SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The spotlight is shining brightly on the Golden Dome again.

An exciting 9-3 season that saw Notre Dame finish in the top 10 for the first time since 1993 brought offseason excitement for the team and its fans.

Since their last game, safety Tom Zbikowski fought at Madison Square Garden, receiver Jeff Samardzija warmed up in the bullpen at Wrigley Field before heading to the minors, and quarterback Brady Quinn was on as many magazine covers as a super model.

With most of its record-breaking offense coming back for another season, there’s talk of the first national championship for the Irish since 1988, and of Quinn becoming the first Heisman Trophy winner for Notre Dame since receiver Tim Brown in 1987.

High expectations don’t concern second-year coach Charlie Weis, who helped guide the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl titles in four seasons before arriving in South Bend. He always has high expectations.

He worries, though, that the Irish will get caught up in the praise and hype surrounding the program.

“I think just human nature is to get caught up in that,” he said.

He saw it with the New York Jets, when they followed a 12-4 season in 1998 with an 8-8 finish the next. He saw it happen twice at New England, including when the Patriots followed their Super Bowl title in 2001 by missing the playoffs the next season.

“I’m hoping to use that as a teaching tool here,” he said. “I’m not going to be very patient with anyone who is showing any signs of that.”

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Notre Dame fans know how success can breed complacency. In recent years the Irish repeatedly have followed turnaround seasons with turnarounds the other way. The Irish went 9-3 twice under Bob Davie, in 1998 and 2000. They finished 5-7 in 1999 and 5-6 in 2001. After going 10-3 in Tyrone Willingham’s first season in 2002, the Irish finished 5-7 the next year.

This year’s seniors, most of whom signed with the Irish after that 10-3 season, say they’re not satisfied.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Samardzija said. “We’re just a group of guys that stories are being written about.”

Quinn agrees the Irish have nothing to be complacent about.

“Last year was great, but we really didn’t do anything. We built upon our new system and everything that we had and got to a BCS game, but we didn’t win the BCS game,” he said. “I think a lot of the guys look at it like we did well last year, but we really have a long way to go.”

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The biggest challenge is improving the defense. In their three losses, the Irish gave up an average of 37 points and 527 yards a game. Overall, Notre Dame gave up an average of 397 yards a game — the most in school history.

The Achilles’ heel was big plays. The most notable were Matt Leinart completing a 61-yard pass on a fourth-and-9 at his own 26 to set up Southern California’s game-winning touchdown; a 65-yard TD pass in a loss to Michigan State, and four touchdowns of longer than 55 yards against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Weis believes the Irish have the talent to play better defense. They just need to minimize their mistakes.

“When you turn a guy free, wide-open free, there’s a problem. It’s usually not the problem that a guy is that much faster than the guys they are playing against. It usually means that there was a mental mistake for one reason or another,” he said.

Safety Zbikowski said the Irish defense knows it needs to play better.

“Who wins a national championship without a good defense?” he asked.

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The Irish lost their top two tacklers, linebackers Brandon Hoyte and Corey Mays. They are looking for converted tailback Travis Thomas to fill in on the weak side, while several players with little playing experience battle for the strong side spot.

The offense came together last season under Weis, improving from averaging 345 yards a game in 2004 to 477 yards last year behind Quinn’s record-setting passing. Quinn threw for 3,919 yards, completing 64.9 percent of his passes. Darius Walker rushed for 100 yards in seven games, finishing with 1,196 yards.

The Irish lost tight end Anthony Fasano, guard Dan Stevenson and wide receiver Maurice Stovall but have experienced replacements for each, including receiver Rhema McKnight, who led the Irish in receiving the previous two seasons before injuring his right knee in the second game against Michigan. The only place the Irish don’t have an experienced replacement is at right tackle.

“We have more answers to the questions going in than we did at this time last year, which allows you to put more on those guys’ shoulders,” Weis said. “You know the answers to the test. It allows you to take it to a different level even in practice.”