Notre Dame Football: 5 reasons the Irish will be contenders in 2018

3. The Irish defense will realize its potential

The 2017 season was the first time since 2012 that the Irish defense had truly showed signs of greatness. The Irish defense was excellent for much of the season, but faltered along with the rest of the team in losses to Miami and Stanford. Outside of those two losses, this group played like a cohesive unit for the majority of the season.

Much of their success could be attributed to the addition of defensive coordinator Mike Elko. Elko, formerly holding the same position at Wake Forest, helped the Demon Deacons to three years of defensive dominance in terms of forcing turnovers. Notre Dame, on the other hand, witnessed one of the worst turnover ratio’s in all of football under defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder.

The Irish were fairly average in both passing and rushing yards allowed this season, but it was their nose for the football along with a bend but don’t break approach that kept the Irish among the nation’s best in points allowed. That standing would decrease over the last few weeks of the regular season, of course, but the Irish showed significant progress nonetheless.

Another year under Elko should allow the Irish to take leaps and bounds in terms of their defensive efficiency. One of the best ways to help out a new quarterback is to give him confidence in his defense. This will allow a player like Book to air it out without worrying that a single turnover could turn the tide for any given game.