Notre Dame Has Preseason Championship Formula for 2026

A quick look around the nation these first couple weeks of this college football off-season has heads turning to 2026. As we see plenty of "way too early" top 10s or 25s, with the majority of them having Notre Dame ranked somewhere in the top-five, it's clear that the Fighting Irish will enter 2026 with as high of expectations as we've seen in quite some time.

Notre Dame has every right to think it will contend for a national championship, as it comes off a year that saw it get shafted by not being in the College Football Playoff when it seemed to pretty clearly be one of the nation's best 10 teams, at worst.

As high as my expectations are for Notre Dame, I can't help but look at three things as the reason the rest of the national media is so in love with it for 2026.

Part 3: Something to Prove

Media loves the off-season narratives. A team with "something to prove" is always going to get a bit more love by the majority than one that is coming off a national championship. Notre Dame clearly has "a chip on its shoulder" after being left out of the College Football Playoff, and that will only help move Notre Dame up in the preseason rankings as we move towards the 2026 season.

Part 2: A Recognizable Quarterback

For the record, I think CJ Carr is an absolute star. He had some growing pains as the season went on last year, but showed everything you could possibly want and more from a redshirt freshman making his first go-around.

That said, there are few things media members hang onto like a recognizable quarterback. Like I said, Carr is legitimate good, but that part doesn't always matter when it comes to these things.

Look at Penn State, for instance last year. Why were the Nittany Lions viewed as a preseason favorite to win it all? Veteran quarterback Drew Allar was listed as a big reason.

Anyone who watched him knew he was a liability in terms of championship talk, but he was plenty recognizable, and the media couldn't wait to run with that.

Carr certainly fits the mold, even if I'd take him over Allar seven days a week and twice on Sunday.

Part 1: A Coach the Media Loves

Whether you think Marcus Freeman is simply a good head coach or a great one again doesn't matter here. The media loves Freeman for a variety of reasons, none of which actually matter when giving out preseason projections or rankings.

Marcus Freeman at a men's basketball gam — Jan 13, 2026; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head football coach Marcus Freeman in attendance of the men’s basketball game against the Miami (FL) Hurricanes during the first half at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

There is a certain charisma required for a head coach for the media as a whole to buy into a team in the preseason. I'm not saying it's right or fair, I'm just saying its obvious.

Why was Florida almost always a preseason top five team under Steve Spurrier in the 1990s? Yeah, they were good, but overall Spurrier was loved by the media, and that played a factor.

I'm not saying Freeman isn't a darn good coach - he is - but he has the charisma that will only earn Notre Dame preseason points as well.

It will fall on Freeman and his staff to not let the hype get in the way of what should be a very special season in South Bend.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thought:

This isn't written to say that Notre Dame won't be great in 2026. I think the Irish enter the year with their best chance of winning a national championship since the early 1990s.

However, there is a formula that goes into being seen as one of those preseason favorites that doesn't actually have a ton to do with winning football games, and Notre Dame checks those boxes, too.