Before the Boxscore: Assessing Notre Dame at Bye Week #1

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire)Entering the first of two bye weeks, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hold a 6-2 record. That’s one game better than last year’s mark at this point and comes without the two embarrassing home losses they suffered last season. With the exception of their trio to Clemson on November 4, the remainder of the Irish schedule should add at least three more victories to the regular season win column.

Getting to this point has involved taking care of business against outmanned opponents while dealing with slumps in certain areas of the team’s offense. On the defensive front, the effort has largely been strong, with the final…