Notre Dame Has Already Established Its 2023 Identity
This is my 12th season covering Notre Dame on a full-time basis. I've seen a couple of years where I was impressed with the physicality of the football team, with the 2017 and 2018 seasons promptly coming to mind. I've seen Notre Dame teams with speed, and the 2015 team is obviously the first one that comes to mind.
I'm not sure I've seen a Notre Dame football team with this combination of physicality, speed, and depth of talent as the 2023 football team has shown. The open scrimmage in the past week was one of the most intense Notre Dame practices I've ever seen, and it was encouraged by the staff. The defense especially played with a lot of fire, but the offense - which got out-played by the defense - didn't just take the beating, they battled.