Alright folks, we are four games into the football season, which means we have officially reached the point where "it's still early" begins losing admissibility in court.

Four games is enough. Enough to know what you have. Enough to know what you don't.

And enough to know that Notre Dame is no longer the football team we watched a year ago.

The record says 2–2.

But records, much like bathroom scales and that guy selling his boat on Facebook Marketplace, do not always tell the entire story.

Notre Dame opened the season by beating Grace Baptist 48–6.

Then the Irish went to Rhea County, fell behind 21–0 and produced one of the most improbable comebacks I have ever witnessed, winning 22–21 in a place where virtually nobody expected them to win. At the time, I called it a program-changer, which I still believe it was...

But, of course, humility is always one week away...and we got a load of it at CAK.

The Irish made mistakes, fell behind the chains, turned the ball over and lost 31–14 to a very good football team.

And last Friday night, Notre Dame went across town to play Boyd Buchanan — a team that beat the Irish 58–13 one year ago — and lost 26–25.

That is a two-score loss, a historic comeback, a difficult night and a one-point heartbreaker.

Notre Dame football has apparently decided that those of us over the age of 50 no longer require stable blood pressure.

So, after four games, where exactly are we?

I have a few thoughts.

The short version: Providence is legit — but they also appear vulnerable defensively against a talented offense.

Scouting the Lions:

Eagleville Win 24–9

at Cannon County Win 28–17

at Grace Baptist Win 35–7

Donelson Christian Academy Loss 28–49

They are 3–1, averaging 28.8 points scored and 20.5 allowed — a +33 total scoring margin.

They opened with three convincing victories before Donelson Christian knocked them back to earth Friday night.

Here's what the results tell us. Providence handled the teams it should have handled — Eagleville, Cannon County, and Grace Baptist by multiple scores. For comparison, Notre Dame beat that same Grace team 48–6 to Providence's 35–7. That does not automatically mean Notre Dame is 14 points better. But it does suggest Providence's first three opponents never forced them to show their weaknesses.

Donelson Christian did. DCA is only 2–2, yet it hung 49 points on Providence and handed the Lions their first loss — despite Providence still scoring 28. That tells you two things: Providence has enough offense to stay dangerous, and its defense can be stressed badly by a capable opponent. They come into Friday having allowed seven touchdowns, not riding an undefeated-season glow.

And they are no fluke. Providence went 9–3 in 2025 and reached the Division II-A state semifinals, winning six straight late — including a 41–40 playoff thriller over Friendship Christian — before falling 31–12 to USJ. Notre Dame beat them 28–21 last season, so this is a rematch against a program that already knows it can hang within one possession of the Irish. They're small — roughly 247 high-school students — but ranked around No. 9 in Tennessee Division II-A by MaxPreps. Running back Jayden Shannon is the name to watch; he went for 131 yards and a touchdown against Cannon County, which means the Lions have a dependable runner and don't have to live on gadget plays and busted coverages.

Let's get to it…

THREE OBSERVATIONS

3. This team has been living out of a suitcase.

We are considering a new fund-raising initiative to send whoever agreed to our home/away schedule to a Dale Carnegie course on Negotiation. Seriously, people, we are at home less than Willie Nelson...

Notre Dame has not played a home game since August 21.

Since then, the Irish have traveled to Rhea County, CAK and Boyd Buchanan. Now they will load the buses again and head to Murfreesboro for a fourth consecutive road game.

That is a demanding stretch for any high school football team.

Rhea County gave Notre Dame a large, loud public-school environment and a 21-point deficit. CAK gave the Irish an experienced, disciplined opponent that punished virtually every mistake. Boyd Buchanan gave them a rivalry game decided by one point. And Providence will give them another long bus ride against a 3–1 team that reached the state semifinals last season.

There are easier ways to spend a month.

But there may not be many better ways to find out what kind of football team you have.

Playing at home can cover certain weaknesses. The familiar routine helps. The crowd helps. Momentum comes a little more easily.

Road games remove all of that. You have to bring your own energy. You have to communicate.

You have to respond when the other team makes a play and the entire stadium suddenly behaves as though somebody just announced free Krispy Kremes in the parking lot.

Now comes the final trip before the Irish return home against Lakeway.

I do not know whether spending four consecutive Fridays on a school bus was anybody's preferred method of building maturity. But if Notre Dame comes home from Murfreesboro at 3–2, it may discover that this month on the road gave it something more valuable than comfort.

It gave it calluses. And that is GOLD later in the season...

2. The talent has arrived. The consistency has not.

Notre Dame has now shown us several different versions of itself.

We have seen the team that overwhelmed Grace Baptist. We have seen the team that refused to die at Rhea County. We have seen the team that repeatedly hurt itself against CAK.

And we have seen the team that played well enough to beat Boyd Buchanan but did not quite finish the job.

