SOUTH BEND − A bottle of water that had sat and baked in the afternoon sun streaming through the west windows of the Irish Athletic Center wasn’t going to cut it.
Noie: Putting a period – or a question mark – on Notre Dame football loss to Texas A&M
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Notre Dame football safety Adon Shuler knew that much early Tuesday evening. As Shuler walked toward his seat at a high-top table for a 10-minute media session, he made a quick detour into an alcove that housed a refrigerator stocked with various beverage options. Cans, bottles, you name it, they had it.
Noie: We should have seen this coming from Notre Dame football before this one went final
A couple of hard days required some hard stuff, so Shuler grabbed his preferred post-practice drink – fruit punch Gatorade. Only then could he tackle THAT question.
It’s really the only one on the minds of Irish football fans around town and around the country. The one they’re asking across the way at the Linebacker and all along Eddy Street Commons. The one that threatens to crash message boards everywhere and has sent Irish fans into the coldest of sweats or the slowest of burns.
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The one that Shuler, if sipping truth serum at that moment instead of Gatorade, knew would lead off his media session. It did.
What’s wrong with the Irish defense?
So good, so talented, so connected, so downright dominant last season, the 2025 version has been the complete opposite. Bad has replaced good. Uncertainty has replaced certainty. Disappointing has stepped in for dominant as Notre Dame has stumbled to a 0-2 start. The defense hasn’t even been average; it’s been awful.
Both losses to ranked teams have been by a combined four points, so, in a way, Notre Dame is six points away from being 2-0.
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Look at it that way if you want, or look at it like this – Notre Dame is winless because one side of the ball, so good for most of 2024, has been so bad for all of 2025. If anyone knows why, a team leader or a team captain knows. Certainly, he’d let everyone in on the explanation hours after Saturday’s come-from-ahead 41-40 home loss to Texas A&M.
What ails that defense, Mr. Shuler?
“I’ll just say we’ve got to execute better,” Shuler said. “Just lack of focus; we’ve got to execute.”
Shuler wasn’t going there, certainly not after head coach Marcus Freeman didn’t the previous day in his weekly press conference. Freeman talked in circles the way college head coaches of 0-2 teams talk. It wasn’t a word salad that Freeman offered early Monday afternoon. It was a full-on buffet.
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Freeman used the word consistent in one form or another eight times in the first 2:44 of his opening statement, and nine total before he opened it up for questions. He talked of execution and focus (a lack of each), of technique and understanding, and talked of personnel. Talked of accountability.
Freeman said a lot. What he didn’t say was why the Irish defense has looked and played the way it has looked and played the first two games. He didn’t say who is responsible for it looking the way it has looked.
It’s not any one specific person’s (i.e., coach’s) fault. It’s not any one specific player’s fault. It’s everyone’s fault – coaches, assistants, starters, backups. It’s been a collective failure, and colossal at that.
“We’ve got to find the right answers,” Freeman said.
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Freeman didn’t offer many on Monday. Shuler had a few Tuesday. There was nothing in his responses that left anyone nodding their head and thinking, “Yeah, that makes sense.”
Nothing about the first two weeks of the season has, so why should this week be any different? It wasn’t.
“I don’t think it’s a scheme thing; I think it’s a technique thing,” Shuler said. “We just have to play together. We’re not playing together. We have to be more clear in everything we do and trust the person next to you.”
No clue, no trust, no chance.
One of Freeman’s buzzword equations is clarity equals velocity. If you have clarity, if you know exactly what you’re supposed to do and when and where you’re supposed to do it, you then play with velocity. No clarity means no velocity. That’s where this unit is, wandering around their side of the field. Anyone seen a play to make?
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“We have to be clear in our jobs,” Shuler said. “And play fast and be violent when we do it.”
Freeman met Sunday with Shuler and the other five Irish captains. What was discussed, what the tone of that summit was, that will remain private. Freeman likely put even more on the plates of those six. It’s time to see what that leadership looks like. What it sounds like. How it leads.
“Their goal is to make sure this goes in the right direction,” Freeman said. “This is the time that leadership shows. If you’re a leader, you’re built for this moment.”
Shuler believes he is, even though he’ll sit and watch Saturday’s first half against Purdue after being ejected in the second half of the Texas A&M loss after being called for targeting on his tackle of quarterback Marcel Reed.
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A sidelined Shuler is a snapshot of the Irish defense this season. Do it better. Be better.
“It’s football,” Shuler said. “We’ve just got to fix our stuff, get back to playing Notre Dame football. That’s the main thing for us.”
Do that, and it will be Gatorades all around. Preferably, fruit punch.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football finds itself in a tough spot heading into Purdue game
