Notre Dame Football's Biggest Keys to 2024 Success (2024)

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Notre Dame has a young coach who’s never been a head coach before trying to learn the ropes on the fly under some of the brightest lights in college football, those in South Bend, Indiana. He is now entering year three. He will be expected to tighten in-game mistakes such as misuse of timeouts, other clock management issues as well as personnel issues such as ensuring there are 11 defenders on the field in the biggest play that has happened in Notre Dame stadium in years.

While Freeman’s personal growth is an ongoing journey with some lessons to be learned only with time, he has an upgraded support system this year. Mike Denbrock and Al Golden are two of the best coordinators in the sport and can be leaned upon heavily by Freeman this year to help him navigate his coaching journey. This kind of staff is expected to run a cleaner operation in 2024, and it will be needed in a sport where the margins between wins and losses are razor thin.

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Whether it be Riley Leonard or someone else due to injury or competition, Notre Dame needs higher level quarterback play if they have any hopes of making a true CFP run. The Irish need more than a “game manager” with “traits” from now on. Quite simply, they need a QB they win their biggest games because of, not just with.

Coach Freeman has had a rough run so far in this regard. In year one his starter didn’t even last two games before being out the rest of the year with injury. In year two he visited the portal for Sam Hartman and realized why Sam was looking for an extra year of college and was not a top pro prospect. The quarterback position must provide more to this offense for any true CFP run to be possible.

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By the raw numbers, last year’s offense was really solid. They averaged over 39 points per game and that had them ranked as a top 10 scoring unit in the country. The issue was not the total amount of points scored, it was who they came against.

Sure, the Irish poured it on “lower level” opponents, but when they needed a well-rounded, effective, diverse offense to score against the better defenses faced, they failed. As a result, they lost three games. Mike Denbrock has returned to South Bend to make this offense more modern. More electric. Tougher to defend. The Irish must be able to operate a respectable offense against everyone they play to have a successful campaign.

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Notre Dame’s defense was not the cause of any of the three losses Notre Dame had last year. In each of those games, with the offense being so ineffective, the defense had to play near perfect to win. It was simply too much to ask. This unit has played closer to elite playoff game winning football more consistently than any other group in the program. They have been really good. The backbone of the program. But there’s always room for improvement.

For this already solid group to take the next step, they need to be able to make more splash plays at the right times. I know this sounds very nit-picky of me, but as I said, they are a rock-solid group with few major flaws. This team needs 1-2 more players to make 1-2 more big plays in key moments against the best teams faced. One more key sack, one more tipped ball. These are the differences between marquee wins or tough losses. Who will these difference makers be in 2024?

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For any team making a playoff run, key players staying healthy is a part of the recipe. Perhaps by August, the Irish will feel like they are in one piece, but as they sit now they are not. Riley Leonard, Benjamin Morrison and Mitch Evans are three of the stars of this football team and each is out with injury for Spring. Not ideal, but also not the end of the world so long as they are ready to contribute next season.

As for the luck of the Irish, they’ve had it. But its been bad luck. Every key injury, bad bounce, and marquee game deciding play has seemed to go against Notre Dame for decades now. At some point one would think the Irish will start balancing out the ledger. Certainly to a large extent winners create their own good luck, but it’d also be nice to see the Irish catch some by chance while creating some more of their own.

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