Notre Dame football is a quarter of the way through the 2026 college football regular season, and it’s time to evaluate whether head coach Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish are a legitimate national championship contender.

After games against Wisconsin, Rice, and Michigan State, there is now a three-game sample size to work with. The preseason talk was loud about Notre Dame’s ceiling, but where does this team actually stand against the criteria that separate good teams from championship teams?

I put the Fighting Irish through a five-point national championship checklist, evaluating quarterback play, the offensive line, the defensive line, defensive playmakers, and turnover margin.

The verdict after three weeks: Notre Dame checks 4 out of 5 boxes. This team can win a championship, but one lingering concern could be the differentiator between whether 2026 is Notre Dame’s year or not.

Quarterback play: Box checked

CJ Carr is off to a strong start in 2026. The redshirt sophomore, 6-2, 215-pound signal caller already has over 700 yards through three games, 6 touchdown passes, zero interceptions, a rushing touchdown, and a completion rate above 70%. On paper, in a vacuum, Carr has been very good.

The weapons around him are emerging, too.

Wide receiver Jordan Faison has picked up where he left off in 2025, collecting 13 receptions for over 150 yards and a couple of touchdowns. Micah Gilbert is coming off a dynamic performance against Michigan State with 8 receptions for 170 yards, averaging over 21 yards per catch. Gilbert now has 13 receptions for well over 200 yards, averaging over 19 yards every time he touches the football.

The slot position with Jaden Greathouse and Mylan Graham still needs to find its footing, the tight end production in the passing game has not been there, and the running backs have been up and down (though Nolan James Jr. did some really good stuff in the second half against Michigan State). Those are areas to monitor.

Notre Dame is a little different than some championship teams. You can win a title without a great quarterback. We’ve seen the Stetson Bennetts and J.J. McCarthys of the world win because their teams around them were really, really good.

Notre Dame, though, needs really good quarterback play to win a championship more often than not. They have that guy in CJ Carr. He looks more confident, he looks like he has more control at the line of scrimmage, and he’s been accurate and decisive.

Separating the conversation of Carr as a draft prospect for a second, because there are some mixed opinions out there, he’s a darn good college quarterback if nothing else. Check that box.

Defensive line: Box checked

Notre Dame’s defensive line checks the championship box emphatically. Boubacar Traore is one of the better pass rushers in college football, and Bryce Young has taken a massive step as a junior at 6-6, 260 pounds. Keon Keeley and Rodney Dunham have both flashed good moments. The defensive end position is in a really good spot.

Even without Jason Onye and Christopher Burgess, both currently out with injury, the defensive tackle room has improved. Tionne Gray and Francis Brewu are playing at very high levels. Elijah Hughes, Armel Mukam (coming off his best game in a Notre Dame uniform), and Sean Sevillano Jr. add even more depth. There is a point where this group will be six-plus deep at defensive tackle.

This is the deepest defensive line room I’ve seen in a Notre Dame uniform possibly in my lifetime. That is not an exaggeration.

Offensive line: Box not checked (yet)

The offensive line is the one area where I’m not ready to check the box. The potential is there, but the group has not played to that level yet.

Anthonie Knapp has been very good at left guard. Ashton Craig has mostly been good at center.

Beyond that, every other position has been up and down.

Will Black has mostly been good at left tackle, but he’s been leaky in pass protection at times. He’s a redshirt freshman, first-year starter. That’s expected. Guerby Lambert has struggled a bit, specifically in pass protection against Michigan State, after transitioning from right guard to right tackle. Both tackles should be better football players in game 12 than they are in game 3.

Right guard is the bigger question mark. Sullivan Absher has been very up and down. The Styles Prescod experiment did not work early. Perhaps Matty Augustine, when he returns from injury, asserts himself at that position and becomes the player the Notre Dame staff believes he can be under offensive line coach Joe Rudolph.

For now, though, right guard might just be what it is.

The offensive line is the one box that remains unchecked, and I hope we’ll be able to check it at some point this season.

Defensive playmakers: Box checked

Notre Dame has playmakers on all three levels of the defense. Safety Adon Shuler has a proclivity for making huge plays in both the run and pass game, already recording a forced fumble and an interception this season. All-American cornerback Leonard Moore doesn’t need much explanation. We know how excellent he is.

On the second level, Kingstonn Viliamu-Asa looks really explosive coming back from injury. As he gets further into the season, expect game-changing plays. Drayk Bowen has a talent for being around the football. Boubacar Traore anchors the front, and Tionne Gray and Francis Brewu can be game wreckers in time as well.

Three out of four boxes checked, and counting.

Turnover margin: Box checked

I’m a big believer that the turnover battle wins the margin, and I know a lot of head coaches believe the same. Marcus Freeman, as a defensive coach, surely believes that turning the football over defensively and protecting it offensively is the best way to put your team in position to win.

Notre Dame has been very good at taking care of the football so far. CJ Carr has not thrown an interception. Defensively, the Irish have historically forced turnovers over the last three to four years, and that trend is continuing with Moore and Shuler leading the charge. Notre Dame, more often than not, is going to make some of those game-changing plays.

The verdict

Four out of five boxes are checked. Notre Dame can win a national championship, but the question is going to be how the offensive line and run game come together.

With BYU, Miami, and SMU on the horizon, and hopefully a deep playoff run after that, the offensive line is the differentiator between whether this is Notre Dame’s year or not. CJ Carr has not defined his season yet. The defensive line is historically deep. The playmakers are there.

The margin will be won or lost up front on the offensive side of the football.