Earlier in the week, Tyler James and I swapped questions on both programs ahead of this week James. Tyler is the Notre Dame On3/Rivals writer.

Here are my questions and his answers ahead of Saturday's game"

"Notre Dame's defense really struggled to start the season. It put the Irish in a hole in the 27-24 loss at Miami and lost the Texas A&M game late in the 41-40 defeat. The defense even allowed Purdue to score 23 points in the first half of a 56-30 victory for ND.

"New Notre Dame defensive coordinator Chris Ash needed to settle into the best plan of attack for the defense, and the improvements have been across the board on the defensive side. Most importantly, the pass defense has improved with better play in the secondary and more consistent pass rushing efforts."

"Notre Dame would rather dominate offensively with its running game. That's been a consistent theme for the Irish under head coach Marcus Freeman. And there's so much confidence in the running back duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. If you don't have to take the ball out of their hands, that's the easiest path to success.

"The difference this season is that Notre Dame can rely on its passing game to make big plays at a much more consistent rate than in previous season under Freeman. Redshirt freshman CJ Carr has excelled in his first season as a starter, but he's prone to make bad mistakes, which was the case with a red zone interception against USC."

"Because Notre Dame's fan base is so national, it's hard to make a blanket statement about the rivalry with Boston College. And it's been so one-sided as of late with Notre Dame looking for its 10th straight win against BC.

"I do think Notre Dame fans who lived through the 1993 loss to Boston College and/or fans who live in the Northeast embrace this rivalry. BC might not be in the conversation with USC or Michigan as the team ND fans hate the most, but some folks may view it that way. We had someone on our message board this week saying how much they loathe BC.

"As for worrying about a letdown, that's always a possibility, but I believe Notre Dame's position in the College Football Playoff race lessens the chances of that happening. Notre Dame needs to keep winning in impressive fashion to keep its playoff hopes alive."

"Even though the defense has come so far this season, I still think that's the biggest concern. Specifically giving up big plays in the passing game. Cornerback Christian Gray has been on the wrong end of big plays too often this season, and there's a concern that issue hasn't been fixed.

"Notre Dame's offensive line play will be worth monitoring as a potential concern, because the Irish just lost their best lineman, left guard Billy Schrauth, to a knee injury. The line played arguably its best game of the season against USC before the bye week, but Schrauth was a big reason why that happened. Notre Dame will be playing its No. 2 center and No. 2 left guard for the foreseeable future."

"Boston College would need to force several turnovers to slow down Notre Dame's offense and then find a way to repeatedly make big plays in the passing game that hurt the Irish early in the season. It doesn't seem very likely, but that would be the blueprint."