Notre Dame football has a major test in front of it Saturday night when the No. 11 Fighting Irish host No. 1 Miami in South Bend. If you ask me, the biggest question isn’t about talent. It is about whether head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff will let this team play like itself.

Over the last couple of years, a disconnect has shown up in Notre Dame’s biggest games. The defense drifts away from its identity, and the offense chases an identity that doesn’t fit the roster. Those are two different problems, and both are worth watching closely against the Hurricanes.

The Notre Dame defense plays scared in big moments

The defensive side has drawn the most questions under defensive coordinator Chris Ash. For whatever reason, this unit has not stuck to its identity when the lights are brightest. You saw it most recently at BYU. You saw it last year against Miami and Texas A&M.

That is hard to explain when you look at the talent on this side of the ball. Leonard Moore, Adon Shuler, Boubacar Traore, and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa are all incredibly gifted football players. Brauntae Johnson has been part of that group over the last two years as well.

Even so, Notre Dame has chosen to play passively and preventatively in big games rather than aggressively.

I have my theories on why. Freeman is a defensive coach, and there is a defensive mindset that wants the other team to make the critical error. You keep everything in front of you and rally to the football. On paper, that sounds safe.

Here’s the thing about that approach, though. If you are built on heavy man coverage, a lot of press, and aggressive second-level pressures, that is who you should be in the biggest moments too. Nobody cares what your defense looks like against Michigan State, Purdue, or Rice. They care what it looks like against the best teams on the schedule.

When a staff preaches aggression and attacking every snap all week long, the team should live and die by that on Saturday. Based on what we saw a couple of weeks ago in Provo, I don’t think Notre Dame was true to that identity.

This isn’t a talent issue

The part that frustrates me most is the old narrative that Notre Dame isn’t athletic enough and lacks speed. I don’t believe that at all. When a defense plays complacent and safe, and doesn’t work to its players’ strengths, it makes those players look slow.

Moore isn’t slow. Traore isn’t slow. This defense is loaded with players who will go high in the 2027 or 2028 NFL Draft. I refuse to believe this is a talent problem. It is a systematic coaching problem.

I hope that we walk away from Saturday saying Freeman and Ash committed to being who they are. If Miami makes a couple of plays, so be it. Making the biggest plays in the biggest moments will decide whether Notre Dame can knock off the top team in the country.

The offense is chasing the perfect play

The offense is a different story. Where the defense abandons its identity, the offense has a false sense of what its identity should be.

This is some slight shade at offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, but I have been vocal about it, and I think most people agree at this point. Hunting for the perfect play is fine when you need a big play. Too often, though, it slows everything down.

When Notre Dame plays from behind and loosens up, it plays faster. CJ Carr starts uncorking the football. The run game gets going. I’m not talking about hurry-up, no-huddle every snap. I’m talking about getting to the line and worrying less about audibles and line checks. Instead, the obsession with the perfect call leaves the offense feeling disjointed at times.

That doesn’t match the roster. Carr is viewed by many as a first-round talent. The offensive line is as talented one through five as it has been in quite some time. The wide receiver room is deeper than it has been, even if the staff and wide receivers coach Mike Brown haven’t tested that depth. Nolan James Jr. and Jonaz Walton are starting to turn the corner in the backfield.

Yet Notre Dame plays like it has to be the most strategic offense ever because it lacks talent. I don’t buy that for a second.

The answer on both sides is the same. Let these guys play. They will make mistakes, but players make even more of them when the staff doesn’t trust what they do well. Put them in position to succeed Saturday night, and Notre Dame has a very real chance to take down Miami.