Top 25 in 25: Notre Dame Football Season Preview

Photo by Brett Davis-Imagn Images.

We’re counting down the final 25 days before the college football season by previewing every one of our preseason top 25 teams! With 6 days left until week zero, we continue our previews with my No. 6 team in the country – the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

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Projected Record: 11-1

Ceiling/Floor: 12-0/9-3

Projected Wins: Texas A&M, Arkansas, Purdue, Arkansas, Boise State, NC State, USC, Boston College, Navy, Pittsburgh, Stanford

Projected Losses: Miami

Most Intriguing Game: at Miami (Week 1)

Coming off a national title appearance in 2024, Notre Dame is poised to make another playoff run under head coach Marcus Freeman. The Irish only return about half of their production from a year ago, but added some solid pieces in transfer and high school recruiting. However, there are still some question marks heading into the season.

I really love this roster everywhere – outside of quarterback. The Irish lose Riley Leonard from a year ago, who had a really underrated year, and led his unit to the No. 2 offense in the country, according to the SNAP Model. Projected 2025 starting QB CJ Carr was highly touted out of high school as the No. 6 QB in the 2024 class, but the redshirt-freshman has very limited game experience and is still young, so I’m expecting him to be better at the end of the season than the beginning. Outside of Carr, the Irish have a Heisman candidate at running back in Jeremiyah Love, who is easily the best returning running back in America. The experienced offensive line should be elite again, but losing center Pat Coogan to Indiana may hurt a bit. Returning receivers Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison, along with transfer Malachai Fields, highlight what should be a solid group on the outside.

Losing defensive coordinator Al Golden from last year was a huge blow to Notre Dame’s national title chances, but they should still have a top 10 defense in theory under new coordinator Chris Ash. The defensive line loses three starters, but the Irish always seem to have a great d-line and have great young talent to backfill the losses. At linebacker, losing Jack Kizer hurts tremendously, not only as a player, but as a leader as well. Drayk Bowen, Jaden Ausberry and Jaylen Sneed are good players, but can they provide the same motor, leadership and motivation that Kizer could? The secondary is also losing an All-American safety in Xavier Watts. Adon Shuler played well last season beside Watts, but it’s going to be tough to try and match Watts’ level as the top guy this year.

I think there will be a minor step back from the elite team Freeman had last season, which finished second in the final SNAP Ratings, but I still think they’re easily a playoff team and can win a game or two once they get there. We’ll find out right away about this Irish team, as they get likely their two toughest opponents on the schedule right away to start the season, in Miami and Texas A&M. If they can just win one of those games, I don’t see any way they don’t make the playoff.

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