Joel Klatt puts Notre Dame inside top 10 of preseason rankings, gives Irish extremely high praise entering 2024

Compares 2024 Notre Dame to 2023 College Football Playoff finalist

Dec 27, 2023; San Diego, CA, USA; Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt at the Holiday Bowl at Petco Park. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Notre Dame has high expectations for 2024, even with a couple of injuries piling up so far in fall camp.

It all gets underway on Aug. 31 when the Irish travel to Texas A&M to take on the Aggies in a crazy environment and the regular season concludes for Notre Dame with a trip to USC on Thanksgiving weekend.

Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt released his preseason top 25 on his podcast this week and had some very good things to say about the product Marcus Freeman will put on the field in 2024.

Joel Klatt Ranks Notre Dame No. 6

"Notre Dame is going to be really strong," Klatt said as he started discussing the Fighting Irish football program entering the 2024 season.

"I think it's an intriguing opening game because they've got to go to a difficult place to play in what will be hot weather at Texas A&M. Tough environment, tough fan base, desperate for a big win - they're going to be fired up under Mike Elko..."

The trip to Texas A&M is going to be no walk in the park, especially with the offensive line concerns Notre Dame takes to a place it'll play against perhaps the best defensive front it'll see all season. Add in a new coach and a Saturday night crowd in College Station and it'll certainly be an inhospitable atmosphere for the Fighting Irish.

Joel Klatt Very High on Notre Dame's Defense

"Notre Dame is going to have a dominant defense. You know that's going to happen under Marcus Freeman, but that side of the ball, they return several star players including the Nagurski Award winner from last year, Xavier Watts."

"Benjamin Morrison, Howard Cross, all of them back on the defensive side."

That's all fine and dandy but there are some other parts that Klatt didn't mention (sure, he was short on time by doing all 25 teams) that should make Notre Dame fans exciting for 2024. The linebacking group will be led by Jack Kiser but should be even deeper than last year despite losing JD Bertrand to the NFL. He mentioned Watts and Morrison and the defensive backs figure to be among the nation's best this fall.

Joel Klatt High on Notre Dame's New-Look Offense

"Then they get a really solid offensive coordinator in Mike Denbrock. So, he comes back to Notre Dame after going with Brian Kelly to LSU, and now you're looking at this and you're looking at this and you're like, Riley Leonard with his experience. Mike Denbrock."

I truly think part of the reason sections of Notre Dame fans are holding back on getting too excited about Riley Leonard is because of how the Sam Hartman experiment went last year. Sure, Hartman didn't live up to expectation, but Leonard is much more of a dual-threat quarterback and him being coupled with Denbrock instead of Gerad Parker is a massive step forward for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame cornerback Chance Tucker (18) participates in a drill during a Notre Dame football practice at Irish Athletic Center on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in South Bend. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK

Joel Klatt on Notre Dame's Favorable Schedule

"So what's that schedule look like?"

"Well they get (Texas) A&M in the opener, and then you start rolling through their games and you're like, 'win, win, win, win, win!', eyebrows go up, 'win, win' and you're like 'hold on a second, they're going to be 8-0 if they beat A&M they'll be 8-0 when they host Florida State at home. You think that's not going to be a raucous environment?"

"And then you start to look at it and because of some of their neutral site games, they only go to a true road game three times...their only three true road games: A&M to start the year, Purdue, and USC in the season finale so the middle of the year - they go on a true road game week one and end things with USC and in the middle of the year, they only go on a true road game once."

Not only does Notre Dame not have to go to a bunch of tough places to play (although Texas A&M and USC are no joke), but the level of competition it gets in its ACC deal this year is extremely favorable. Florida State, as Klatt mentioned, should be a crazy environment at Notre Dame. Other than that in the ACC?

A good Louisville team comes to South Bend and an improving Georgia Tech team takes on the Irish in Merceds-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons.

Other than that Notre Dame takes on Virginia and Stanford, the bottom two ranked teams in the preseason ACC media rankings, in South Bend.

Klatt Gives Warning to Nation About Notre Dame

"Watch out for Notre Dame! I know people are going to roll their eyes, 'Oh, Notre Dame, they're always so hyped'. OK, I'm just saying they feel a lot like Washington from last year. They just do, they just do, and I had Washington at this time last year fifth and I should have had the courage to put Notre Dame fifth."

Notre Dame has been looked at recently as a team with a certain ceiling but here is an example of a national analyst buying into what Marcus Freeman is putting together. Notre Dame doesn't have anywhere near the receivers Washington had last year, nor do I see Riley Leonard being at Michael Penix's level, but the wide receivers should be significantly improved compared to a year ago as should the quarterback.

Factor in a new playcaller and a veteran defense that has already shown its talent and you can see why Notre Dame fans are expecting more than simply just getting into the College Football Playoff this year.

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