Notre Dame Far Better Equipped for 'What Ifs' in 2024

The Irish have more in their arsenal when adversity strikes this football season.

Notre Dame Offensive Coordinator Mike Denbrock talks to players at Notre Dame spring football practice Thursday, March 7, 2024, at the Irish Athletics Center in South Bend. / GREG SWIERCZ / USA TODAY NETWORK

Where Notre Dame struggled most in 2023

Notre Dame seemed to enter many critical games last season with an offensive plan that was not effective enough for various reasons, ranging from facing great defenses to having a limited offensive roster.

The result of this ineffectiveness against stronger defenses was the need to pivot in-game to another offensive strategy.

This entire process did not go well for Irish OC Gerad Parker. Game plans were vanilla, limited, and too predictable to succeed against the better teams on the schedule, leading to an average point total of under 20 in those games.

Worse yet, there weren’t many pivots once Notre Dame was in trouble. And the changes that were made didn't solve any problems—in fact, they often intensified them. This entire frustrating process eventually led to three ugly losses on the Irish ledger.

“This is how I view Jayden and I view Riley the same way”

Mike Denbrock was asked about how he perceives the ceiling of Riley Leonard and coach that into his offensive scheme. Denbrock compared the process to his two years with last year’s Heisman winner Jayden Daniels. pic.twitter.com/CCzpEN2QnQ

— LeVon Whittaker TV (@levonwhitt_tv) August 24, 2024

Mike Denbrock has seen it all and will not panic

With Gerad Parker heading to Troy as the new head coach, Notre Dame has a chance to reboot and restructure its offensive mindset and approach. New OC Mike Denbrock has seen it all, folks.

This is his third stint at Notre Dame, and he’s been through every type of offensive vs. defensive battle you can think of. He will be ready for whatever comes his way and will have some sort of answer for it.

I'm confident Denbrock will develop better game plans for the Irish entering each game, but that may not be the most critical part of the dynamic.

I believe Denbrock's ability to adapt the game plan mid-game will be invaluable for Notre Dame. He has a great feel for offensive football and will not only know when changes are needed but also transition to something more effective.

This skill set is why Notre Dame made Denbrock the highest-paid OC in the country, and it will pay dividends right away, starting with the Texas A&M battle.

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