Notre Dame football has run out of excuses. Coming off a bye week, head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish enter a defining stretch of the 2026 college football season.

It starts with Navy on Saturday and leads into a home showdown with the No. 1 Miami Hurricanes on Nov. 7.

The Irish still control their own destiny. If Notre Dame wins its final five games, it will make the College Football Playoff. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that I want more from this program, and that the hype coming into the 2026 season oversold what we’ve seen on the field.

The BYU loss still stings

The 28-24 loss to BYU in Provo remains a tough pill to swallow. Head coach Kalani Sitake and the Cougars beat Notre Dame fair and square. The Irish trailed 21-10 at halftime and had to scramble just to make it a game.

There are no excuses there.

I thought Notre Dame was the more talented team, player for player, and by a landslide. If you don’t play your A game, though, BYU had enough talent to make you pay. That’s exactly what happened.

Watching BYU fall to UCF 39 to 31 the following week made it sting even more. The Cougars were No. 2 in the AP poll and are now barely hanging on in the top 10 after losing to a UCF team that isn’t a great football team.

In a way, it was predictable, because teams that upset Notre Dame tend to lose the very next week. It was also a harsh reminder that the Irish dropped a game they had no business losing, nationally televised stage and hostile environment included.

Miami looms after Navy

Notre Dame can’t look ahead just yet. The Irish travel to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, home of the New England Patriots, to face the Navy Midshipmen on Halloween. Notre Dame could play its C game and still win. Barring a shock, the Irish will handle Navy and set up a matchup with the No. 1 team in the country.

That Nov. 7 game carries a lot of weight. It will be a huge recruiting weekend, and Mario Cristobal has his program on the cutting edge. On top of that, it’s Catholics vs. Convicts against a rival that beat Notre Dame last season. Freeman needs to show he can win that type of game in Notre Dame Stadium, an environment that should work in his favor.

The defining moment of his tenure remains the 2024 College Football Playoff run. The Irish beat Indiana, Georgia, and Penn State in consecutive games to reach the national title game against Ohio State. Three straight top-10 wins made for a tremendous stretch.

The regular season has been a different story. Notre Dame has been underwhelming in big games, and four teams on the 2026 schedule currently sit in the Top 25: Wisconsin, BYU, SMU, and Miami.

The changes I’ve been calling for should start showing up against Navy. Offensively, I want offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock to bring more creativity, more pre-snap motion, and more play action.

Defensively, Notre Dame can’t stop being who it is. That means staying aggressive, living in man coverage, and bringing pressure from the second level. You attack a triple-option team differently than Shannon Dawson’s Miami offense, but the foundation still needs to show up this week.

No excuses in a down year

Imagine Notre Dame finishing 10-2 and waiting on the playoff committee because it didn’t show up against Miami. If that happens, the 2026 season is a failure. All offseason, we heard about a longer offseason, more preparation, questioning and fine-tuning everything, and the “leave no doubt” mantra. This stretch is where all of that gets tested.

Without being too hyperbolic, Nov. 7 could be a career-defining game for Freeman.

College football is down in 2026. Georgia has lost. Alabama has lost. LSU and Texas each have two losses, and BYU just went down. There is no great team in the sport right now. Miami is unbeaten and sits at No. 1, but it hasn’t faced a daunting schedule. Whoever peaks at the right time will define this year.

One thing is very clear: Notre Dame may never have a better opportunity. CJ Carr is a second-year starting quarterback. The defense is one of the best in college football, with NFL talent at every level. The offensive line is loaded with talent, and the Irish finally have a kicker who can make a field goal in a big moment.

The pieces are in place for a national title run. Over the next two weeks, Freeman and his staff will show whether they’re truly leaving no doubt, or leaving a lot to be desired.