SOUTH BEND — As Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman enters his third full year leading the Irish, we asked our experts to weigh in on what to expect from the 2024 season.
Can QB Riley Leonard stay healthy and become a Heisman Trophy candidate? Can Notre Dame qualify for the expanded 12-team College Football playoff and make some noise? Is a first national championship since 1988 realistic?
Here are the predictions on breakout players, surprises, final record, playoff prospects and more:
More: 'Irish Wear Green' set for Louisville revenge game at Notre Dame Stadium
Mike Berardino
ONE-SENTENCE CASE FOR ND WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: It’s Year 3 for Marcus Freeman, isn’t it?
ONE-SENTENCE CASE FOR ND NOT WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Four playoff wins to get there? Hard to imagine.
ND'S OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE MVPS: Quarterback Riley Leonard and cornerback Benjamin Morrison
THREE BREAKOUT PLAYERS OF YEAR: Jeremiyah Love (RB), Christian Gray (CB), Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (LB)
FRESHMAN SURPRISE : Guerby Lambert (OT)
ND’S STARTING QB FOR ITS REGULAR-SEASON FINALE, AT USC: Riley Leonard
ND’S NATIONAL RANKING IN TOTAL DEFENSE AND OFFENSE AT SEASON’S END: 5 th in defense, 12 th in offense.
LEADING IRISH RECEIVER AT SEASON’S END AND TOTAL RECEPTIONS: Tight end Mitchell Evans, 42 receptions
LEADING IRISH RUSHER AT SEASON'S END AND TOTAL YARDS: Jadarian Price, 825 rushing yards
SACK LEADER AND TOTAL NUMBER OF SACKS BY ND AS A TEAM: Boubacar Traore (7.5), 39 total
TRAP GAME: Georgia Tech at the Mercedes Benz Dome in Atlanta
BEST PLAYER ND WILL FACE: Defensive lineman Ashton Gillotte, Louisville
MOST OVERPLAYED, OVERDONE ANGLE ON ND’S 2024 SEASON: Soft schedule
MOST COMPELLING STORYLINE OF THE SEASON: OC Mike Denbrock’s offensive creativity
BEST MATCHUP: At USC with a playoff berth on the line
FINAL REGULAR-SEASON RECORD: 11-1
FINAL OVERALL RECORD: 13-2
ND'S PATH IN THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Home win, bowl win, semifinal loss.
ND'S FINAL GAME OF THE SEASON? 34-17 Loss to Georgia in Cotton Bowl
FINAL CFP RANKING: 4
THREE HEISMAN FINALISTS? Carson Beck (Georgia), Riley Leonard (Notre Dame), Will Howard (Ohio State).
AND ANOTHER THING .. : No refunds on any of these predictions.
— Mike Berardino is the Notre Dame football beat writer for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com
Tom Noie
ONE-SENTENCE CASE FOR ND WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: If not this year, then when?
ONE-SENTENCE CASE FOR ND NOT WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Along comes yet another college football season where Notre Dame is just another college football team.
ND'S OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE MVPS: Quarterback Riley Leonard and linebacker Jack Kiser.
THREE BREAKOUT PLAYERS OF YEAR: Beaux Collins (WR), Jeremiyah Love (RB) and Jordan Botelho (DE).
FRESHMAN SURPRISE : Linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa will surprise everyone when he plays early in the first quarter at Texas A&M. He’ll surprise no one when he starts by the end of the year.
ND’S STARTING QB FOR ITS REGULAR-SEASON FINALE, AT USC: Riley Leonard
ND’S NATIONAL RANKING IN TOTAL DEFENSE AND OFFENSE AT SEASON’S END: 3 (defense) and 19 (offense).
LEADING IRISH RECEIVER AT SEASON’S END AND TOTAL RECEPTIONS: Beaux Collins (33 receptions)
LEADING IRISH RUSHER AT SEASON'S END AND TOTAL YARDS: Jeremiyah Love (1,021 total yards)
SACK LEADER AND TOTAL NUMBER OF SACKS BY ND AS A TEAM: Jordan Botelho (8), 38 overall.
TRAP GAME: Against that schedule? Maybe none of them. Then again, maybe all of them.
BEST PLAYER ND WILL FACE IN 2024: Zachariah Branch, WR, USC.
MOST OVERPLAYED, OVERDONE ANGLE ON ND’S 2024 SEASON: Director of Football Performance Loren Landow is the best addition to the program since sliced bread. Or something like that.
MOST COMPELLING STORYLINE OF THE SEASON: Duh...it’s all about getting into the 12-team playoff. Somehow, someway, just get there.
