Notre Dame Football: Where Would the Irish Finish in the SEC This Season?

What if Notre Dame played in the SEC this season? We speculate what would probably happen in the ND on SI Noon Question.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker JD Bertrand (27), center back, and linebacker Marist Liufau (8) tackle South Carolina Gamecocks running back Juju McDowell (0) during the first quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl of an NCAA college football game Friday, Dec. 30, 2022 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish held off the South Carolina Gamecocks 45-38. / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA

Where Would Notre Dame Finish in the SEC This Season? ND on SI Noon Question

Notre Dame is a top ten team - possibly top five - in all the the rankings projections in this preseason. Okay, so where would it likely finish if it was in the SEC this season? We speculate in today's ND on SI Noon Question.

Notre Dame Football in the SEC: There Would Be a Problem

Rich Cirminiello
@RichCirminiello

Well, hello, TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.

The SEC is always stacked. This season, the league is STACKED, with Texas and Oklahoma coming over from the Big 12 to join heavyweights Georgia, Alabama, and LSU. Plus, Ole Miss has its best team in years and Missouri and Tennessee continue to be on the rise.

Florida, Auburn, Texas A&M, and Kentucky would be considered the softer spots on the schedule… relatively speaking, of course.

The SEC is a weekly gauntlet that Notre Dame will not experience with its 2024 schedule… or maybe ever. And its depth would really be tested in October and November.

The Irish would win 8 or 9 games, depending on the mood of the scheduling gods, and finish in the top half of the league. In either case, out of the playoff hunt and into a solid New Year’s adjacent bowl.

Notre Dame Football in the SEC: Would Be ALL About the Schedule

Pete Fiutak
@PeteFiutak

You know how much everyone is worrying about that Notre Dame opener against Texas A&M? That’s a normal Saturday in the SEC.

Let me spin the wheel and give Notre Dame the schedule of … Florida.

Texas A&M, at Mississippi State, at Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, at Texas, LSU, Ole Miss.

Thanks for playing.

But like any conference, it depends on the schedule. Do you miss Georgia, Alabama, and/or Texas? Or do you miss Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and South Carolina?

Try the Auburn schedule. It gets Arkansas, Oklahoma, at Georgia, at Missouri, at Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, at Alabama. The Irish are strong but that’s 6-2 a GENEROUS best.

However, if Notre Dame got the Arkansas schedule - at Auburn, Texas A&M (in Arlington), Tennessee, LSU, at Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas, at Missouri - yeah, I wouldn’t say 7-1 was impossible.

So unlike the Big 12 and ACC, where the expectations would be Championship Game or Bust, a 10-2 overall record and a spot in the top 11 of the CFP rankings would be the more attainable goal than getting into the SEC Championship.

Notre Dame Football in the SEC: Oooooooh, the SEC. Oooooooh.

Nick Shepkowski
@NickShepkowski

Notre Dame walking into the SEC would be the comeuppance the nation would want to see, right?

Well I’ve got some unfortunate news for those. Notre Dame would compete in the SEC. No, it wouldn’t be favored to win it in 2024 but its expectations wouldn’t be those of Mississippi State or Kentucky, either

Who is clearly better than Notre Dame in the SEC in 2024? In my eyes Georgia is better than everyone - nationally, not just in the SEC. Texas is close, although I don’t have the same trust. Alabama is still loaded even with Nick Saban gone. After that?

What exactly has Ole Miss done to merit some of this darkhorse national championship contender? Ole Miss owned the portal this off-season, I get that. Ole Miss has also recorded one regular season win over a top-10 team since Lane Kiffin got there - a victory over a Kentucky team in 2021 that wound up losing six games.

Notre Dame has flaws entering 2024 but guess what - and I know some of the SEC water carriers out there won’t want to hear this - but so does over 75% of the league.

Depending on the draw of the schedule Notre Dame could go anywhere from 7-5 overall (even with Florida’s schedule this year I’d have them 8-4) to 10-2 in the regular season.

Let’s make it clear the Irish aren’t beating Georgia in the SEC championship game, nor is anyone else in this conference this fall.

More ND on SI Noon Questions

Where Would Notre Dame Football Finish in the ACC?

Where would Notre Dame finish in the Big 12?

Notre Dame's best case scenario this season

Notre Dame's worst case scenario this season

Should the Irish open with Texas A&M, or a tune-up?