At 0-2, Notre Dame Needs Big Turnaround For College Football Playoff Return

Notre Dame needed only one stop to secure a much-needed victory Saturday night. Instead, the Fighting Irish allowed Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed to throw an 11-yard touchdown pass on 4th and goal. The ensuing extra point put the Aggies ahead, 41-40, with 13 seconds remaining. When Notre Dame couldn’t do anything on the next two plays, time ran out, giving the Irish an 0-2 record in a season that began with so much promise.

Eight months after losing in the national title game, the Irish likely need to win their remaining 10 regular season games to return to the College Football Playoff. They did just that a year ago following a stunning Week 2 loss to lowly Northern Illinois.

Still, expecting Notre Dame to run the table again is a tall task, especially given the team’s defensive struggles. It was the first time the Irish allowed at least 40 points in regulation since 2019, three years before Marcus Freeman took over as head coach in December 2021. Texas A&M gained 488 total yards, the second-most for an ND opponent since Freeman arrived, and averaged 7.1 yards per play, the third-most during Freeman’s tenure. The Aggies won a road game against a ranked opponent for the first time since November 2014.

The Irish had no sacks and just two tackles for loss, the second consecutive game they couldn’t get much pressure on the quarterback. In the season-opening 27-24 loss at Miami, Notre Dame had one sack and two tackles for loss. The Irish have struggled so much that Freeman was asked after Saturday’s game whether he would consider changing the play caller on defense, a role currently held by first-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash.

“No,” Freeman quickly replied. “No. It’s not the call. It’s the execution….I’ve been a play caller. At times, it can be overrated as much as it’s the execution of that play call. And so that’s what we’ve got to evaluate.”

A year ago, the Irish thrived in large part because of their defense, which held opponents to 15.5 points per game (third in the Football Bowl Subdivision) and 4.6 yards per play (ninth in FBS). Al Golden, Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator, was named the Broyles Award winner as the nation’s top assistant coach. But by the time the award was announced, Golden had been hired as the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator while Ash had joined the Irish as Golden’s replacement.

Ash was a scout with the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, but before then he had more than 25 years of coaching experience in college and the NFL. He was co-defensive coordinator on Ohio State’s 2014 national championship team and spent four seasons as the head coach at Rutgers, where he went 8-32, including losing 15 of his final 17 games before getting fired in September 2019.

Still, the Irish entered the season confident with their defense, especially with several starters returning, including cornerback Leonard Moore, a first-team preseason All-American. And Notre Dame has had a string of defensive coordinators who have gone on to major jobs, starting with Mike Elko (who is now Texas A&M’s coach) and continuing with Clark Lea (now the head coach at No. 20 Vanderbilt), Freeman and Golden.

So far, though, Ash is more reminiscent of Brian VanGorder, who was fired as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator after the team started 1-3 in 2016. This year, the Irish are tied for 105th in the nation with 34 points allowed per game, 89th with 5.8 yards allowed per play and 99th with 8.3 yards allowed per pass attempt. They have missed the veteran leadership and standout play of linebacker Jack Kiser, safety Xavier Watts and defensive linemen Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III, all of whom graduated. And they don’t seem to have grasped Ash’s system.

On Saturday, Notre Dame played without Devonta Smith, a transfer cornerback from Alabama who sustained an injury during warmups. Early in the fourth quarter, starting safety Adon Shuler was called for targeting and dismissed from the game. And replays showed a Texas A&M offensive linemen held Notre Dame defensive lineman Donovan Hinish on the Aggies’ final touchdown.

Even so, Freeman had no excuses for why the Irish allowed Reed to throw for 360 yards (21.2 yards per completion) and two touchdowns, including an 86-yarder midway through the first half to Mario Craver, who finished with seven catches for 207 yards. Texas A&M also gained 128 yards on 32 carries, with Le’Veon Moss leading the way with 81 yards on 20 carries and three touchdowns.

“It’s not good enough,” Freeman said. “Not good enough in the run and pass. Not good enough getting pressure on the quarterback.”

On offense, the Irish had some bright spots, with offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock relying more on his talented running backs than he did against Miami and opening up the playbook more for quarterback CJ Carr, who was making his second career start. Preseason All-American running back Jeremiyah Love gaining 94 yards on 23 carries and scoring two touchdowns (one running and one receiving) and backup Jadarian Price totaling 68 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries. That was up from a combined 16 carries and 68 yards and no touchdowns in the Miami game.

Carr, meanwhile, went 20 of 32 for 293 yards (14.7 yards per completion) with a touchdown and interception and 143.5 rating, an improvement from 19 of 30 for 221 yards (11.6 yards per completion) with a touchdown and interception and a 140.5 rating against Miami.

“I thought he played really well,” Freeman said. “There’s nothing that I can think of off the top my head where I say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to live with that.’ He did a heck of a job tonight, led our offense, protected the football, was putting the ball in great places for our wideouts to make some plays. Protection wise, that’s a tough defense, and we did a really good job protecting on third down. He’s playing well, man.”

The same can’t be said for the Irish as a whole. Still, Notre Dame is ranked 24th in the Associated Press poll, the first time in 37 years that an 0-2 team has been in the top 25, according to The Athletic’s Ralph Russo. The voters are likely giving the Irish the benefit of the doubt because they have lost their first two games by a combined four points to teams that are each 3-0 and now ranked fourth (Miami) and 10th (Texas A&M). They also remember last season when the Irish won their final 10 regular season games, advanced to the CFP and then won three more postseason games before losing to Ohio State in the national title game.

Could a repeat scenario take place? Perhaps. But the Irish are facing a more difficult remaining schedule than a year ago, although just one opponent (No. 25 USC) is ranked. They also must fix their defense in a hurry, a task that at least for now seems daunting.