Panic Setting In? The Ultimate Fear for Notre Dame After 0

For the second time with Marcus Freeman in four seasons as head coach, Notre Dame sits at 0-2 to start a season. After Saturday night's 41-40 loss to Texas A&M, Freeman became the first coach in program history to have two different 0-2 starts to his name.

Now, as Freeman and the rest of the Notre Dame football team look to pick up the pieces and salvage the rest of the 2025 season, something that's clearly missing with this team early is worth examining.

Notre Dame's Defense is Amiss

Notre Dame has long prided itself on defense and in the last two seasons, had one of the very best in all of college football. Through two games in 2025, it's clear that this defensive unit resembles the previous two only in a handful of names that return.

It starts up front and the defensive line hasn't done nearly enough early in the year. It hasn't generated anything near a consistent or threatening pass rush through two games and what's behind it hasn't been much better.

Texas A&M celebrates a win at Notre Dame Stadiu — Texas A&M long snapper Levi Hancock (45) and quarterback Marcel Reed (10) celebrate after winning a NCAA football game 41-40 against Notre Dame at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Missed tackles are to be found at all levels and the secondary that was hyped as among the nation's best again entering 2025 has been next to non-existent. Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed averaged 21.1 yards per completion Saturday night, a downright embarrassing number for Notre Dame to allow.

So what's missing for the Fighting Irish in 2025?

Notre Dame Clearly Misses Al Golden

It can get overlooked as the names of assistant coaches aren't known nearly as well as the head coaches in college football. However, Notre Dame misses Al Golden as defensive coordinator.

That much is obvious.

When Notre Dame's defensive fronts struggled to generate pressure in recent years, he dialed up effective blitzes that may not have gotten home but at least made opposing quarterbacks incredibly uncomfortable on the regular. I know Texas A&M and Miami have a couple of the better offensive lines around, but Notre Dame should have one of the best defenses nationally, and it simply hasn't perrformed that way.

Former Notre Dame DC Al Golde — Nov 16, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden watches warmups before a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at Notre Dame Stadium. | Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Its obvious that Al Golden, the 2024 Broyles Award winner as the nation's top assistant coach, and Notre Dame's defensive coordinator from 2022 to 2024, is missed. Notre Dame's defense has taken a significant step back despite all of this improvement in talent. While the Cincinnati Bengals got a good one, I can't help but wonder actually got in his replacement, Chris Ash.

I'm also curious how much Golden is missed elsewhere on Notre Dame's staff. He had head coaching experience that new defensive coordinator Chris Ash can also claim, but is Freeman leaning on his new defensive coordinator the same way he did the previous?

And if he isn't, what then do the early returns post Golden say about Freeman?

Get Right Against Purdue

Purdue isn't the same team that went 1-11 and was hardly ever competitive a year ago. That said, it should provide the perfect "get right" opportunity for Notre Dame this Saturday.

Notre Dame is in desperate need for the bleeding to stop. Purdue should present that opportunity for Notre Dame and can hopefully be the first to right this ship as the start of the 2025 season has already turned into a worst-case-scenario situation.

Is the College Football Playoff a possibility? Start doing more of the little things right, like Notre Dame did so well last year in its CFP run and check with me before the USC game to see if that's even a pipe dream by then.

The season can go two ways after the brutal start. Here's to hoping brighter days for the 2025 season are on the horizon because the water has been as choppy as imaginable through two games.