Notre Dame grades: Coaching staff not passing the test after 2-5 start

The positive here is that Brian Kelly and Mike Elston’s efforts to simplify the defense by streamlining Brian VanGorder’s insurmountably-large inventory have largely worked since the second half of the Syracuse game, and defensive coordinator Greg Hudson has brought a rah-rah attitude that was missing under VanGorder as well. Kelly’s decision to play both DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire backfired at Texas and was one of the biggest reasons for that season-opening loss. VanGorder’s defense failed against Texas, Michigan State and Duke before he fired a day after that 38-35 loss to the Blue Devils.