Irish Breakdown

Notre Dame Football Will Need a Miracle To Go 10-2

Thanks to the early schedule, things aren't looking too bright in South Bend after a tough start.
Mason Plummer|
Sep 13, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) takes a knee during the first half against the Texas A&M Aggies at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
Sep 13, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) takes a knee during the first half against the Texas A&M Aggies at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Scheduling teams of Miami and Texas A&M's quality for the first two games was a wild thing to do.

Is that okay to say?

No other program in college football regularly makes things harder on itself than Notre Dame, and it has done it yet again.

Sure, you could argue that Notre Dame should have just won one or both of these games (and you'd be right), but the season is practically over, and we're just two games in.

What are we doing here?

Nearly every other program in the country schedules a tune-up game or three (Penn State) to get things going, get the kinks out, and get confidence flowing before the big part of your schedule begins.

Not Notre Dame! Nope! Let's schedule two top-ten opponents immediately with a brand new defensive coordinator and first-time starting quarterback. Recipe for success.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish cheerleaders
Sep 13, 2025; South Bend, Indiana, USA; The Notre Dame Fighting Irish cheerleaders react after a play during the second half against the Texas A&M Aggies at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Caterina-Imagn Images | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

I understand schedules are made far in advance and there is truthfully no way to know that Miami or Texas A&M, both volatile programs, would be this good this season. However, Notre Dame put itself in this position and will now have to dig itself out - quickly.

Purdue represents one of the worst teams in the Power 4 conferences and *should* result in a get right game for the Fighting Irish in South Bend. One would imagine Notre Dame will come out fired up and beat down Purdue, but that is just the start.

It is going to take a hell of a performance to get Irish fans believing in this team again, despite only losing its first two games by a combined four points.

Hopefully, Notre Dame can pull itself to 1-2 this Saturday, gain some confidence, and get rolling but that is a tall, tall task. The talking heads of college football seem to believe that the Fighting Irish are more than capable of ripping off 10 in a row, and they are talent-wise, but this Notre Dame team has largely been unrecognizeable through two weeks.

Wholesale changes need to be made and quickly for Notre Dame to get itself back in a spot to have a chance to make the College Football Playoff, much less even be in the conversation.

With how the defense has played, it is going to take a miracle for Notre Dame to get to 10-2. I know no one likes the negative guy, of which I am usually not, but that is the truth. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash needs to undo everything he has done for me to believe in this team.

Notre Dame is allowing 30+ points per game, and you simply can't expect or ask a first-time starting quarterback to outscore a defense allowing that many points. CJ Carr is going to have a bad game here and there.

Will the defense pick him up? I'm not confident.

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Mason Plummer
MASON PLUMMER

Covered Notre Dame football recruiting since 2017 for Irish Breakdown, Blue & Gold Illustrated and Notre Dame On SI. Covering Notre Dame professionally got me my start in journalism, which led me to getting my degrees in Journalism and Communications from Ball State University in 2021. Featured on Bleacher Report, NBC Sports, Rivals, On3 and more. Have missed multiple weddings and graduation parties for Notre Dame games.

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