Clear eyes, full hearts, Notre Dame football better not lose down the stretch of the 2024 college football season
It has been a season of ups and downs for Notre Dame football. You are sitting here with a 7-1 overall record during the bye week, which most Irish fans would have been pretty happy with prior to the season at this time. The problem is the inconsistency that we have seen from this team, […]
It has been a season of ups and downs for Notre Dame football. You are sitting here with a 7-1 overall record during the bye week, which most Irish fans would have been pretty happy with prior to the season at this time. The problem is the inconsistency that we have seen from this team, which comes back to an identity issue at times.
This Notre Dame team has beaten a top 15 Texas A&M team on the road, dominated Power Five teams like Georgia Tech, Purdue, and Louisville, but played poor football against teams like Northern Illinois (sigh) and Miami (OH). It has been a roller coaster from a week-to-week perspective, and a frustrating watch at times.
Things do seem to have been trending in a much more positive direction the last couple of weeks for the team. The offense, led by quarterback Riley Leonard and dynamic runner Jeremiyah Love, have become a more balanced attack. When they play clean football, they have been a ton more productive.
Add that to an Irish defense that is one of the very best in college football, and Notre Dame has a chance to have a formula that is pretty hard for opposing teams to figure out. While it might not be exactly the combination every fan would like, it is one that can certainly win games. It only took eight games (said sarcastically) but we finally do have a good idea about what identity this team wants to have.
Leaving the bye week, Notre Dame has a four-game stretch that will determine if this team qualifies for the college football playoffs. To keep it as simple as possible, if the team wins out, they’re in. If they drop a game, then there’s almost no chance they earn a spot. It really is that simple.
Clearly, that means that this team will need to take care of business during the final stretch of the season. This schedule also sets up for the Irish to be able to do just that. You are going to face off against Florida State and USC to begin and end that stretch, and each has underwhelmed compared to expectation. You also have a ranked Army team and a middling Virginia team, who could be tricky, but should have no real realistic outlook to win.
Quite simply, there is zero excuse for Notre Dame to not win out down the stretch. We are going to find a lot out about this Irish team for one major reason. Either they will show growth and take care of business, or they will drop a game they shouldn’t. That has been the major reason that some fans are having a hard time completely buying into head coach Marcus Freeman, losing games he shouldn’t.
If the Irish do win these last four games, and do so in convincing fashion, optimism will begin to build heading into the playoffs. In a season where the field seems pretty wide open, there’s no reason why Notre Dame football can’t make a huge run down the stretch.
