Big Game Woes Continue To Plague The Notre Dame Defense

Notre Dame's defense has done a lot of great things over the last two seasons. Last year, they finished ranked 10th in the country in scoring defense, 22nd in the country in total defense and 21st in the country in total turnovers gained. This season, they rank 5th in the country in scoring defense, 1st in the country in total defense and 3rd in the country in total turnovers gained through seven games and also rank in the Top 10 in several other defensive categories. 

One thing they haven't done well over the last two seasons is perform well against the top competition which, at the end of the day, is how you're truly measured when you come to a place like Notre Dame. The three biggest games they've played in over the last calendar year has been against Miami in Week 1 of the 2025 season, Texas A&M in Week 3 of the 2025 season and BYU this past weekend. 

To kick off last season, the Irish lost to the Hurricanes in a game where the defense allowed 339 total yards, allowed Miami to hold onto the ball for almost 34 minutes, didn't force a turnover and allowed two explosive plays. Per head coach Marcus Freeman, they consider an explosive play of any pass play over 20 yards and any rush of 10 yards or more. 

The following game against the Aggies, the defense took a turn for the worse and allowed Texas A&M to gain 488 total yards and average 9.7 yards per attempt in the passing game. Unlike their matchup with Miami, the Irish won the time of possession battle and broke even in the turnover battle. The biggest difference was the explosive plays they allowed. Notre Dame gave up eight explosive plays against Texas A&M, six pass plays and two run plays, which led to their demise. 

Why the dark trip down memory lane? Well, after a dominant 16-game win streak, that defense reared its ugly head once again when the Irish traveled out west to Provo, Utah to take on the undefeated BYU Cougars in a Top 10 battle under the lights. Unfortunately, their 28-24 loss on defense was a combination of the two worst aspects of both the Miami and Texas A&M losses. 

Notre Dame allowed four explosive plays, two more than their matchup with Miami and four less than their game against the Aggies. Similar to Miami, when they needed to get off of the field, they were unable to hold BYU to a punt or force field goals. They allowed 23 first downs, 360 total yards of offense, over 150 more yards than what they were averaging coming into the matchup and allowed the most rushing yards they had given up this season by almost double. 

Statistically, there's going to be a drop off between playing opponents like Rice, Purdue, Boise State, Syracuse, Boston College and Stanford compared to playing Miami, Texas A&M, USC and BYU. But the drastic difference between the two when looking at Notre Dame's defense is cause for concern. Is this going to be a unit that feasts on inferior competition and struggles against the best teams in the country? 

We'll get our answer to that question when the No. 1 ranked Miami Hurricanes come to South Bend on November 7. Miami is home to the No. 1 scoring offense (48.5), No. 3 ranked passing offense in yards per game, No. 2 ranked total offense and 13th ranked rush offense in the country. If Notre Dame is going to be the team we believe they can be, playing championship-caliber defense against the best teams on the schedule is imperative. They failed their first test against BYU, now they have the opportunity to right the ship in a couple of weeks. 

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