UPDATED NOTRE DAME AND CFB 2025 PREVIEW

1. PART 1- Team breakdown, position groups

   1. Offensive skill positions

   2. Offensive line

   3. Defensive line

   4. Linebackers

   5. Secondary

   6. Special teams

2. PART 2- What I believe it will look like on the field

3. Breaking down the schedule, especially game 1 @ Miami.

4. Overall College Football season preview and predicting the playoff bracket

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

TEAM BREAKDOWN, POSITION GROUPS

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--OFFENSIVE SKILL POSITIONS----

In their preview issue, Athlon lists the 7 position groups as follows: Quarterback, Running Backs, Wide Receivers, Offensive line, Defensive line, Linebackers and Defensive Backs.

Only 1 team (Texas) placed a team in the top 10 in each category. 3 schools (Clemson, Ohio State and Penn State) placed 6. Notre Dame, Georgia and Alabama are all next, with 5.

What should be cause for pause for other teams is that Notre Dame made it to the title game while not finishing in the top 10 in either of these groups. In fact, they didn't finish in the top 60.

The position groups are Wide Receivers and Quarterback, and I will repeat myself. Notre Dame failed to finish among the top 60 in either yards passing per play or per game. It's almost frightening to imagine how good this team can be with even a moderate improvement in the passing game.

Need proof?

Consider this absolutely unreal stat.

Notre Dame had 90 yards passing against Georgia. 90! That's pathetic! The result? we still beat the recent 2-time champions by 2 scores- 23-13. What do we do to Georgia if we just double that 90 yards to a still modest 180? What if we do even better? Say 250?

Passing for about 250 yards per game last year made Toledo the 40th best team in that category. Notre Dame ranked 97th in the same category according to the site teamrankings.com.

Here is the question. Could the addition of CJ Carr, the additions of Malachi Fields, Will Pauling and a talented freshman class, and the further emergence of Jordan Faison, Jaden Greathouse and Eli Raridon net us 50 yards more per game passing?

I cannot see how that is not a reasonable expectation. Had we achieved it last year, we would be in the top 10 in offense among all teams and ranked second among the teams that made the playoff. Instead, we were 47th in the country and 9th among the 12 playoff teams and still made the title game.

Let's start the conversation at Tight End.

Eli Raridon has the potential to be a key piece in this new look offense because he is a 251 pound hoss with wide receiver speed. If he can stay healthy, he is a matchup nightmare. The rub? He can't seem to stay healthy, and neither can the whole room. Cooper Flannigan is already out for 2025 and so is Kevin Bauman so, really the only other known option as a receiver early on would be Transfer Ty Washington or freshmen Larsen or Flannigan. It would really help us if Raridon can stay healthy.

A health Raridon has the ability to really open things up because he will occupy the center of the field.

This gives us the opportunity of Jaden Greathouse, Malachi Fields, Will Pauling and Jordan Faison to stretch the field. The Wide receiver room could be really special.

To use a baseball analogy, Notre Dame's limited passing game, more often than not, amounted to little more than get-on-the-base singles. We stretched the field horizontally but not vertically.

In his impressive scoring drive against Penn State, Steve Angeli did not complete a single pass more than 7 yards from the line of scrimmage. That's why Angeli is gone. We have to be able to push the ball down the field.

Fields/Greathouse is going to look a lot like Michael Young and Golden Tate of a few years back. Fields is Michael Young in this analogy, the big, physical freak who outmuscles defenders and keeps the chains moving. Greathouse, as the Penn State game showed, is the ankle breaker. It would not surprise me if you have 3 different team leaders in the receiver category.

Fields will likely lead the team in catches, but Greathouse will lead in yards per game and touchdowns. Jordan Faison is likely to lead in yard per play because he is so fast. Faison is likely to have fewer targets but more highlight reel plays.

Will Pauling will be lined up in the slot but featured almost as a 2nd tight end. If this all comes together, all kinds of seams and holes will emerge and big, big explosive plays will result, both in the passing and running games.

These 4 players give us a solid foundation but at least one or two freshmen will probably have to emerge to give us the depth we need.

There are many good candidates for those emerging weapons. I'll give you my favorite 5.

1. Elijah Burress

2. Cam Williams

3. KK Smith

4. Micah Gilbert

5. Scrap Richardson

Opportunities to throw will obviously be there because we have the best running game group in the country, running behind a spectacular offensive line. That line is arguably also the best in the country.

