The Fighting Irish, coming off a bye week, will embark on a five-game stretch to close the regular season featuring three road contests. Notre Dame’s defense will look to continue its dominant run after holding an elite USC offense to a season-low 24 points. Chris Ash and Co. have another opportunity to display their elite talent against a struggling Boston College offense.

As week nine of the college football approaches, Notre Dame enters their bye week with a 5-2 record. After suffering two heartbreaking losses to begin the year, the team has rallied to win five in a row. Let's take a look at who has been the most impactful to start the year, and who still needs to improve heading into the back half of the schedule. CJ Carr, Quarterback: A In just his first season as the starting quarterback, CJ Carr has exceeded expectations to become one of

In the five games since the home loss against Texas A&M, the Notre Dame defense has been flying around the field for the most part. This past week, we saw them hold the top offense in the country to a season-low 24 points. Late last month, the Irish defense traveled down to Arkansas and held the Razorbacks' offense to just 13 points, an offense that has scored at least 31 in every other game.

On defense, USC is led by second-year Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn, the former UCLA DC and son of former Los Angeles Chargers Head Coach Anthony. Lynn’s defense has had its share of struggles this year, but last week was an impressive showing. Throughout this year, the Trojans’ front seven has been solid, but the secondary, minus S Bishop Fitzgerald, is where USC is getting burned consistently.