Notre Dame Defense Ranked Top 10 Nationally By Pro Football Focus

Notre Dame has gone 24-5 over the last two seasons and a driving force behind that success has been the Irish defense. Coordinator Al Golden is gone and Chris Ash is now in charge, but expectations have not changed on that side of the ball. Notre Dame is expected to once again have one of the nation's best defenses.

Heading into the 2025 season the Irish are once again expected to have a Top 10 defense according to Pro Football Focus. PFF ranked the Irish defense as the 6th best unit heading into the 2025 campaign.

"The Fighting Irish’s elite coverage unit propelled the team to the national championship game last year, and it remains an elite group in 2025. Notre Dame features PFF's No. 3 secondary and top returning cornerback, sophomore Leonard Moore. The program's linebacker unit also placed in the top five, thanks to outstanding depth. The one question mark is the lack of star power along the defensive line, but the Fighting Irish still have experienced players there." - Pro Football Focus

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Notre Dame returns a linebacker unit and secondary that PFF believes is one of the nation's best. On top of the secondary ranking No. 3, the Irish linebackers were ranked as the No. 5 group in the nation as well. PFF is very high on starting Mike linebacker Drayk Bowen as well as Moore.

Pro Football Focus isn't as high on the Notre Dame defensive line, which is a big reason why it doesn't rank higher than No. 6 despite having a pair of Top 5 units. Georgia, for example, only has one Top 5 unit (No. 4 LB), but all of its position groups are ranked in the Top 10. That is why Georgia's defense ranks ahead of Notre Dame's.

One of the most absurd rankings is that Penn State's defense ranks ahead of Notre Dame's. Penn State has only one Top 10 unit, and that is the secondary that ranks No. 10. Notre Dame has a significantly higher ranked secondary (No. 3 vs. No. 7), a No. 5 LB room (Penn State not in the Top 10) and PFF doesn't think Penn State has a Top 10 DL room, but the Nittany Lions rank one spot ahead of Notre Dame in the Top 10 defensive rankings. Oregon also has a higher ranked secondary, defensive line and linebacker unit than Penn State and they too rank below the Nittany Lions (No. 7).