Notre Dame's young defense, that surprised a lot of people with its fine play through the first five games of the season, has suddenly shown its age and has been struggling of late.

The defense did not play well against North Carolina but rebounded in the Florida State game. But last week, after stopping Navy's triple-option attack early, the defense fell apart in the second half and allowed Navy to come back and take the lead. The Middies were very close to winning the game.The 49-39 win last week over Navy did not impress anyone, especially the committe that will be picking the final four teams for the national playoff series.Head coach Brian Kelly has to take some of the blame to because it appeared to me that he played very conseratively after building a 28-7 lead which helped Navy get back into the game.Everett Golson had another outstanding day offensively as he figured in six touchdowns, scoring three himself and throwing three TD passes. But he also had a key interception that fueled Navy's comeback and eventually led to them taking the lead in the fourth quarter.Lets face it, Notre Dame would not be at 7-1 without Golson. He is the man that makes the offense go, despite his turnoversAs I wrote before the first game, I figured the Irish had to score a lot of points in their games because the young defense is going to give up a lot. Through those first five games the defense proved me very wrong. But now the defense is starting to prove me right. ND shouldn't have needed 49 points to beat Navy last week, but needed all of them.ND's now struggling defense took a major hit in the Navy game. The heart of the defense, Joe Schmidt, got injured and is lost for the season. Schmidt is the leading tackler on the team and, more importantly, is the leader on and off the field of the defense.Schmidt underwent surgery this week to repair is fracture/dislocated left ankle. However, Kelly said Schmidt's leadership will continued despite the season-ending injury. He will be on the sidelines today for the Arizona State game to continue that leadership role.Replacing Schmidt won't be easy. The player facing that challenge is true freshman Nyles Morgan. He is described as being powerful with speed, but very little experience. Schmidt, despite his injury and surgery, was with Morgan as much as he could this past week during practices and team meetings. Today will be Morgan's first start, and its so important.Today is a championship elimination game for the Irish or Sun Devils. Arizona State and ND are both 7-1 and both are still in the hunt for one of the final four playoff spots. But the loser of today's game will be eliminated from the hunt. No team with two or more losses will get into the final four.The Sun Devils have wins over Weber State 45-14; New Mexico, 58-23; Colorado, 38-24; USC, 38-34; Stanford, 26-10; Washington, 24-10; and last week Utah, 19-16. The lone loss has been to UCLA, 62-27.The Sun Devils are led by top rushers D.J. Foster (726 yards on 120 carries and six TDs) and Deman Richard (281 on 41 and a score). Top receivers are Jaelen Strong, 821 yards on 57 catches and eight TDs and Foster, who has 452 yards on 38 catches and two scores. Taylor Kelly has returned from an early season injury and is the Arizona State quarterback. The Sun Devils average 192.5 yards rushing a game and 291.1 passing.Arizona State is ranked 11th in the AP poll and 12th in the coaches' poll.ND leads the short series, 3-0, winning last year 37-34. The game will be televised nationally by ABC-TV with a 3:40 p.m. kickoff.IRISH NOTES: Here's some stats from last week. Golson had 33 yards rushing on nine carries. The leader was Tarean Folston with 149 yards on 20 rushes. Cam McDaniel had 21 on six. Runningback Greg Bryant missed the Navy game due to injury but will play today. Golson completed 18 of 25 passes for 315 yards. Receiving leaders were Ben Koyak with 54 yards on five catches, and a score, Will Fuller, 16 on three and a score, Chris Brown, 82 on two, C.J. Prosise, two for 77 and a score. The defense was led by Greer Martini with nine tackles and Schmidt with eight before he was injured. A key stat, Kyle Brindza missed two field goals, 46 and 44 yards. That is troubling for an experienced kicker ... Eilar Hardy returned to practice this week. He was one of the five players suspended at the beginning of the season during the academic fraud investigation. The other four, KeiVarae Russell, Ishaq Williams, DaVaris Daniels, and Kendall Moore won't play any more this year. Junior cornerback Russell and seniors defense end Williams will be back next season. Daniels could return and he could not, his status is unclear. Moore won't be back because he has no more eligibility left. Kelly said he is glad Hardy is back and his hopeful he would help the very thin safety corps, which has been diluted by injuries ... Five players injured in the Navy game have all been cleared to play today. They include defensive tackle Sheldon Day, nose guard Jarron Jones, linebacker Ben Councell, linebacker James Onwualu, and cornerback Cody Riggs. The status of safety Austin Collinsworth, who is still nursing a shoulder injury, it up in the air. ... Golson is one of the 16 finalist announced earlier this week for the Davey O'Brien Award given to the country's best QB ... ND remained 10th in the College Football Playoff selection committee rankings. The fact that ND has not beaten a high-ranked team or a team with a winning record might be the reason ... Golson's TD toss total is 34. He has now moved up to sixth on the all-time ND rankings, just ahead of Joe Theismann and tied with Jarious Jackson ...In my preseason picks I have Arizona State winning today. With the defense struggling and missing its key player, I will stick with the pick. The Sun Devils are also seeking revenge for a tough loss to ND last year. If ND's defense struggles again today, the Sun Devils could win by a wide margin.