Notre Dame's Defense Tames North Carolina State

Notre Dame's defense is hitting its stride at just the right time.

After Notre Dame's first two defensive performances of the year, which led to a 0-2 start, all that could be reasonably asked of them in the remaining ten games was to make incremental improvement week to week and gradually try to improve. To Chris Ash and his unit's credit, his defense has made major strides far beyond incremental improvement very quickly and is playing winning football.

Notre Dame allowed a very dangerous NC State offense and quarterback just seven points,182 yards passing, and only 51 yards on the ground to go along with three interceptions. This is winning defensive football. This is a defense that has gone from a liability to being a reason the team is winning games.

IRISH WIN ☘️#GoIrish☘️ | @Gatorade pic.twitter.com/i0hSZpn6md
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 11, 2025

Why has the Notre Dame defense gotten better?

Notre Dame ran into a rough set of circumstances to begin this season. The Irish were breaking in a new starting quarterback and a new defensive coordinator whose inherited defense lost many key contributors from last year's successful unit.

As if this wasn't tricky enough, playing Miami and Texas A&M the first two weeks meant there would be almost no margin for error. This ended up being true, and very costly. The Irish could have been 1-1 and in a fine position; they just couldn't be 0-2. Yet here we are.

I think Notre Dame's recent defensive revival has a few key components. First, the more time the players have with Ash and in his system, the better the group looks, and the more adjustments favoring aggression are being made. This is a great sign of things to come.

Secondly, Notre Dame apparently needed a few weeks of real games played to be able to learn its most advantageous personnel rotations. Slowly but surely, this has been working itself out, but the miscalculations in the first two games in this area were very costly, particularly in the secondary.

The third component of the defensive improvement is simply confidence. This group is starting to believe in itself again, and that matters. It allows the players to play more freely and do what they do best, be raw athletes who disrupt plays.

KK Smith — Notre Dame wide receiver Kk Smith (11) celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the second half of a NCAA football game against NC State at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Is the Notre Dame defense "back"?

Talk to me after next week's game for this answer. This unit is far from perfect, but it has one more chance in primetime against a flashy offensive opponent to prove it's legitimate when the Trojans visit South Bend in a few short days. Notre Dame's defense is trending up and has a showcase moment in primetime next Saturday.