College Football Countdown: No. 14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

· Aug 09 - 6 minutes read

Hartman’s Arrival Generating Plenty of Buzz

The Marcus Freeman era got off to a slow start during the 2022 season after Brian Kelly left to take the head coaching job at LSU with a loss to Ohio State and then another one to unranked Marshall at home. Notre Dame won eight of the next nine games on the way to a nine-win season. The college football predictions have the Fighting Irish among the nation’s elite teams once again.

There will be some changes among the personnel taking the field for the Fighting Irish.

College Football Countdown: No. 14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish — Sam Hartman #10 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons | Julio aguilar/getty images/afp

Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman, Virginia Tech receiver Kalen Smith, Ohio State linebacker-defensive end Lavontae Jean-Baptiste (3½ sacks in 2022), Penn State running back Devyn Ford, Rhode Island cornerback Antonio Carter, Oklahoma State safety Thomas Harper (30 tackles in seven games) are among the incoming transfers.

Notre Dame lost quarterbacks Drew Pyne to Arizona State and Tyler Buchner to Alabama, receiver Lorenzo Styles to Ohio State, running back Logan Diggs to Louisiana State, cornerback Jayden Bellamy to Syracuse, tight end Cane Berrong to Coastal Carolina, linebacker Prince Kollie to Vanderbilt, offensive tackle Caleb Johnson to Southern Methodist.

When looking at the college football news, Notre Dame had a top 15 recruiting class. Five of the top six rated players in the class are slated to play offense led by offensive tackle Charles Jagusah.

According to the college football picks, Notre Dame (+3000) is tied for 11th in the odds to win the national title. Notre Dame comes in 13th in the first Coaches Poll of the 2023 season.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

2022 record: 9-4
Head coach: Marcus Freeman

It was an interesting season at the quarterback position with Tyler Buchner beginning as the starter before suffering a shoulder injury in the Marshall loss that was supposed to be of the season-ending variety. Buchner did return for the bowl game but Drew Pyne took over. Pyne completed 65% of his passes for more than 2,000 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions.

When both Pyne and Buchner decided to transfer, things got interesting. However, Notre Dame appears to have upgraded the position with the addition of Hartman from Wake Forest.

Hartman threw for 7,929 yards with 77 touchdowns and 26 interceptions to go with 12 touchdown runs over the last two seasons. The college football lines have Hartman (+1600) tied for sixth in the odds to win the Heisman Trophy.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tyler Buchner (@tylerbuchner)

Take A Look At These Other 2 NCAAF Special Articles

Kaleb Smith transferred from Virginia Tech. He led the Hokies with 37 catches and 674 yards a season ago. He is dealing with a shoulder injury that could keep him out for a while. Ford displayed some receiving ability in his four years at Penn State.

Tight end Michael Mayer was the top pass catcher for the Fighting Irish and is now in the NFL. There were 94 catches made by wide receivers and 65 of them were by either freshmen or sophomores. Jayden Thomas and DeionColzie are the top returning pass catchers.

Leading rusher Audric Estime returns after rushing for 920 yards and 11 touchdowns but Diggs headed to play for Kelly at LSU and he will be missed both as a runner and as a receiver. Chris Tyree is a pretty intriguing player who can contribute as a runner, receiver, kickoff returner, and perhaps even as a punt returner in 2023. Notre Dame was 7-0 a season ago when Estime had at least 70 rushing yards.

Notre Dame might have one of the better offensive tackle tandems in the country in Joe Alt and Blake Fisher with Zeke Correll another key returnee. Alt is showing up as a potential top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He will not be the only Notre Dame player on the radar of NFL scouts.

There are more questions on defense even with the return of JD Bertrand, Jack Kiser, and Marist Liufau, the top three tacklers a season ago. Safety D.J. Brown is also back but edge rusher Isaiah Foskey (11 sacks) and cornerback TaRiq Bracey are big losses.

Keep an eye on cornerback Ben Morrison after he recorded six interceptions and four pass breakups as a freshman.

Chris Tyree could be a force as a special teams returner. There will be some new names handling the kicking and punting duties.

Those who bet online keep in mind that Notre Dame didn’t cover against the college football spreads in more than two consecutive games a season ago. Each of the last seven games played by the Fighting Irish did finish over the total.

Outlook

There is plenty of excitement at Notre Dame and much of it is generated by the arrival of Hartman. He had 20 games with at least 300 passing yards at Wake Forest and new offensive coordinator Gerad Parker is set to let him air it out in 2023 as he works with quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator Gin Guidugli.

How well Notre Dame rushes the passer will be worth watching in 2023. Notre Dame went 4-2 in one-score games so depending on how you choose to look at it, the Fighting Irish could have been better or worse than last year’s record might indicate.

The season begins in Dublin, Ireland, against Navy on Aug. 26 and the college football odds currently list the Fighting Irish as 19½-point favorites. A matchup with Tennessee State will serve as the home opener before things get serious with a road test at North Carolina State and Ohio State comes to South Bend on Sept. 23.

There are also home games against Southern Cal and Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and Pitt with the bye week in between before heading to face ACC favorite Clemson on Nov. 4. There might be a little bit of buzz attached to the Nov. 18 matchup against Wake Forest.

The expectations are a little subdued with Notre Dame priced at +140 to go over nine wins compared to -170 odds to finish under nine wins.