Being a successful athlete and/or team requires an unbending confidence in oneself and one another. Taking it to an even higher level demands a truly unique self-image.

After two games, Notre Dame’s defense ranks 10th in the country in pass efficiency defense (68.02), 11th in scoring defense (8.5 points), 17th in total defense (225.5 yards), 25th in rushing defense (81.5 yards) and 26th in pass defense (144 yards).

Head coach Tyrone Willingham believes the Irish defense has begun to feed off its success.

“Success in any area has a tendency to build on itself,” Willingham said. “Our defense right now is thinking of itself in a little different light.

“There are times when you think about holding an opponent to a certain score. Right now, our defense is thinking, ‘Don’t score at all!’ And when you have an opportunity, they’re thinking, ‘Make something happen to score!’

Notre Dame shut out Maryland — one of the nation’s most proficient offenses in the country last year — in the 2002 season opener, and then followed by limiting Purdue’s offense to just 10 points in the 24-17 victory last Saturday. (The Boilermakers scored seven more points on a punt return and extra point.)

While Notre Dame’s offense has failed to tally a touchdown, the defense has scored twice — once on a 54-yard fumble return by strong safety Gerome Sapp and another on a 33-yard interception return by cornerback Vontez Duff. Notre Dame’s other two touchdowns have come on a Duff punt return against Maryland and a four-yard fumble return on a kickoff by Lionel Bolen against Purdue.

“It’s a whole lot different thought process than it would be if you thought, ‘If we can be fortunate enough to hold an opponent to so many points...’” Willingham related.

“Our guys are really feeding on the fact that they’re playing well and that they can really make something happen in a football game. That’s a special imagery, and it really builds positive after positive after positive.”

Leading the construction of that mentality are Duff and fellow cornerback Shane Walton, who have set the tone of Notre Dame’s pass defense while combining with safeties Gerome Sapp and Glenn Earl to form one of the nation’s hardest hitting secondaries.

“You’ve got to have a little bit of a showman out there,” said Willingham of the mentality necessary to be an effective cornerback. “You’ve got to have a lot of ego out there. You’ve got to be willing to stand alone and you’ve obviously got to have the toughness and athletic ability that the position demands. It’s really a special position, especially the way modern football has evolved.

“You look at the Deion Sanders era when he came and stood out, and then you heard the compliment that one guy alone can start to shape a game from that position. So I think that’s made a real change in how people view the position.”

Willingham, a big believer in sportsmanship, still thinks a cornerback can be brash while maintaining a competitive balance.

“I don’t think in most cases it comes down to an either/or,” said Willingham of playing cocky while still being sportsmanlike. “I think you can have both. I think you can have that swagger yet at the same time be a great sportsman and play the game in a class manner.”

Willingham is careful, however, to make sure that his team does not become one unit versus another. The Irish win as a team and lose as a team.

“I think I heard (quarterback) Carlyle (Holiday) say that you see some of the offensive guys walking around with their chins down, disappointed with the way they performed,” Willingham said.

“But at the same time, they also know as a football team as a whole, they did what it took to win. And you win as a team and not just as an individual group.”