held their own as backups and then starters in the playoffs (without the backups that Mills and Cross had to get a blow when needed). Teams aren't gashing ND up the gut all day. Watts is the one huge loss (if teams were gashing ND running the ball I'd say Kizer too, but they're not) but that doesn't explain a complete lack of pressure and WR's running free throughout the defense play after play.
Those 2 problems are mostly experienced, proven players not doing what they did last year. Or even close to what they did last year.
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