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The Notre Dame football program is approaching the opportunity to have another strong showing during the 2024 season. The Fighting Irish will have impactful contributors for the upcoming campaign, and their stature is earning high College Football Playoff praise from Fox Sports football analyst Joe Klatt.
Klatt discussed Notre Dame's 2024 prospects on his college football podcast, revealing a big prediction:
“I think Notre Dame has a real shot to 12-0. And in that case, they would be the N0. 5 seed , and that's where I will put them in my first bracket right here,” Klatt said, via The Joel Klatt Show: a CFB Pod on X (formerly Twitter).
“Marcus Freeman is a heck of a coach. I think their hardest game is that [Texas] A&M game in Week 1. They only play three true road games all season. They're going to go 2 and a half months without a true road game before they play USC in the finale. And I think there's a good chance they're playing USC as a solidly-in-the-playoff team and a win, and you're going to get a 5 seed and a home game in that first round. Riley Leonard, Mike Denbrock, the new offensive coordinator I believe at Notre Dame… I understand they lost their left tackle. I get that. But look at their schedule, and I think they can overcome that,” Klatt added.
Notre Dame football has big plans
The Fighting Irish finished the 2023 season with a 10-3 overall record, which placed them as the top-ranked FBS Independent team. Speaking of which, ClutchPoints' Scotty White explained why Notre Dame not being in a conference could hurt them during the season.
“The four highest-ranked conference champions get a bye in the first round of the CFP, so Notre Dame could be ranked #1 in the country, but they don't have a conference championship that they could play in. The Fighting Irish would automatically fall down and get the #5 seed in the playoff despite their top ranking, and they would need to win four straight games to win it all instead of three,” White wrote.
“Not being in a conference didn't hurt Notre Dame football with the four-team playoff format, but not being able to get a bye is something very significant. Winning four straight games is a lot more difficult than three, and it's less time for the players to rest. This is definitely something to keep an eye on when the playoff rolls around, and it will make things more difficult on the Fighting Irish,” White added.
It will be interesting to see how Notre Dame handles the challenges ahead of them as prepare for another year.
