Can Notre Dame claim a playoff spot in 2024?
The Fighting Irish cannot enter the expanded playoff via a conference championship berth, but what shape are they in to grab an at-large spot?
The 2024 Notre Dame Fighting Irish appear to be at the crossroads from full transition out of the Brian Kelly era and into whatever the Marcus Freeman regime has for the Golden Domers.
We’re now in year two post-Harry Hiestand and year one without the NFL-rich starting lineup of offensive linemen who greased the skids on Freeman’s transition to taking over the program. New offensive line coach Joe Rudolph is another Midwestern fixture who was in charge at Wisconsin when they were churning out power run games in the late 2010s. The offensive line is well stocked with midwestern talents of the sort the Irish always have, we’ll see how it goes.
The defensive front is still loaded with Kelly leftovers and the new annual Irish tradition is to poach the most talented quarterback in the ACC via the transfer portal, this year it’s Riley Leonard. If Freeman can hold everything together in the box where Kelly’s teams always shone bright, this season for Notre Dame will be the one where they can finally add the superior skill talent metric they were always missing.
If they add that to what’s been, the Irish could seriously contend in the playoffs. If not, can they even make the playoffs this year? Let’s take a look at what’s coming for Notre Dame in 2024.