If Jeremiah Love is not a Heisman finalist, it will only be because of how much the rest of the room contributed. Jadarian Price is a home run threat, but Aneyas Williams and Gibron Payne are spectacular too. This is possibly a 3,000 yard backfield this year. Williams is probably our best Thurman Thomas type of receiving threat.

With battering ram Kedron Young lost for the season, look for Freshman Nolan James to have a shot at the rotation.

That makes Quarterback the X factor.

As I alluded to before, the fact that Angeli is gone tells me that Notre Dame is determined to push the ball down the field, something Angeli did not have the arm to do.

All of us will be stunned if CJ Carr does not accomplish that now that he has won the job.

Riley Leonard was certainly a gamer and a determined runner but those lamenting his loss as a potentially devastating blow are dramatically overstating the case. Does Carr have the dynamic burst Leonard had? No. That doesn't mean he is a statue either. Carr has great vision and movement in the pocket and is plenty athletic enough to move the chains by running the ball.

With Leonard, Notre Dame was almost automatic in short yardage and I believe we will duplicate that by the combination of Carr, Love, Price, Williams, Payne and Young. We may even bring in Minchey in some short yardage packages. More on him in a minute.

If you look at the whole rushing-yardage picture, Notre Dame had about 3,200 yards rushing last year and I have little doubt they will meet or, perhaps, slightly exceed that this year.

However, I have zero doubt that we will exceed the less than 3,200 passing yards we put up by perhaps another 1000.

If he can give us just 250 yards per game through the air, this offense becomes virtually unstoppable. Let me reemphasize that. If we maintain the running game we had last year and just elevate the passing game to Toledo level, we are number 1 on offense among power 4 schools. Better than Texas. Better than Oregon. Better than Ohio State. The stats don't lie.

The only team on our 2025 slate who exceeded that in 2024 was Miami and they just lost their top 5 receivers and a QB that went #1 overall in the NFL draft. Kenny Minchey will be a capable #2 and I expect Tyler Buchner to be the 3rd string. That only makes sense since he knows the system and Blake Hebert can preserve a year of eligibility.

There are 3 caveats to the quarterback being successful. The first, we already identified- elevated play from the receiver group. The 2nd? Mike Denbrock's willingness to open things up. The 3rd? a clean pocket. This young QB will need help up front.

TEAM BREAKDOWN, POSITION GROUPS

--OFFENSIVE LINE----

Notre Dame will face 2 of College football's top 5 offensive lines in their first 2 games against Miami and Texas A&M but ND will have the better unit in both games according to Athlon's.

Anthonie Knapp at left tackle, Billy Schrauth at guard, Ashton Craig at Center and Aamil Wagner on the right make up the #1 rated offensive line in the country according to Athlon's. The only question is will it be Guerby Lambert or Sullivan Absher at RG with Charles Jagusah out. I'm betting on Lambert. Will Black, Joe Otting, Styles Prescod and Owen Streibig gave us tremendous depth.

With the running back room rated #2, running behind those road graters, opposing teams have no choice but to load the box. It's a simple numbers game. Someone is getting man coverage. Whether it's Greathouse, Fields, Raridon or Pauling, I like our side of the matchup in that situation. If the defense sells out, you have a homerun shot with Faison or Price or even one of the freshmen like Micha Gilbert or Elijah Burress.

In the past, that has almost always ended 1 of 3 ways.

1. The receiver couldn't get open.

2. The QB couldn't find him.

3. The QB couldn't make the throw hit the target.

   
   

Oh, we were good enough in most games but as soon as we played that team with elite defensive backs, the passing game disappeared and the running game ground to a halt.

We don't play any of those teams this year unless we get into the playoffs.

OVERALL CONCLUSION- OFFENSE

I believe this is an 11-1 team under the worst-case scenario of our passing game being no better than last year. I honestly cannot see how that is even possible. CJ Carr is said to have a football IQ and processing speed that is way ahead of schedule and possesses the arm talent to make every throw. The mismatches will be there, and the offensive line will give CJ the time to find them. I believe he will find them and deliver the ball. Big plays will stretch the field and create running lanes and new 4 horsemen- Love, Price, Pain and Williams will run wild.

I believe this Notre Dame team will break the all-time ND scoring record and blow out scoreboard lights to the tune of 40+ Points per game. I look at our schedule and I cannot honestly see a loss because I don't think any of our 12 opponents can match our offensive firepower.

