Notre Dame football took only a slight step backwards in 2022, the first year following longtime Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly's departure for LSU. They finished 9-4, their first season under 10 wins since 2016. Kelly's 2021 defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman succeeded him, and led Notre Dame football to an up-and-down first season.

The Irish lost Week 1 against Ohio State, which is obviously a tough game to win in any given year. Week 2, they lost an embarrassing game at home to Marshall, who plays in the Sun Belt Conference. Then, they put together impressive wins later on in the season, including Ws over North Carolina, BYU and Clemson, but they also lost at home to Stanford, who finished 3-9.

Despite losing one of the best Xs and Os coaches in college football, Notre Dame was able to stay competitve with a strong recruiting base built up over the years. Recruiting top talent to South Bend, Indiana is no easy task, and it will be Marcus Freeman's biggest challenge going forward.

With the No. 13-ranked 2023 recruiting class, the program is on the right track. Here are four Notre Dame football predictions for the 2023 season:

4. Notre Dame goes 9-3

Notre Dame's football schedule is pretty easy outside of three key matchups. However, those three are all really tough opponents: No. 3 Ohio State, No. 6 USC, and No. 9 Clemson.

Ohio State is too talented for the Fighting Irish to hang with, even in a home game; the Buckeyes will take this one.

Anything can happen in the annual rivalry with USC. The visiting team wins this game just 36% of the time, so Notre Dame has that advantage going for them. However, USC has a better roster, quarterback and coach, and that talent mismatch will put the Trojans on top in this matchup.

The most winnable game of these three is the Clemson matchup, but it's extremely difficult to beat Clemson in their building. South Carolina beat the Tigers on the road last November, ending a 40-game home win streak for Clemson. Notre Dame could compete with the Tigers, but history shows Clemson isn't likely to drop this game at home.

The rest of the schedule is very manageable, and Notre Dame will pick up nine regular season wins.

 

3. Notre Dame makes a New Year's 6 Bowl

A 9-3 record with close losses to some of college football's best teams is enough to earn Notre Dame a spot in a New Year's Six Bowl. Notre Dame's 8-4 regular season last year put them in the Gator Bowl against the same South Carolina team that ended Clemson's ridiculous home win streak. They ended up winning that game 45-38 to finish the season on a high note and capture Marcus Freeman's first win in a bowl game as a head coach.

It wasn't his first bowl game at the helm, however. Brian Kelly's premature departure for LSU before the end of the 2021 season unexpectedly left Freeman in charge. They played Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl but lost 35-37 after blowing a three-score lead.

NY6 appearances are pretty common for the Fighting Irish; they've appeared in four such bowl games over the past eight years. Unfortunately, they've lost all four. Maybe this is the year they break that disappointing streak.

 

2. Sam Hartman is a Heisman Finalist

In 2022, Notre Dame was quarterbacked (in somewhat mediocre fashion) by a mixture of Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner, both of whom have transferred out. Freeman brought in Sam Hartman, who was excellent as Wake Forest's starter over the past two years. He threw for 3,700 yards and 38 touchdowns in 2022 and eclipsed both of those marks in 2021.

Although Notre Dame lost its top pass catcher in Michael Mayer to the NFL, they are not without weapons this year. Hartman's top target will be sophomore WR Tobias Merriweather. He only caught one pass in his freshman season, but it was a 41-yard touchdown. At 6-foot-4, with good speed, that explosive big-play potential is what will make this guy valuable for Hartman and Notre Dame. Don't be surprised if Merriweather exceeds 1,200 yards as Notre Dame's clear-cut No. 1 option.

Merriweather's dependability will allow Hartman to take another jump to become one of the nation's best quarterbacks. He will join USC's Caleb Williams, LSU's Jayden Daniels, and Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. in New York as a Heisman finalist.

 

1. Notre Dame joins the Big Ten

The biggest Notre Dame news of the season could come at any time. With all of the dramatic realignment changes in college football, one truth is becoming clear. It will be a huge advantage to compete in the SEC or the Big Ten. The Big 12 is trying to load up on competitive schools, but it and the ACC will be second-rate conferences compared to these other two.

The monetary payouts for member schools of the Big Ten and the SEC will reach huge numbers eventually, and Notre Dame is not going to want to miss out on that.

The Fighting Irish are an independent football school, but they compete in the ACC for other sports. There are two years remaining on the football program's television contract with NBC, but don't be surprised when Notre Dame football becomes the latest program to make a major conference change.