Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2026 College Football Preview
Posted June 5, 2026
2025 Recap
Record – 10-2
ATS – 6-6
“There’s no crying in baseball!”
<Jimmy Dugan> <A League of Their Own, 1992>
A TALE OF TWO LOSSES, yo.
The Irish dropped their two toughest games — falling in heart‑stopping fashion to YOUR Miami Hurricanes and Texas A&M — then proceeded to torch everyone else on the schedule, reeling off ten straight wins to close out the regular season. It was a dominant finish, but the CFP committee looked at those two early defeats and said thanks but no thanks, leaving Notre Dame on the outside of the playoff looking in.
There’s also no crying in bowl season — but apparently there is skipping out when you don’t get voted into the playoff.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2026 Outlook
OFFENSE
2025 By The Numbers (FBS):
- Scoring: 42.0 PPG (#2 FBS)
- Total Offense: 458.5 YPG (#12 FBS)
- Rushing: 203.4 YPG (#17 FBS)
- Passing: 255.1 YPG (#37 FBS)
- Sacks Allowed: 12 (#7 FBS)
CJ Carr enters his second full season as the starting QB, and the dood looks like a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate — 2,741 yards, 67% completions, and an excellent 24‑6 TD‑to‑INT mark LY. He’s not exactly a nightmare with his legs, but he punched in three rushing TDs and brings excellent leadership to the table.
The backfield situation is a different story entirely — BOTH Jeremiyah Love (1,372, 6.9 YPC, 18 TD) and Jadarian Price (674, 6.0, 10 TD) are off to the NFL, and the cupboard needs a serious restock. Four‑star Aneyas Williams returns after averaging 9.3 YPC and scoring five TDs in limited action LY. The MONSTROSITY that is Kean Young (5‑11, 234) is back from an ACL tear. Redshirt freshman Nolan James Jr. will compete alongside a few four‑star incoming freshmen, so our best guess is that the Irish will be just fine at RB — though it remains to be seen whether there’s a true superstar in the room. <grabs popcorn>
The THROW GAME has some intriguing pieces. #1 WR Jordan Faison returns (49‑640‑4), and the name on everyone’s lips is incoming freshman Devin Fitzgerald — yes, that Fitzgerald — son of the great Larry Fitzgerald, who reportedly looked sensational in spring scrimmages. They’ll miss dangerous WR Malachi Fields (630, 17.5, 5 TD) and #1 TE Eli Rairdon, both off to the NFL, but the pipeline at Notre Dame never runs dry. Jaden Greathouse is healthy after missing a big chunk of LY (592, 4 TD in 2024), and there’s a boatload of talented pieces on the depth chart awaiting their opportunity. Oh ya — and they’ve probably got their next future star at TE in Cooper Flanagan.
The offensive line is one of the strongest units on the team — talented, experienced, and deep — though some personnel shuffling and injury‑recovery situations bear watching heading into fall camp.
DEFENSE
2025 By The Numbers (FBS):
- Scoring Defense: 17.6 PPG (#10 FBS)
- Total Defense: 313.5 YPG (#22 FBS)
- Rush Defense: 100.1 YPG (#11 FBS)
- Pass Defense: 213.4 YPG (#56 FBS)
- Sacks: 34 (#23 FBS)
The stop unit is absolutely loaded and this might be the best Irish defense in years. The DL combines returning pieces with a dynamite portal class — EDGE Boubacar Traore is coming off a 6.5-sack campaign and they’ve added EDGE Keon Keeley from ROLL TIDE and DT Francis Brewu from Pitt. The depth and physicality up front is genuinely scary. The LB unit is one of the best in the country — leading tackler Drayk Bowen is a senior playing for a contract and he’s flanked by the athletic and versatile Jaiden Ausberry in a group that features ten (!) scholarship linebackers. New LB coach Brian Jean-Mary arrives from Michigan with a sterling reputation for developing talent.
The secondary is an EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES — safety Adon Shuler (#2 tackler, 2 INT LY) and emerging star CB Christian Gray anchor a deep and experienced group, and they scooped up stud CB DJ McKinney from Colorado to add even more firepower to the back end. Oh, and did we mention they also have one of the best CBs in college football back for duty in Leonard Moore (5 INT). The pass defense ranked #56 nationally in 2025 and we expect a YUUUGE step forward in 2026.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The PK situation was a GONG SHOW last season — a woeful 5/9 on field‑goal attempts — and Marcus Freeman addressed the fiasco in a big way by signing former Purdue standout PK Spencer Porath (15/17 FG LY). There’s an ongoing battle at punter as we approach press time, but we trust they’ll get it sorted. It’s worth noting the Irish will definitely miss ace KR Jadarian Price, who had TWO KR TDs in 2025.
Schedule Analysis
Overall — This schedule is BUTTERY SOFT, even by Notre Dame standards, and sets up beautifully for a double‑digit winning season. They open with an interesting neutral‑site game against Wisconsin in Green Bay on September 6, and the only two truly tough assignments are a road trip to BYU and a home tilt against YOUR Miami Hurricanes.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot — vs Rice (Sept 12)
This is a dangerous sandwich spot in terms of covering the spread. The Irish come off the Wisconsin game and have Michigan St up next — and you know that Sparty will play that one with the WHITE HOT intensity of 1,000 SUNS. Notre Dame will have to be fully prepared for that upcoming battle. Rice will be severely overmatched on September 12, but we don’t think we’ll be laying 5 TDs or similar with the home favorite.
Season Win Total
Market consensus – June 5
Over 11.5 +150
Under 11.5 -190
MEGALOCKS says:
No leanage.
This team is absolutely stacked, and they’re almost certainly winning 11 or 12 games. We’re extremely bullish on the Irish overall, but at these prices we’ll look toward the CFP futures instead of the win total.
Note – Our official list of season win total investments will be posted in the blog section of the website.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
Marcus Freeman enters year five in South Bend with an impressive 43-12 record (78.2%) including a trip to the National Championship Game in 2024.
Notre Dame’s iconic gold helmets have contained real actual gold flakes since the late 1950s — because of course they do. The 23.9‑karat gold dust mixed into the paint is collected from the Golden Dome atop the Main Building during regilding projects. For decades, student slaves, or “managers”, used to repaint the helmets before every single game like it was some sacred weekly ritual… until 2011, when the program quietly ditched the tradition in favor of a high‑tech process that keeps the helmets looking consistent. Trivia MISSILES flying around here. Take cover.
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
This just might be Marcus Freeman’s best team yet, and the schedule is cooperating in a BIG WAY. CJ Carr is a legitimate Heisman contender, the defense is loaded from front to back, and the supporting cast on offense has enough talent to make opposing coordinators lose sleep.
We’re projecting a comfortable CFP berth for the Fighting Irish. The question won’t be WHETHER they make the playoff — it’ll be HOW FAR they can go.
Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame!