Frustrations about the Notre Dame defensive efforts has now spilt over to the player’s biggest support system for the public to see

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 we saw progress in the second half while the Boilermakers were forced to be more predictable, but nothing has changed. The problem still exists. 

There is an odd portion of the fanbase that is continuing 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 currently. 

With Purdue being one of the “cupcakes” on the schedule for Notre Dame, 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 in the very near future. That’s several offenses who can put up some points potentially if you don’t improve. 

At what point does this get better? Coach 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.