SOUTH BEND – When all seemed lost for Notre Dame's defense, when Marcus Freeman was pounding the podium in barely controlled frustration that the Irish couldn't stop anyone, when a loud segment of the fanbase was calling for his ouster three games into his tenure, defensive coordinator Chris Ash was confident.

On Tuesday, in his first public appearance since before the season began, the first-year DC insisted he could see the defense's turnaround coming, even during its sieve-like first three games.

"Most people want to just focus on what the result was, but there’s a lot of good football that was played in those games," said Ash, who won a national championship as co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2014. "It was inconsistent, though. When you give up explosive plays, you’re not g

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