What Notre Dame Can Learn From Hoosiers and Seahawks Championship Runs

Well, that's it, folks. The 2025 football season is now officially complete. As the Seahawks collected their title trophy, the realization hit all football fans that the next games being played won't take place for about eight long months.

For Notre Dame and its fans, even though the college season has been over for a while, the conclusion of football in any form from 2025 is a palate cleanser.

Now, it's a clean slate. Every team in America, both college and professional are now starting from the same place. All have hope, all have dreams, and plenty of time to work towards them in this long upcoming offseason.

As it pertains to the Irish specifically, while watching what Indiana and Seattle did in their championship seasons, there are some traits these teams exhibited that provide a title road map I hope Notre Dame follows.

Notre Dame must play more consistent football in 2026

Indiana and Seattle both played very solid football throughout their regular seasons and maintained that momentum into and through the entirety of the playoffs. These teams displayed a level of consistency that the Irish must have to make a title run in 2026.

Notre Dame cannot afford to have huge swings in consistency and level of play. Making enough mistakes to start last year 0-2 ultimately outweighed finishing 10-0, and it cost the Irish dearly. In the year prior, the Irish opened up with a massively impressive win on the road vs Texas A&M, only to fall at home to Northern Illinois one week later.

Consistency is key, and in 2026, the Irish must show they have learned this lesson. Fortunately, the way the Notre Dame schedule lines up, the opportunity to gain and build on momentum early in the season should be a big help in this effort.

JULIAN LOVE AND RYLIE MILLS ARE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS ☘️#IrishInTheSuperBowl☘️ | @Seahawks pic.twitter.com/iUc3uRihmF
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) February 9, 2026

Title winning teams make bigtime plays in clutch moments

For as consistent as both the Hoosiers and Seahawks were this season, no team plays each game perfectly, and there were some tight moments for each that came down to one or two huge plays that ended up making all the difference in the final result. These teams made these plays. And were eventually rewarded with the ultimate prize.

While Notre Dame finished the season 10-0 in 2025, in the first two games, which were losses, there were a handful of plays in which Irish players were in position to make huge plays that could have changed the outcomes that, for whatever reason, didn't get made.

That needs to change in 2026. For the Irish to be next to claim the throne, big-time plays must be made in the most clutch moments. The good news? Notre Dame has the talent to do just that. All that's left now is for it to actually happen.