BEST MATCHUP: Notre Dame’s first-round College Football Playoff opponent at home in the snow and cold of a South Bend night in December. Notre Dame Stadium has seen some unique matchups/games/moments/etc., but none like what may occur days before Christmas.
FINAL REGULAR-SEASON RECORD: 11-1
FINAL OVERALL RECORD: 12-2
ND'S PATH IN THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: As a top eight seed, the Irish will host a home playoff game, travel to one of the CFP Final Four quarterfinal games (annual shameless plea for Fiesta Bowl, please, please, please) and run out of postseason gas.
ND'S FINAL GAME OF THE SEASON? Will be a loss.
FINAL CFP RANKING: 9
THREE HEISMAN FINALISTS?: QB Carson Beck (Georgia), QB Jalen Milroe (Alabama), WR Luther Burden (Missouri)
AND ANOTHER THING .. : This Notre Dame defense has a chance to be special this season. Elite special. Don’t take a snap of it for granted.
— Tom Noie is the sports columnist for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com
Austin Hough
ONE-SENTENCE CASE FOR ND WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Riley Leonard is the Heisman Trophy winner
ONE-SENTENCE CASE FOR ND NOT WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: The same issues of the past, i.e., lack of wide receiver production, doom the Irish
ND'S OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE MVPS: Quarterback Riley Leonard and linebacker Jack Kiser
THREE BREAKOUT PLAYERS OF YEAR: Leonard Moore (CB), Drayk Bowen (LB) and Eli Raridon (TE)
FRESHMAN SURPRISE : Leonard Moore, cornerback. He should be in the regular rotation behind Benjamin Morrison, Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray.
ND’S STARTING QB FOR ITS REGULAR-SEASON FINALE, AT USC: Leonard (unless a playoff spot is all-but clinched and they’re resting starters. Then, it’s Steve Angeli).
ND’S NATIONAL RANKING IN TOTAL DEFENSE AND OFFENSE AT SEASON’S END: Offense 22nd, defense 3rd
LEADING IRISH RECEIVER AT SEASON’S END AND TOTAL RECEPTIONS: Beaux Collins, 62 catches
LEADING IRISH RUSHER AT SEASON'S END AND TOTAL YARDS: Jeremiyah Love, 1,242 yards
SACK LEADER AND TOTAL NUMBER OF SACKS BY ND AS A TEAM: Jordan Botelho, 31 sacks as a team
TRAP GAME: Miami (Ohio), Sept. 21. If Notre Dame gets caught looking ahead to Louisville the following week, the defending MAC champs could give the Irish all they handle.
BEST PLAYER ND WILL FACE: Might not come until a potential playoff game. Nobody jumps off the page in the regular season that is definitively the “best” they’ll face. Those close to it are a trio of quarterbacks: Texas A&M’s Conner Weigman, Georgia Tech’s Haynes King and USC’s Miller Moss.
MOST OVERPLAYED, OVERDONE ANGLE ON ND’S 2024 SEASON: How easy the Irish’s schedule is. There tends to be a surprise team or two every year that makes the schedule tougher Notre Dame (see: Louisville and Duke last year). In the end, the Irish won’t play the hardest schedule in the country, but it won’t be 12 cupcakes either.
MOST COMPELLING STORYLINE OF THE SEASON: Does Notre Dame have its best quarterback/wide receivers combo since the Brady Quinn era? If Leonard and all the new wide receivers are as good as we think they are, we could see offensive numbers not reached for a long time in South Bend.
BEST MATCHUP: Nov. 9 vs. Florida State. Only primetime home game of the season. Will it be as cold as the last time the Seminoles came up here in 2018?
FINAL REGULAR-SEASON RECORD: 11-1
FINAL OVERALL RECORD: 12-2
ND'S PATH IN THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: Irish will earn the No. 7 overall seed and host No. 11 Missouri in the first round. Notre Dame wins before losing to No. 2 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Eve.
ND'S FINAL GAME OF THE SEASON? Against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl
FINAL CFP RANKING: 7
THREE HEISMAN FINALISTS?: Luther Burden III, wide receiver, Missouri; Dillon Gabriel, quarterback, Oregon; Carson Beck, quarterback, Georgia.
AND ANOTHER THING .. : This is going to be a fun year watching the 12-team playoff take shape. We’ll be sitting in mid-November and have 10-15 games truly matter each weekend instead of 4-7. It should be some compelling television.
— Austin Hough is a sportswriter for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Crystal ball: Our experts predict what Notre Dame football will accomplish in 2024
Local News
Comments / 0