Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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18 PRESEASON 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ERIC HANSEN T he offensive pieces Mike Den- brock inherited ahead of the 2024 Notre Dame football season were good enough to get to the door- step of a national championship, yet also flawed enough to confirm his long- term vision for how he wanted to evolve it in future seasons. In Year 3 of Denbrock's run as Irish offensive coordinator in the Marcus Freeman era — in his third tour of duty overall as a Notre Dame assistant — that vision is no longer just a concept. It's merging with reality as far as Denbrock is concerned. A key offseason objective that Free- man and Denbrock share is to make sure that process looks more like a finished product and less like a work-in-prog- ress when the Irish open the season Sept. 6 at iconic Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., against Wisconsin. The Badgers struggled enough under head coach Luke Fickell overall (4-8) in his third year at Wisconsin that his job security was teetering in November. But the Badger defense was actually more of a solution than part of the problem, ranking 24th nationally in total defense. Based on the 2025 numbers, that would make Wisconsin the second-best defense Denbrock and the Irish will face in 2026, with Miami — 12th overall na- tionally — being the best. "The focus has to be how do we be- come a better program at the start of the season, right?" Freeman told a small group of reporters in a late-July sit- down. That urgency comes from Free- man's combined 3-5 record in Games 1 and 2 during his first four seasons as Irish head coach and a combined 40-6 mark in the games that followed (with a bowl loss in his debut in 2021). "I think as you look at over the four years, we've improved as a team as the season goes on," Freeman said. "And so there's something that we're doing in our process that is helping us improve and play better at the end of the season. "How do we evaluate, through prac- tice scripts and through what we're do- ing through science, to make that bet- ter? But also how do we fix the way we start? So, I think it's a fine line. We don't want to blow it up. We're doing some- thing that's right. But how do we find a way to still get, there's a way to get bet- ter? We've just got to find it." Changes along those lines were im- plemented during winter conditioning as well as the 15 spring practices staged in March and April, the latter of which included more ones-versus-ones and a larger volume of competitive team prac- tice periods and fewer individual drills. From a totality standpoint, Notre Dame did improve dramatically offen- sively in Denbrock's second year, and with a first-year starter at quarterback in CJ Carr. The Irish in fact, improved their national ranking in eight of the nine major offensive categories from 2024 to 2025. In Denbrock's first year, quarterback Riley Leonard's running ability, his guile and his passing improvement over the course of that season paired well enough with Al Golden's elite defense to get the Irish into the CFP title game against Ohio State. But the Buckeyes, in their 34-23 victory, were able to expose the sche- matic soft spots in the offense and often were able to get the Irish to play left- handed and outside of a comfort zone. To wit, that Notre Dame offense was extremely imbalanced (19th nationally in rush offense to 101st in pass offense), was a middling 45th in sacks allowed even with a mobile quarterback, and ranked 61st in third-down efficiency. Its No. 49 ranking nationally in team pass efficiency is the second worst of the 56 SETTING THE AGENDA The offensive line remains front and center in coordinator Mike Denbrock's continuing development of the offense During fall camp, the Irish need to sort out two contested positions on their offensive line — right guard and center — while also building depth that can absorb an injury or two. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER