Takeaways as Notre Dame stomps NC State in the second half

Of all the complaints about the Notre Dame defense in the first five games of the season, they seem to have evaporated.

Here are our takeaways from Notre Dame’s romp over N.C. State on Saturday, where the defense began to rise.

Notre Dame’s offense hit a wall early

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock’s Achilles Heel seems to be short-yardage situations this season.

In the last two games, he’s opted to throw or run out of the Wildcat package in third-and-short or fourth-and-short situations. Saturday was no different.

Notre Dame had fourth and one at the NC State 27-yard line. The Irish called a rollout for quarterback CJ Carr, and he ran out of bounds for a sack and a turnover on downs when no one was open.

Later in the first half, on fourth and three from the NC State eight-yard lin