Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2024 25 That doesn't mean Denbrock and Leon- ard cannot. A team's top potential is the result of a plethora of factors, but quar- terback is called the most important po- sition in sports for a reason. Where Notre Dame is at the end of 2024 will have a lot to do with the play of Leonard and how much the Irish do to help him out. PUTTING IT TOGETHER The first two years of the Marcus Free- man era were far from perfect. Perfection is difficult if not impossible to achieve. Even the Michigan Wolverines had some missteps they'd like to have back on the way to 15-0. But 15-0 is a heck of a lot better than 10-3. By the pure numeric explanation, only weighing wins and losses, 15-0 is perfect. Everyone wants to be perfect. Every- one wants to hoist the College Football Playoff trophy over their heads at the end of the season. There were trends in each of Freeman's first two campaigns that prevented Notre Dame from doing so. In 2022, Notre Dame lost games it shouldn't have — namely, Marshall and Stanford. CFP winners don't even come close to losing to the likes of those pro- grams let alone actually falling to them — at home, no less. In 2023, Notre Dame couldn't com- pete on the road, falling at Louisville and Clemson. Those ACC opponents were beatable. They combined to lose eight games. None of those tallies in the loss column were at the hands of the Irish. In both 2022 and 2023, Notre Dame had an Ohio State problem. The Irish couldn't beat the Buckeyes, who haven't beaten Michigan since 2020. If the Wol- verines are the current gold standard in college football, it's not a good look for Notre Dame to be unable to beat the team that can't beat the team. Ohio State isn't on the 2024 sched- ule. The scariest foes are a Texas A&M team that just fired its head coach and is in transition and a Florida State team that lost one of the best quarterbacks in college football. Then there's the Louis- ville team Notre Dame lost to a year ago and a Caleb William-less USC. The Irish trounced the Trojans with Williams. The early betting line indicates Notre Dame is an underdog on the road at the Aggies. While understandable being that Kyle Field is a difficult place to play and there is a lot of optimism and belief sur- rounding the arrival of new head coach Mike Elko, there's definitely a case to be made that the Irish should be favored in that matchup. And there are similar arguments for Notre Dame being the rightful favorite in the 11 games there- after, too. It's on Freeman to not let Northern Illinois or Miami (Ohio) to be the new Marshall. It's on Freeman to not let Stan- ford win in South Bend for the second time in a row. It's on Freeman and the people he oversees and coaches to actu- ally show up on the road against teams like Purdue and Georgia Tech. Freeman talks a lot about the "bumpy road," but the biggest bumps should be in the rear view mirror. The schedule sets up nicely for Notre Dame. The Irish have a talented NFL prospect of a quarter- back and an experienced offensive coor- dinator to coach him. The Irish defense is coming off one of its best seasons in recent memory and many of the parts that made it such an elite unit — includ- ing defensive coordinator Al Golden — are back. This Notre Dame season doesn't have to end with a national title. It took Mich- igan three CFP appearances to finally get over the hump. But natural progression would be getting to the playoff for the first time, and there is not much stop- ping the Irish from arriving but them- selves. ✦