SOUTH BEND – When Marcus Freeman met with Notre Dame’s captains Sunday after a 41-40 loss to Texas A&M the day before, he laid out the situation in stark terms.

“He said, ‘We can sit here like, we’re five points away from being 2-0,’ but that doesn’t help us. The reality is we’re 0-2.’” Irish safety Adon Shuler said. “We have to have that mindset and that grit to go get it.

“He likes to say he likes to coach a hungry team so he knows that we’re going to definitely bounce back and continue to be Notre Dame football.”

The part that has looked least like Notre Dame football early this season is the Irish defense. After years of fielding some of the best defensive units in the country, No. 24 Notre Dame is 105th nationally in scoring defense and 88th in total defense after letting the Aggie

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