In fact, I don't think there is a team in the country we cannot stay with offensively.

TEAM BREAKDOWN, POSITION GROUPS

--DEFENSIVE LINE----

Athlon has this group ranked #6. It is no secret that our playoff production in shutting down the run dropped off when we lost Riley Mills and Howard Cross and we really didn't have a clear answer in replacing them. Texas A&M and Miami have the power running game to pound teams up the middle- especially Miami.

Neither Gabriel Rubio or Jason Onye have played enough for us to know for sure what to expect but they are much bigger and stronger. Expect a heavy rotation with transfer Jared Dawson and Donovan Hinish and Armel Mukam. We may even go deeper in the roster in obvious short yardage situations against those physical teams, to young but massive players like Davion Dixon or Sean Sevallano, JR.

We may supplement that strategy by occasionally loading the box. Fortunately, we are one of the few teams that can do that and get away with it a significant portion of the time.

Joshua Burnham, Boubacar Traore, Bryce Young and Junior Tuihalamaka will rotate at the end positions. At about midseason, Jordon Botello will join them.

This group has the potential to be fearsome but that potential hinges entirely on the ability of the interior to hold up. Burnham has been really a role player ideally but is being asked to be more as dictated by injuries. Probably no position group was impacted more by injuries and if there is a link in the Notre Dame chain that is vulnerable, it is here. If the switch can come on for Burnham as and every down player, the success of this group can really grow.

Junior T. is the most intriguing player of all. He is that Swiss army knife that could be used in varying and different packages. He is the biggest, along with Botello but still retains linebacker speed and lateral movement. He led the team in production last year. My guess is that Burnham, Traore, and Young will form the foundation, but that Chris Ash will move Junior all over the place to create mismatches and disruption. Young has great upside, like his dad did, but he needs more experience and playing time.

By the time Botella returns, this unit could be a real problem for opponents.

Ryan Roberts of A to Z has been raving about this group and believes we will be large and effective at the point of attack in the interior. If he is right, this is going to be a nasty, dominating defense.

Our edge players are going to be a wrecking crew. If teams like Miami, Texas A & M and others have difficulty running inside against us, they could be in deep trouble very quickly.

TEAM BREAKDOWN, POSITION GROUPS

--LINEBACKERS----

The scariest thing about the fact that Athlon's has this group ranked as the #4 linebacker group in the nation is that the guy who should be the anchor- Jaylon Sneed has not performed anywhere close to his potential.

Drayk Bowen emerged from the All-America game rated as the best defensive player in high school football in the country. Not best linebacker, mind you. Best player. He is probably the most valuable defensive player we have because of his sound tackling and tremendous football IQ.

Jaiden Ausberry has freakish sideline to sideline speed and can make the kind of plays that so many former Notre Dame linebacker missed on before.

Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa (KVA), as his initials suggest, is the power plant. Freakish strength for a linebacker like Jaylon Smith had.

Jaylon Sneed is the most versatile in skillset, but his inconsistency has been frustrating. He has spectacular flashes then disappears. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash may determine how to deploy him in different ways- pass coverage, run stopper or pass rusher off the edge. Brian Driscoll of Irish Breakdown said that if the light finally comes on for Sneed, this is the #1 linebacking corp in the country. I agree, and this is especially true with the way I think Junior T will be moved around.

I hope we have some games well in hand so we can see guys like Anthony Sacca and Madden Faraimo hit the field.

In fact, some are saying Faraimo might force his way into a starting role. This is going to be a fearsome group.

TEAM BREAKDOWN, POSITION GROUPS

--SECONDARY----

Over the last 4 seasons, the best secondary in America has been in South Bend. Dubbed ''the no fly zone'', it has become a factory of elite players. Cam Hart, Benjiman Morrison and Xavier Watts have been the most notable.

Leonard Moore was forced into the rotation by injuries and quickly emerged as probable the best cover corner in the nation. Christan Gray is no slouch on the other side either. With Adol Schuler and Jalen Stroman at safety and Devonta Smith at Nickel, I challenge you to show me a better starting 5 in America in a 4-2-5 defensive look.

Karson Hobbs appears to be the most viable backup option at corner with Tae Johnson and Luke Talich at safety. Talich had a 79-yard pick 6 vs Florida State last year. Mark Zackary also appears to be an interception machine.

