If Wednesday was spent comparing Notre Dame’s offense to those of the previous most-successful teams under Brian Kelly, then it only makes sense to spend Thursday looking at how the 2018 Irish defense rates against those from 2012, a historic unit; 2015, a team pushed by its offense; and 2017, presumably the most similar.
Of course, all those defenses had ebbs and flows, including last season’s November debacles. That is part of the game, and applies this year, as well. Though largely healthy, Notre Dame is currently worn out from a lack of depth at many positions (pretty much everywhere except defensive end) and the natural beating of a football season.