With his first season at Notre Dame winding down, coach Brian Kelly continues to watch his team develop a personality. What he's realized, at least at this juncture, is that what makes the Fighting Irish tick is entirely different than what he experienced at his previous stop.

Toward the end of last season's undefeated run at Cincinnati, the Bearcats defense was noticeably gassed. Other than a colossal breakdown against Navy last month, the Fighting Irish (5-5) have appeared to grow stronger despite critical injuries.

"[The] personnel [at Notre Dame] is better, first of all," Kelly said at Tuesday's news conference, just days away from a clash with Army (6-4) at Yankee Stadium. "The way we played the game at Cincinnati -- we can't win on offense here at Notre Dame right now. We can't win just on defense. We can't win just on special teams. We have to have all three of those in unison for us to win.

"At Cincinnati, the best way we could win games was on the offensive side of the ball. So we put our defense at times in a tough spot because it was the best way for us to manage the game and win the game. So our personnel is a little bit better because it's a little bit older. We played a lot of young guys at Cincinnati. We had freshmen and young guys. Not that we got a bunch of veterans here. But we've gotten better here because those guys have developed, whereas at Cincinnati we were really thin and had a lot of young players."

All eyes are on how the Irish not only respond to a season-defining victory over Utah last week, but how they react to Army's triple-option scheme similar to the one with which Navy dismantled ND. Much has been made about defensive coordinator Bob Diaco's comments following the loss to the Midshipmen about how his unit never had a Plan B against Navy's deceptive attack.

"Under the circumstances of what we had installed, we weren't about, and I was not about to let our guys draw it up on the sideline," Kelly said. "So we've done all the drawing up. We'll have answers. That will not be anything we can use as, 'We can't make that adjustments.'

"It's still about defending triple option. It's still about the same principles that you have to defend the entire width of the field in the running game, and then obviously the passing game. [Army does] a very good job of getting the football out and can really make some plays in the passing game. But it's still about the principles of option football."

It's going to take the same brand of physical defensive play, including another admirable effort by the Irish front three, that punished the Utes.

"Certainly there's a lot of confidence in our ability to play physical football," Kelly said. "Regardless of the style of football, there still has to be that part of your defense that plays physical and that tackles well.

We've done a very good job at the basics and the fundamentals. We're getting much better separation at the line of scrimmage. We're doing a much better job of keeping linemen from climbing up to that next level and letting our backers run, and we're tackling better. Those principles will carry over. Now we have to do it in a little bit more of a concerted effort because you're going against a different offense."

On a baseball field. Shifting gears to what he expects Saturday at Yankee Stadium, Kelly admitted he had some apprehensions about safety and logistics, but was assured that the longstanding rivalry will work well inside the new facility in the Bronx.

"I know that that has been a great concern of everybody involved," he said. "We have a lot of people that have been working on this for quite some time. I know Chad Klunder, our director of operations, has been out there on a couple of occasions. His reports have been positive. But it's clearly something that has been at the forefront of every conversation that I've heard of, from moving a foul pole to making sure there's enough access on the sidelines. Based upon my secondary information, I think it's been something that has been gone over and over quite a bit."

From freshman linebacker Prince Shembo to the way the D-line has performed in the absence of nose guard Ian Williams, Kelly tackled several more questions pertaining to the Irish defense:

On Shembo's impact late in the season: "Prince Shembo will your nose off. We knew that from the very beginning. He's just a tenacious football player. That's the way he plays the game. He doesn't necessarily have all of his assignments down. There's a bit of a concern there, whether he's going to find the curl behind him or sloop to the flat or be in the right gap. But he just plays with such a tenacity that it brings out the best in everybody. We could see that in pre season camp just the way he practiced. It was just a matter of getting him lined up and having him be assignment correct.

On Shembo's ability to get separation: "He does, he separates extremely well. He can take somebody that's 320, 325 pounds and walk them back. He's going to be a guy that's going to go better at edge pressure. He's going to be able to add a couple of moves as he develops as a football player.
I think we're just scratching the surface as to what he can do for us."

On the line remaining strong without Williams (knee): I think there are four guys that have done a nice job. Sean [Cwynar] has been by and large the guy that has done a nice job inside. But we've kicked our front, played a lot more stack, got into a lot more four down, which gets Prince Shembo on the field, Hafis Williams, Kona Schwenke on the field. Really, it starts with Sean, but it has been four or five guys that have stepped in also and done a very good job there.

"We're a multiple front. We can play three and four down. I think there's a couple things. Number one, our strength program for our guys. I'll give you an example. Ethan [Johnson] is 290 pounds. He's a tough guy to move around. Our training table, our weight training, all the things, our guys taking care of themselves, that's the most important thing in November that you want to be physically stronger. We feel pretty good there. Hafis [Williams], Sean [Cwynar], all those guys are going to have to be in the mix. Louis Nix I think is going to be a really good player for us. Kona, I think we continue to develop because we're going to be multiple up front."