OVERALL CONCLUSION- DEFENSE

The first 2 games concern me the most, Miami especially. The two questions are;

1. Will Miami (and, to a lesser extent, Texas A & M) be able to push around the interior of Notre Dame's Defensive line?

2. What steps would Notre Dame take to counter that?

Obviously, ND wants to win both of those games. If you view last year's Northern Illinois debacle as an aberration, you have to believe the season sets up nicely if we emerge 2-0 from those 2 games. If we emerge 0-2, our season goals could very well be in jeopardy.

Miami and Texas A & M will have the same goal as us- bottle up our running game and force us the throw, while running on us at will. Whoever wins those battles in aggregate, wins the games.

Advantage : Notre Dame.

Here is why I think so.

1. Offensive line vs Defensive line. I think the Offensive lines may very well win for all 3 teams. However, the offensive lines, though elite are not as good as ours and our Defensive line, though not-yet-elite still outranks both of theirs. Our OL vs DL win will be larger than their OL vs DL win in the aggregate, determined by yardage and time of possession.

2. Linebacker play. Ours are superior to theirs and not by a little bit. Though Miami may get a bunch of 4 or 5 yard gains, they won't get the 6-20 yard gashes. We will. This is due to superior Linebacker play and....

3. Our running backs are vastly superior to theirs. We will have the gash plays and pickup more first downs with our stable of backs.

4. We can afford to load the box more than they can. Neither of their secondaries rank in the top 10. Athlon has us #3 but I believe we are actually #1. Miami lost their top 5 receivers and Texas A&M's receivers don't scare me either. Miami's secondary is all new and that confusion and miscommunication will be used against them.

5. Quarterback and Receivers. Contrary to the popular wisdom, I trust our QB and receivers more than theirs to take advantage of those big play opportunities.

6. Defensive pressure. If either of these opponents have to play from behind, the OL vs DL battle shifts to advantage ND. I certainly like our ability to bring the heat from our Ends and Backers.

   
   
   
   

It may seem that I have boiled the entire defensive season down to 2 games but there is a reason for that. After those first two games, our only perceived disadvantage- their OL vs our DL vanishes.

In fact, after those 2 games we face only 1 unit that ranks in the top 10 in 1 category (Pittsburgh linebackers) the rest of the season. Simply stated, we have an overwhelming talent advantage, in virtually all phases of offense and defense against each of the last 10 teams we play.

That talent includes depth, and I think a lot of young defensive players are going to get meaningful reps. By playoff time, this defense will be the nation's best.

Chris Ash was instrumental in Ohio State's 2014 national championship defense so he has proven he can get it done if the fit is right. His statement that he may mix some zone into our pass defense is particularly aimed at them. We won't be playing them until December or January at all but I don't believe scheme is why we lost to Ohio State. If Benjamin Morrison, Xavier Watts, Howard Cross, Riley Mills, Jordan Botello and Boubacar Traore were not out with injuries, we would have beaten the Buckeyes.

If our players are healthy, I believe Ash will be successful. His defense will be less complicated but faster and more violent. Marcus Freeman wants to create a defense that is feared, one that plays with all the finesse of a pack of junkyard dogs. I believe that when the playoffs start, this defense will be just plain nasty. Alabama 2011 nasty. Miami 2001 nasty. Notre Dame 1988 nasty.

TEAM BREAKDOWN, POSITION GROUPS

--SPECIAL TEAMS----

Noah Burnette will be the field goal kicker, after transferring from North Carolina. In a year of encouraging insane statistics, here is one. Notre Dame fell one field goal short of entering the national championship with a 15-0 record. That's right. One kick.

Why is that encouraging? Notre Dame's kicker Mitch Jeter was hurt all year and didn't get healthy until the playoffs. His kick vs Penn State put us in the title game.

As I mentioned earlier, we made it to the title game with the 97th ranked pass offense and you have to be optimistic because there is just no way we don't improve on that. In the same way, we scored 38 points a game with a Field goal percentage that ranked 127th at 55%. Barring the freak event of our kicker being hurt all year- again- there is no chance that doesn't improve and that certainly bodes well for an improvement in scoring.

James Rendell returns as a fantastic punter and will only get better.

Marty Biagi’s special teams unit was a standout, ranking 1st nationally (tied) in blocked kicks (6), 2nd in blocked punts (3), and 5th in kickoff return defense (15.61 yards). Freshman DL Bryce Young led with three blocked kicks. The unit set a program record with 73 PATs and featured game-changing plays, including Jayden Harrison’s 98-yard kickoff return TD in the Sugar Bowl and Mitch Jeter’s 41-yard field goal to seal the Orange Bowl victory

He has become famous for fake punts and field goals and gadget plays.