All four teams wear the same gold helmets.

That is the frustrating part.

The Irish are talented enough to play with anybody remaining on this schedule. They are also inconsistent enough to make any remaining game considerably more adventurous than necessary.

Football coaches use phrases like "attention to detail."

People in the bleachers generally call it something else.

We call it not jumping before the snap. We call it protecting the football. We call it lining up correctly. We call it making the tackle when the runner is standing directly in front of you.

We call it not turning a manageable second-and-six into third-and-Soddy Daisy.

None of those things require a new formation, a motivational speaker or an emergency shipment of five-star recruits.

They require discipline.

Notre Dame does not need to become more talented between now and Friday night.

Notre Dame needs to become more dependable.

1. The next step for this program is learning how to win without requiring a miracle.

The comeback at Rhea County was remarkable.

It was also a terrible long-term business model.

You cannot spend every Friday night falling behind, turning the ball over, collecting penalties and then asking a group of teenagers to produce the football equivalent of Lazarus.

Good football teams win in different ways.

Sometimes they dominate.

Sometimes they survive.

Sometimes they play poorly and find a way.

But the best teams eventually learn how to take control of a game, keep control of it and send everybody home without requiring cognitive behavioral therapy the following week.

That is the next stage of Notre Dame's development.

We already know the Irish can be dangerous. We already know they can be resilient.

Now we need to find out whether they can be consistent.

TWO QUESTIONS

2. Which Notre Dame team gets off the bus in Murfreesboro?

A team coming off a 21-point loss generally spends the following week being reminded rather loudly about effort, tackling and personal responsibility. So I expect Providence's full attention.

The question is whether Notre Dame arrives with the same focus.

If the Irish team that physically competed with Boyd Buchanan gets off the bus, Providence has a serious problem. If the team that gave CAK extra possessions and repeatedly played from behind the chains gets off the bus, then we are all back on the Friday Night Blood Pressure Express.

Notre Dame does not need another dramatic comeback.

It needs a good first quarter.

1. Is Notre Dame ready to stop being interesting and start being good?

Interesting teams are exciting.

They produce wild comebacks, heartbreaking finishes, enormous plays and enough emotional variation to keep a weekly columnist gainfully employed.

Good teams are occasionally boring.

They tackle. They protect the football. They avoid penalties.

They get off the field on third down.

They turn red-zone possessions into touchdowns and make the other team drive the entire field to score.

Then they do it again.

Notre Dame has been extremely interesting through four games.

But this program was not rebuilt so people could say, "Boy, those Irish sure are fun to watch."

It was rebuilt to win football games.

At 2–2, the season is not in trouble. Far from it. There is no shame anywhere in that sentence.

But there is also no room to become comfortable with close.

Close is useful when you are measuring progress, and this ain't horseshoes or hand grenades...

Eventually, close has to become finished.

ONE PREDICTION

Before last week's game, I predicted that Briggs Hill would intercept a pass.

Briggs Hill intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. And, since then, I have learned that his mom and dad have a casual interest in Notre Dame football, so maybe they saw it...

I mention this because it may be the only documented occasion in human history when an old guy in the bleachers correctly predicted anything involving a teenage football game.

Naturally, I handled this with humility. And by "humility," I mean I have mentioned it to virtually everyone I have encountered since Friday night.

But I would gladly trade being right about one play for being right about this team.

And I believe Notre Dame is about to play its most complete game of the season.

Providence will move the football. The Lions will make some plays, and this will not look like the Grace Baptist game.

But Notre Dame is bigger, faster and more tested.

More importantly, I believe the Boyd loss will sharpen this team rather than discourage it.

The Irish start faster.

They protect the football.

They reduce the penalties.

And for the first time since opening night, Notre Dame plays a game that does not require divine intervention in the final two minutes.

Notre Dame 35, Providence Christian 20.

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A note on acronyms and a disclosure, because some have asked: Your faithful columnist grew up in Athens, Georgia, in a hardcore DAWG family during the Vince Dooley era, which is why I occasionally use phrases that may make reading these 3-2-1 Reports feel like eating a bowl of chitlins.

I get it.

But I hope I can carry over one universal life-improvement concept from that era—one that translates across regionalities, generations and the many college football allegiances represented in this audience.

In the 1960s, Georgia defensive coordinator Erk Russell encountered the letters GTAA during a road game at Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech Athletic Association.

Erk rearranged them.

GATA.

Get. After. Their...Well, you know.

This is a Catholic school and I would like to be permitted back through the gate Friday night...

Simple. Direct. Difficult to misunderstand.

DMGB — Don’t Matter, Get Better — is locked in.

That is how you respond to mistakes, losses and circumstances you cannot change.

GATA is what comes next.

That is how you stop being interesting and start being good.

DMGB and GATA.

See you Friday in Murfreesboro.