Frustrations about the Notre Dame defensive efforts has now spilt over to the player’s biggest support system for the public to see
The frustration with the Notre Dame defense is worse than many people realize. It’s starting to spill over to the parents of current Fighting Irish players.
After a 0-2 start to the season, Notre Dame football finally came away with a victory against the Purdue Boilermakers 56 to 30 on Saturday. It was a much-needed win for the Fighting Irish, whose offense showed a ton of explosive plays and a lot of progress at home. The defense, on the other hand, did not leave the fanbase quite as optimistic following the victory.
Through three games, Chris Ash’s defense has been a hot mess, allowing nearly 33 points per game as a unit. For the second straight game, the Notre Dame pass defense also allowed over 300 yards through the air. Although fans are doing their best and enjoy getting back in the win column, they are still left pondering how this defense gets better and what major issues can and will be fixed.
The frustrations are no longer just with the fans. Following the victory, we saw some unrest with someone much closer to the Notre Dame program. Jay Blair, who is the father of Irish freshman safety JaDon Blair, voiced his displeasure about the defensive performance on the good ole Twitter.
What Jay said
Blair began the tweet with gratitude for the victory, something that the players and coaches needed desperately. He ended with a perspective that everyone should understand: giving up 30 points to Purdue is indeed unacceptable. Some will try to convince themselves that we saw progress in the second half, while the Boilermakers were forced to be more predictable; however, nothing has changed. The problem still exists.
There is an odd segment of the fanbase that continues to assert that there is a player problem with this team. A year after this defensive unit was on an elite level, it is now one of the lower-ranked defenses in all of college football. We are also seeing veterans continue to regress, but some are trying to convince others that it’s a player issue. There’s a problem here for sure, but it isn’t the amount of talent you’re working with.
With Purdue being one of the “cupcakes” on Notre Dame’s schedule, there needs to be a question about where the defensive turnaround is going to come. You have Arkansas on the horizon, and you are traveling to Fayetteville to take on the Razorbacks, who have talent on offense. Then, battles against Boise State, NC State, USC, and Boston College are also coming up. That’s several offenses that can put up some points if you don’t improve.
At what point does this get better? Ash has a ton of problems to continue to answer, and there doesn’t seem to be many answers available. With an offense that is getting better and better, it feels like Mike Denbrock’s unit could carry this team for a bit. If Notre Dame does manage to make a run, however, the defense will need to pull its weight at some point, and it’s just hard to feel confident in that right now.
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