The Notre Dame Fighting Irish finally notched their first college football win of the season when they demolished the Purdue Boilermakers 56-30 in Week 4 action. Despite being national championship finalists just last season, coach Marcus Freeman's team opened the season with a 0-2 record. During a segment of Wednesday's "Break the Huddle" podcast, Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt sensationally claimed that the Fighting Irish were still contenders for a place in the college football playoffs. "Contender or pretender? Let's go," Klatt said. "Oklahoma, pretender. They're not gonna win without John Mateer and the back end of their schedule is atrocious. I can see them losing three or four games. Notre Dame, contender. I think they win 10 straight. I think they do and get back in the race, they just need Texas A&M and Miami to continue to win."Michigan, contender. Their schedule makes them a contender. I think that they can get themselves in a position to be a 10-2 team by the end of the year which would put them on that line to clearly be in the CFP. Texas A&M, contender. I really like Texas A&M, I think this is a team that could absolutely go to the SEC championship game."View on TikTokMarcus Freeman to take bigger role at college football giantsLast season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defense was ranked No. 4 in the country in fewest points allowed (15.5 ppg) and was No. 11 in yards allowed among college football teams. After three games this season, the Fighting Irish are ranked No. 117 in scoring defense and No. 101 in total defense nationally, a significant decline from their performance last season. During his postgame news conference after the Fighting Irish beat the Purdue Boilermakers, coach Marcus Freeman revealed that he intended to take a more active role in the defense. "I spend a lot of time with our defense, that's obviously where my background is, and I'll continuously do it," said Freeman. "Will I spend more time? Maybe. "If that's what's necessary, I will, I'll spend more time there. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure that we improve and we have a performance that we believe is the standard for Notre Dame football."Freeman replaced former defensive coordinator Al Golden, who took the same job with the Cincinnati Bengals with Chris Ash and Notre Dame's defense has looked starkly different after the change. Last season, the Fighting Irish were upset by the Northern Illinois Huskies in Week 2 before they bounced back and reached the college football national championship game.