Not just progress but be in title contention

SOUTH BEND — Before riding north out of El Paso with a Sun Bowl victory in his saddle bag, Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman smiled at a questioner’s premise.

Thirteen years earlier, in the only other Irish appearance at the Sun Bowl, a 2010 win over Miami launched Brian Kelly’s rebooted program to an eventual national title appearance in the 2012 BCS Championship.

Could life repeat itself?

“Sounds good to me,” Freeman said.

Then, just as quickly, he pivoted.

“I don’t want to just hear about ‘appearance,’ “ Freeman said. “We want to win it.”

If Notre Dame’s national title drought is to end after 35 years and counting, the stars couldn’t be aligning much better than they have over the past month or so.

Here’s a look back at four developments that could bring Notre Dame not just into the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff but give the Irish a legitimate chance to survive what would be a four-game gauntlet to the trophy:

Signed, sealed, delivered: Mike Denbrock officially named as Notre Dame football offensive coordinator

Program momentum heading into Year 3 for Marcus Freeman

While Kelly’s teams have reached the 10-win plateau 12 times in the past 17 years, including stops at Cincinnati and LSU, 2023 marked Freeman’s first foray into that round-number club.

“Ten looks better than nine,” Freeman said after the Sun Bowl. “To me it’s a reflection of the direction of this program. Nine wins last year and 10 wins this year. We just want to continue to improve.”

With the destruction of the Pac-12 Conference, the 2024 CFP is expected to include seven at-large berths along with five automatic qualifiers. That additional pathway only adds to the optimism in the Gug.

Taking Ohio State off a 2024 schedule that should include a pair of MAC opponents (Northern Illinois and Miami…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/challenge-2024-notre-dame-football-095405248.html

Author : South Bend Tribune

Publish date : 2024-01-07 09:54:05

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