The most common reason cited for Notre Dame’s failure to compete with the upper echelon of the sport is its lack of depth. The Irish have the skill players to compete with Clemson or Ohio State in Chase Claypool and Cole Kmet, but they do not have anyone alongside or behind them. They have the defenders needed, but — to use an example perhaps still sensitive to Notre Dame fans — as soon as Julian Love left the Cotton Bowl, no one of appropriate talent could replace him at cornerback.
Be it a symptom of recruiting, of development, of geography, the shallow nature of the top of the Irish depth chart cannot be argued … but for two position groups.