready for an intense battle on the gridiron Saturday night.
"Navy is always a difficult game," Burnham said. "This is what they do and they’re damn good at it."
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