Notre Dame Football: 5 overreactions for Fighting Irish in first half of 2017

Notre Dame football has wrapped up the first half of its 2017 season and here are five major overreactions.

We’ve reached the halfway point of Notre Dame football’s 2017 season and there are plenty of things to take away from the Irish’s first half. The team is 5-1 and ranked No. 16 in the country which is only going to improve as long as Michigan State (Week 4 win) and Georgia (Week 2 loss) keep winning.

The Fighting Irish have already surpassed their win total from last season and Brian Kelly’s job looks safer by the week. Still, there are many who believe he must win 9-10 games this season in order to earn himself another year.

Notre Dame seems to be back on track, though, and playing at a high level. We will really learn a lot about this team when it comes off a bye in Week 8 against USC.

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest overreactions regarding Notre Dame in the first half of the season.

5. Secondary is no good

We are six games into the 2017 season and Notre Dame should be somewhat worried about the pass defense, right? Sure, it’s OK to be worried about the secondary, which ranks 77th in the country, but to go as far as saying the Irish are no good in the defensive backfield is foolish.

The talent in the secondary is there. These guys are allowing 231 yards per game through the air, though. Wouldn’t that mean they aren’t playing to potential? That’s partially true, but the other reason for this is the fact that this secondary is so young.

Just looking at the depth chart, there is one senior in the two-deep in the defensive backfield: Nick Watkins. The rest of the cornerbacks and safeties are freshmen and sophomores with a couple of juniors sprinkled in.

Is this unit bad? Absolutely not. Are they effective this season? At times. Is there potential for the future? The future in the defensive backfield is bright.