Notre Dame Pegged for Huge Year by The Sporting News
Notre Dame football is projected by most to take a step forward in 2024. Just how large of a step that will be remains to be seen, though.
The roster has improved in recent years and Marcus Freeman seems to be making the program more and more his with each passing day.
So with all of that in mind, is this the year Notre Dame can finally make some noise? Notre Dame has gone 19-8 in Freeman's first two seasons (plus the 2021 Fiesta Bowl) but can it be a top-10 or perhaps even top-five team in 2024?
The Sporting News has their post-season projections out for the 2024 college football season and its safe to say they're high on Freeman and Notre Dame.
Done by longtime college football reporter Bill Bender, the Sporting News calls for Notre Dame to earn the sixth-seed in the College Football Playoff where they'd host No. 11 Michigan.
Bender picks Notre Dame to win that game and meet Utah in the playoff's second round in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. He again picks Notre Dame to walk out victorious in that one.
Bender has Notre Dame reaching the semi-finals where he picks No. 2 Ohio State to beat them in the Cotton Bowl.
With Notre Dame's schedule I'm not certain an 11-1 regular season would get them a home game in the College Football Playoff. That's obviously largely dependent on what happens elsewhere but if they were to go 12-0 I have trouble seeing them not landing the No. 5 seed.
Notre Dame fans obviously hope Bender is right in his prediction, but what is especially noteworthy here is just how much a difference there would seem to be for a team to earn the five or six-seeds as opposed to seven or eight, where they'd seemingly meet a Big Ten or SEC team in the second round.
Expectations are high at Notre Dame in 2024 but I'm fairly certain if any Fighting Irish fan could sign up for this being the outcome of the year they'd do so almost immediately because it's difficult to see things going much better than this.
https://www.si.com/college/notredame/football/notre-dame-football-defense-preview-2024-irish-among-nation-s-best-again
https://www.si.com/college/notredame/football/notre-dame-football-offense-preview-2024-irish-will-take-off
NICK SHEPKOWSKI