Paul Finebaum Makes Bold Guarantee for Notre Dame–Miami Game

Finebaum can only see one outcome of Sunday night's season opener

Oct 5, 2024; College Station, Texas, USA; SEC Nation analyst Paul Finebaum looks on prior to the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Missouri Tigers at Kyle Field. | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Notre Dame's 2025 football season kicks off Sunday night with a big one down south as the Irish are at No. 10 Miami to start the year.

Despite not playing often these days, Notre Dame and Miami still don't think too fondly of one another. The Hurricanes are stuck living in one night in 2017 while the Irish still won't stop talking about the classic 1988 Catholics vs. Convicts game.

What happens Sunday night will have a massive impact on the College Football Playoff. Both teams are expected to make a run at the CFP based on their preseason rankings alone, and the loser won't have much wiggle room the rest of the season.

Paul Finebaum Makes Bold Prediction for Notre Dame vs. Miami

(EDITORS NOTE: caption correction) Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates defeating the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Finebaum, the TV mascot for the SEC, was on SportsCenter on Sunday, performing his "Crystal Paul" predicitions segment. Let's just say that Paul is more than a little confident in Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame's chances at Hard Rock Stadium.

“I want to talk about one team here, because I am nervous,” Finebaum said Sunday afternoon. “There’s a game a week from tonight in Miami, you probably heard about this. (It'll be) the luck of the Irish, as Notre Dame beats Miami. Guaranteed, right here.”

I can't say that I follow Finebaum's game picks anywhere near close enough to have his handicapping skills scouted out, but I do know that it was only a couple short years ago he predicted Notre Dame would soon be in the Big Ten and we all see how that has worked out, so I'm not putting a ton of stock into his pick here.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thought:

The confidence I have in Notre Dame football is at its highest it's been since I was a little kid watching the 1993 team each Saturday. It starts with head coach Marcus Freeman but its a program that is run well from top to bottom.

Mike Denbrock is as good an offensive coordinator as there is in college football and will put freshman quarterback CJ Carr in positions to succeed, thanks to the loads of talent around him. On defense, Notre Dame breaks in new coordinator Chris Ash, but the talent is through the charts.

Quarterback might not be one of them, but Notre Dame is better in a lot more places than Miami is, and I'm having real trouble seeing it otherwise.

2025 provides the opportunity for Notre Dame to show that it didn't just arrive in 2024 but will have staying power for the years to come. That starts Sunday night in front of a massive national audience in Miami.