Does Notre Dame have a fatal flaw?

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Nov 10, 2025 - 22:00
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Does Notre Dame have a fatal flaw?

According to ESPN, Notre Dame has two flaws that could hurt it against playoff-level competition.

One is that the team has faced third-and-more-than-seven yards on half of its third-down plays -- that's 86th in the nation. The other is that the defense is 87th in the country in terms of third-and-long conversions allowed.

Part of the reason the offense faces so many long third downs, ESPN argues, is because of negative plays, usually negative runs, on early downs.

Caveats abound. The ESPN article points out that Notre Dame has papered over the long third downs with explosive plays -- both long runs and passes. The conversion rate for the Fighting Irish is 46.9 percent, good for second in the country.

I'd like to see this broken down by game -- the defense was giving up way too many explosives early but has since tightened. So the numbers in early losses to Miami (FL) and Texas A&M might skew things. Similarly, the offense has improved since the Miami game -- one in which the running back tandem of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price was underutilized. Quarterback CJ Carr is also in his first season and he has improved since the season opener.

ESPN is simply looking at the weakenesses of all CFP contenders, though I'd think the kickgame and offensive red-zone execution are bigger problems. Still, the Irish aren't perfect, and shoring these areas up could make the Irish a stronger CFP contender.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Does Notre Dame have a fatal weakness?

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