Except when it mattered. ND D gave up 2 second half touchdowns to almost lose the game despite a miracle from hartman. But yes, the D was ready to play, but did not adjust well in the second half to their overload run game with Leonard. He probably almost rushed for 100 yards.
Yes we were short 2 wrs, but that didn't prevent Tobias from having a 0 catch day despite playing almost every snap. It also didn't prevent us from utilizing staes a lot more. Probably part of why he's no longer with the program. You had a TE that could run faster than some of our WRs but didn't utilize him despite evans getting doubled. In summary, yes we were down 2 WRs, but our offensive game plan was moronic and unprepared.