There is no reason to believe 2025 won't be spectacular on special teams.

WHAT I BELIEVE IT WILL LOOK LIKE ON THE FIELD

There is only 1 reason Steve Angeli drops to 3rd on the depth chart at QB after the spring game. If you are looking for experience and knowledge of the offense, Angeli is the obvious favorite. The move shows that Mike Denbrock and Marcus Freeman understand that the missing piece for a championship offense is the ability to stretch the field vertically.

If it seems over-simplistic when I assert that the ability to hit the big vertical play consistently is the key that unlocks the championship door, I'm sorry. It really is.

• This was a team that only hit about 55% of their field goals during the season last year due to an injured kicker. The average is 83%.

• This was a team that averaged an anemic 7.1 yards per pass last year. The average was 7.5+.

• This is a team that had at least 16 players miss at least 1 game due to injury. The average was 8-10.

  
  

  Yet, we went 14-2 and played for a national championship.

Conclusions and projections.

Offense: I have been watching Notre Dame football for decades and I seen many great players at different positions. I can truly say that I have never seen an offense with as much talent, balance and flat-out firepower, in so many areas, as this one at one time.

The offensive lines of 1992-93 and 2015-2017 are comparable but the 2015-17 backfield wasn't nearly as deep and diverse. The 1992-93 team had the starting star power of Bettis and Brooks but not close to the depth of this group.

The 1992 receiving corp had Derrick Mays but not much else. The early 2000's group had Jeff Samardzija and Rhema Mcknight but I think Brady Quinn elevated them. Michael Young and Golden Tate were a good tandem but I cant ever remember a quartet like Greathouse, Faison, Pauling and Fields. Even at Tight End, Raridon is a freak, top-end talent if he can put it together.

This offense, at a minimum, will be powerful, balanced and explosive. If they play to their ceiling, they will be generational.

Defense: Most of the Notre Dame defenses of the past 30 years had at least one glaring weakness.

• A lack of size and strength on the D line.

• No speed, power or athleticism on the edge.

• Too slow, small and non athletic at linebacker.

• A complete speed disadvantage in the secondary against the elite teams.

Truth be told, many times, we had some elite players in some of these areas but not enough of them in enough areas. That has changed. We have monsters at every level of the defense and lots of them. We have a ton on fast, smart, athletic, nasty players.

In our last 5 games, we played USC, Indiana, Georgia, Penn State and Ohio State.

We went 5-1 against that group without Jordan Botello, Boubacar Traore, Benjamin Morrison, Howard Cross, Xaviar Watts and Rylie Mills.

This year's team has more overall depth.

I think this is going to be an explosive, balanced offensive coupled with a nasty, violent suffocating defense.

BREAKING DOWN THE SCHEDULE

I honestly believe Notre Dame is going to go 12-0 against this schedule. We are just too strong in too many areas. However, I am going to group the opponents into competitive vs non.

Teams we will beat in games that will be somewhat competitive.

Miami will try to run the football up the middle to control the game and will try to throw off play action. They will have mixed success at first, but Notre Dame will eventually seize control by making Miami one dimensional and forcing them to play from behind. We will hit the big plays and they wont. Notre Dame will win by at least 10 points.

Texas A&M will try the same formula, but we are better than last year and will beat them worse. At least a 14-point Notre Dame win.

USC is almost always competitive. It will be for a while, but we pull away late.

Arkansas will attempt to match our physicality, but the talent advantage lets us pull away.

Between Pitt and Syracuse, one of them will catch us a little flat but we will win late, anyway.

ROUTS

Boise State, Purdue, North Carolina State, Boston College, Navy and Stanford will all be destroyed by us.

PLAYOFFS

After going 12-0, Notre Dame secures the #1 seed and 2 additional weeks off.

Texas edges out Alabama to win the SEC and the 2 seed.

Clemson wins the ACC and gets the 3 seed.

Alabama gets the 4 seed as an at-large.

Arizona State, Penn State, Ohio State and Georgia advance to the 2nd round, but all 4 top seeds win against them.

In the semifinals, Clemson falls to Texas, Notre Dame beats Alabama.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Notre Dame claims their 14th NCAA recognized championship (tying Alabama for most ever) with a 38-7 win over Texas.