SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It won’t be long now.We’re barely two weeks from Notre Dame’s longest offseason ending at Lambeau Field against Wisconsin. You’ve got questions about how good the Irish might be on defense, who might be the out-of-nowhere breakout story of the season and how much we should read into training camp at all.Let’s get started.I know everyone loves the defense. But when was the last time Notre Dame took over a game defensively against a strong team? Miami and Texas A&M were defensive fails, USC moved the ball easily. The tests this year will be BYU, SMU and Miami. And the playoffs. — Jim L.That run to the national championship game wasn’t that long ago, was it?Notre Dame’s defense was dominant in that CFP win over Indiana, up 27-3 midway through the fourth quarter while the Hoosiers offense basically went nowhere. Of Indiana’s first 41 plays, 25 went for 1 yard or less. Holding Georgia to 10 points, 2 of 12 on third down, and 2.1 yards per carry in the Sugar Bowl was another dominant defensive performance, even though the Bulldogs were down a quarterback.Yes, this year’s defense has something to prove considering it played poorly against Miami and Texas A&M to open last season. The USC performance was more of a gray area when you get into the box score. The Trojans moved the ball on the Irish at 5.58 yards per play, and it felt like it, but that was almost 1.5 yards per play worse than USC’s average for the season. That’s taking a top-five offense in yards per play and making it look like Boston College.You’re absolutely right that Notre Dame’s defense and coordinator Chris Ash have something to prove. How much it shuts down the first six opponents on the schedule will probably create some gaudy statistics without making you believe this group is as good as it appears to be on paper. What happens against BYU, Miami and SMU will be how this regular season is judged. The defense will be remembered by what happens in the Playoff. The good news for Notre Dame is this might be the most talented defense of the past 30 years with Leonard Moore, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Boubacar Traore. It’s not a perfect defense, but when the biggest question is nickel Christian Gray, who’s logged 1,632 career snaps, you’re doing just fine. That’s not a champagne problem; that’s a Dom Pérignon problem.Help me feel good about the wide receiver position. — Eric D.I wrote about that position this week. I really can’t.I still think this is the deepest receiving corps that Freeman has had. I’m skeptical it will produce a better starting lineup than last year’s group of Malachi Fields, Will Pauling and Jordan Faison.There’s pressure on receivers coach Mike Brown to figure this out.As much as August is a time for unchecked optimism, it’s worth remembering that since Freeman became Notre Dame’s head coach, just three Power 4 teams have failed to have a wide receiver hit 50 catches in a season.The others are Iowa and Virginia Tech.For Notre Dame to win a national title, it needs some good breaks. Pick two of the following five scenarios as the “break” that powered the Irish to lift the trophy in Las Vegas:1. Jaden Greathouse plays at the Penn State/Ohio State level.