Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542428
20 FEBRUARY 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ERIC HANSEN T he most momentous storyline of Notre Dame football's abruptly truncated 2025 season has finally congealed into something other than unfinished business. Which makes it quite likely to top the 2026 list as well after seemingly being a leading cause of acid reflux over the holidays for an Irish fan base hoping it all turned out to be benign clickbait. And maybe it was in some cases, but the interest from the NFL's New York Giants in fifth-year Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman was real. And so was the care the soon-to-be 40-year- old husband and father of six put into gathering information to figure out if the interest should be mutual. Ultimately, as expected, Freeman on Dec. 29 tweeted he'll proceed with Sea- son 5 with the Irish, with a 43-12 overall record and a restructured contract with an extension that will make it unlikely that offseason angst and limbo become an annual ritual. The 10 previously completed story arcs that will be counted down in this story would have taken on a different context if Freeman had taken a left turn in his thinking. But they're still strong enough to stand on their own and cre- ate the narrative for the sequel season to Notre Dame's scintillating title game run in 2024. With a 34-23 loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game last January feel- ing more like a dawning than a bitter end — now more than ever. And how the 2026 roster is shaping up would rein- force that notion even further. Here, then, from 10 to 1 are the most- important storylines that shaped this season and, in some cases, the long- term big picture of the Notre Dame football program. 10. KICKING CHAOS Well, it was actually more the poten- tial for chaos than anything that cha- otically unfolded during a game, though the 25-10 quasi-escape at Boston Col- lege Nov. 1 flirted with it. In that game, three different Irish kick- ers misfired on kicks. Notre Dame's No. 1 option, North Carolina grad transfer Noah Burnette, missed a point-after try. Walk-on Marcello Diomede then missed his first and only point-after try that day and for the rest of his Irish career, as it IN THE SPOTLIGHT Counting down the 10 most impactful storylines for Notre Dame football in 2025 The Fighting Irish opened the season with tough losses at Miami (27-24) and at home against Texas A&M (41-40) — both eventual playoff teams — due in large part to early offensive line struggles and the defensive regression, eliminating any margin of error they had to make the College Football Playoff. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER