The Notre Dame defense has not looked like the unit we saw through the first four games of the season in their last four games. To kick off the season, it looked like defensive coordinator Chris Ash had turned a corner and was letting this unit fly down hill, play fast and aggressive football and shut down Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State and Purdue. In their last four outings against North Carolina, Stanford, BYU and Navy, this defense has resorted back to their early 2025 days of playing soft and passive.
Unfortunately, there's no 'get-right' opportunity on the docket this weekend. The No. 1 team in the country is coming to South Bend and they bring with them the No. 1 ranked scoring offense, the No. 2 ranked offense in yards per game and yards per play and the No. 4 ranked passing offense in yards per game and No. 1 ranked pass offense in touchdown passes. This is the biggest test of the season for the Notre Dame defense. Here are my three biggest storylines, two crucial battles and one player to watch.
1. Short-Handed Secondary Will Have Their Biggest Test
The injury bug has hit the secondary and it's come at a pretty inconvenient time in the season. Cornerback DJ McKinney is out for this game along with star safety Brauntae Johnson who has missed all but the first half of the first game of the season. Cornerback Leonard Moore has been banged up in recent games but is seemingly back to health. Safeties Adon Shuler and Luke Talich have also been battling their fair share of injuries this season as well but are also good to go for tomorrow night.
Even though star Miami wideout Malachi Toney will be out, this short-handed secondary will still have a monumental task this weekend limiting this Hurricane's passing attack. Thankfully, the depth in the secondary is plentiful and players like Jayden Sanders, Moore, Shuler, Talich, Christian Gray and freshman Joey O'Brien are all primed and ready to go.
2. Pass Rush Has To Come Alive
Over the last four games, the Notre Dame pass rush has ineffective to non-existent. Against North Carolina and BYU, their inability to get pressure on the quarterback led to Billy Edwards and Bear Bachmeier to combine for 433 yards and four touchdowns. Miami quarterback Darian Mensah is certainly a more dangerous passer than either Bachmeier or Edwards. If he has all day to throw in the pocket, then he'll pick this defense apart no matter how good the coverage is down field. Ash needs to let open up this facet of the defense, let them pin their ears back and get after the quarterback. If not, it's going to be a long night for the Notre Dame defense.
3. Get Off The Field When You Have The Opportunity
One of the most frustrating pieces of the Notre Dame defense since the start of 2025 has been their inability to get off of the field in the biggest moments. They weren't able to stop Miami last season on their game-winning field goal drive. They weren't able to stop Texas A&M on their game-winning touchdown drive and they weren't able to get off the field on BYU's touchdown drive that gave them the lead inside of the two-minute warning. Tomorrow night, they'll have the opportunity to get off the field and when they do, they have to capitalize and get the ball back into the hands of CJ Carr.
1. Chris Ash/Marcus Freeman vs Shannon Dawson
Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson is one of the best in the business. In two of the last three seasons (2024 and 2026), he's had one of, if not the top, offense in the country and he's done it with different personnel. Ash and especially head coach Marcus Freeman need to put together a gameplan that limits this high powered offense. It needs to be focused around playing aggressive, downhill, attacking football.
Playing this passive read-and-react defense they played against BYU and North Carolina will get them torn apart. This is a massive opportunity for both Freeman and Ash to change the narrative about the Irish defense in big games and they'll have to do it against one of the best offensive coordinators in college football.
2. Boubacar Traore/Bryce Young vs Samson Okunlola/Matthew McCoy
If the pass rush is going to come alive, then defensive ends Boubacar Traore and Bryce Young have to get going. After starting the season leading the team in pressures with 15 through the first four games, Young hasn't recorded a single pressure in their last three outings. Similarly, Traore has only recorded three pressures and one sack in their last three outings and two of those pressures and the sack came against Stanford. Your top two pass rushers can't combine for three total pressures and one sack in your last three games.
Their matchup with the Miami offensive tackles, left tackle Samson Okunlola and Matthew McCoy, is going to be massive in this game. Okunlola has only given up 15 pressures all season, but 11 of them have come in the last four games. On the other side of the line, McCoy has only given up 11 pressures all season but nine of them have come in the last four games. Which duo wins the day? Will it be Notre Dame's struggling defensive end duo or the struggling Miami offensive tackles? This matchup will be key in who wins this primetime slugfest.
Two-time captain and senior middle linebacker Drayk Bowen is out for this game, and likely the remainder of the regular season, with an ankle injury. That means that junior linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa is going to be taking his place in the starting lineup. We talked all offseason about the overall depth, talent, length and experience in the Notre Dame linebacking corps and it's going to have to be on full display this weekend. Viliamu-Asa is coming off of injury in his own right and has yet to have that breakout performance this season but tomorrow night is his prime opportunity.
His responsibility will be two-fold. Obviously from a production standpoint, the 6-3, 234-pound backer will have to produce like a top-tier player, and we all know he's capable of doing that. Viliamu-Asa will also be in charge of wearing the 'green dot' which handles the coach-to-player communication from the sideline. He'll play a massive role in getting the defense lined up and in the correct spot to have success. On offense, we talked about CJ Carr having his opportunity for his 'Notre Dame moment'. On defense, Viliamu-Asa has the opportunity to walk into his.
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