Notre Dame Is Closing The Gap, But More Work Is Needed

Notre Dame has gone a very long time since it won a national title, and it has been almost as long since the Irish had a team that felt like a true championship contender. Head coach Marcus Freeman is trying to change that, and in just two years he has done things to close the gap on where Notre Dame was and where it needs to be if it wants to compete for a title.

Although the gap has been closed, the Irish still have work to do if it wants to go from being almost good enough program, to being a team that hoists up a national championship trophy in the near future.

There are several key areas where improvement is needed.

1. Culture Change - If you look at the best teams, especially those that are contenders season after season, there is a very clear championship culture in the program. There is top-down buy-in of the vision that the head coach has set forth. Teams with a great culture show a level of week-after-week consistency that Notre Dame has not shown in a long time.

Teams with great culture don't have the "they didn't show up" moments like we saw with Marshall and Stanford in 2022, or the Louisville and Clemson games in 2023. I could go back many years and point out similar games. Toledo and Cincinnati in 2021, Louisville in 2020, Michigan and Virginia Tech in 2019, Ball State, Vanderbilt and Pitt in 2018, Miami in 2017.

Freeman clearly wants a program that is physical, plays with passion and every coach wants consistency. At times Notre Dame is that physical team, but not enough. Freeman is making a dent in the culture, but it's not there yet. Can he get it there? We'll see, but it is a must if he's going to build Notre Dame into being a champion.

Establishing a more physically punishing team that shows up week after week has to be at the top of the priority list for Freeman.

Getting more top-down buy-in is also a must, and his recent moves from a coaching standpoint were a big step towards that.

2. Talent Is Getting There, Is The Development - Notre Dame has had a serious upgrade in talent in Freeman's short stint in charge. The combination of Freeman, Chad Bowden and a strong recruiting staff has changed the game in South Bend.

The entire roster has more athleticism and speed, more size/length, more raw natural talent and more depth of talent than we've seen in years, and it's only going to get better. Notre Dame is going to have a lot of talent cycling through the program in 2024 and beyond.

Talent acquisition only gets you so far. The best programs also have outstanding talented development. Yes, Nick Saban recruited exceptional players during his storied tenure at Alabama, but his best teams were also developed at an elite level.

Freeman built a defensive staff that has shown it can develop talent at a high level, but that needs to continue in upcoming seasons. The key, however, is getting the offensive staff on that level.

Offseason additions of Mike Denbrock (offensive coordinator) and Mike Brown (wide receivers) to go with Deland McCullough and Gino Guidugli on offense was a huge step. Guidugli especially has a vital task, because lack of development at quarterback has been arguably the biggest problem plaguing the program over the last decade-plus.

3. Offense Has Work To Do - Notre Dame played championship defense in 2023, and it's not the first time we've seen that happen in South Bend. The issue in most seasons has been the offense, which simply put hasn't been close to good enough.

The offense took a step forward in 2023, setting program records for scoring and posting one of the best yards per play averages in modern history. There were still way too many down moments, especially in the three losses and the come-from-behind win over Duke.

It's Denbrock's job to take things to the next level and build a championship caliber offense at Notre Dame. It's fun to think about what the 2015 offense would have been able to do if it had a defense like the one we saw in 2023, 2018 and 2012.

There is always talk about quarterback needing to be better, and that remains true. The good news is Notre Dame has landed some big time talent at quarterback since Freeman arrived, and a roster that is going to have players like Riley Leonard, Kenny Minchey, CJ Carr, Deuce Knight and Steve Angeli has more than enough God-given ability to get big time QB play. It just needs to be coached properly.

Getting more from the wideouts is also a must. The lack of development at wide receiver in recent seasons has been incredibly frustrating, but Freeman landed Brown to fix that. Denbrock also showed he knows how to build an offense that maximizes his wide receiver talent, something we saw at Notre Dame, Cincinnati and LSU.

4. Both Lines Need To Get Better - Notre Dame's defensive line and offensive line have had brilliant moments over the last decade, but consistency has been a major issue on both sides. This is especially true on the offensive line when Harry Hiestand isn't the coach. Can Notre Dame have elite lines built by someone other than Hiestand? That remains to be seen, but it's needed.

The defensive line was outstanding in 2023, and we've seen it thrive in past seasons under Mike Elston as well, but again, consistency has been the issue from a recruiting and production standpoint.

Being able to consistently put talented, developed and productive lines on the field is a must for Freeman, who says he wants his program to be line driven. Notre Dame needs to be a more physical football team, and that has to start in the trenches.

Joe Rudolph has a huge task in front of him. He did an okay job in his first season at Notre Dame, but he has to do a lot better moving forward. He'll have plenty of talent to work with, there's no doubt about that, but can he improve on the poor footwork we saw this season, improve on the lack of consistency we saw this season and improve on the lack of run game dominance we saw this season? I don't know, but if Notre Dame is going to compete for a title with him running the line he needs to develop the unit at a high level.

Al Washington did some really good things this year, but there's still another level his unit needs to get to, especially with on ball production. Being able to put that kind of play on the field year after year will be the question, but he certainly got things rolling in 2023.

5. Loren Landow Needs To Be A Hit - Notre Dame can't have an elite program without an elite strength program. That's why Freeman needs Loren Landow to be a great hire. A great strength coach not only has the obvious of building strength, explosiveness and establishing good recovery habits, he also plays a huge role in establishing the mental toughness and physical toughness that is a must from a culture standpoint.

6. Big Game Success - Short and sweet. Notre Dame has failed to compete on the big stage for decades. Whether it's big regular season games or big postseason games, Notre Dame comes up short way, way too much. That needs to change, obviously. All the above points lead to this, but at the end of the day this has to be the end result.

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