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3 takeaways from Notre Dame’s nail-biting win over Cal

By Chris Peterson

Sep 17, 2022; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish and California Bears players reach for a pass on the last play of the game at Notre Dame Stadium. The pass fell incomplete and Notre Dame won 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2022; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish and California Bears players reach for a pass on the last play of the game at Notre Dame Stadium. The pass fell incomplete and Notre Dame won 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /

The defense has to step up

If Notre Dame football is going to have an acceptable season by its standards, which means around 9-10 wins, the Irish are going to need to be better on defense.

The effort on Saturday was enough and Notre Dame did a good job of putting pressure on the quarterback but the Irish have yet to force a turnover in three weeks.

That’s a really bad sign. If your defense is going to be elite, it can’t just stop the other team, especially when you look at some of the elite offenses out there. Defenses need to make impact plays and the Irish just haven’t made it happen yet in 2022.

So that’s another task for head coach Marcus Freeman. He needs to figure out how to get this defense to start getting takeaways.

If you’ve got a young quarterback, one of the best things you can do to help him is getting him a short field to work with or even put points on the board.

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Traveling to North Carolina isn’t going to be easy and unless the Irish can win the turnover battle, it’s hard to see them winning the game.

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