Josh Pate Makes Bold Notre Dame Claim Ahead of 2026 College Football Season

re Dame opens the 2026 season at No. 5 in the preseason coaches poll. The Fighting Irish went 10-2 last fall, missed the College Football Playoff by one spot and then withdrew from bowl consideration. The praise is stacking up again. College football analyst Josh Pate joined "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" and made a claim that will bother a lot of people in the South. He thinks Notre Dame would win the SEC if it played there.

Josh Pate says Notre Dame would win the SEC this season

Host Colin Cowherd asked if the Irish could win a national title. Pate answered with a comparison instead.

"If they played in the SEC, I think I'd pick them to win the SEC this year," Pate said. "And I say that because it'll stir some people up where I'm from. But I also say it because people are going to mistakenly look at their schedule and discount them. This is a team that could stand up against any schedule in the country this year."

The schedule does look light on paper. Notre Dame opens against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field and hosts Rice in Week 2. The game at BYU will be tough and Miami visits South Bend in November. Earlier this month, Notre Dame and USC renewed their rivalry with a four-game series beginning in 2030.

Pate also credited the school for the hire it never had to search for.

"If they played in the SEC, I think I'd pick them to win the SEC this year." @colincowherd and @JoshPateCFB are VERY high on Notre Dame this year pic.twitter.com/8rmyAwPdnw
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) August 10, 2026

"Marcus Freeman's a heck of a coach," Pate said. "So you deserve credit for looking inside your building and realizing your guy's already there."

He kept going from there. "I don't know when you would have ever looked over an upcoming five-year period and felt better about the future of Notre Dame football than you do 2026 through 2031," Pate said.

Pate said Brian Kelly left because you have to go to LSU to win the biggest prize. LSU fired Kelly in October 2025, midway through his fourth season. Freeman is 43-12 at Notre Dame and reached the national title game in 2024.

The SEC has lost its mojo

Georgia was picked to win the league at SEC media days with 88 of 164 votes. Texas got 57. Ole Miss finished third with six.

Pate picked the Bulldogs too. "Why overthink the room? This is Georgia's league, this has been Georgia's league," he said.

Georgia has won the last two SEC titles under Kirby Smart. Still, the league has not won a national championship since the Bulldogs went back-to-back in 2021 and 2022. No SEC team has reached the title game since either.

Ohio State Buckeyes Ryan Day, Georgia Bulldogs Kirby Smart — We are almost three and a half years removed from when Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day and Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart posed for a photo during the Peach Bowl press conference. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Big Ten has won three straight with three different schools. Indiana finished 16-0 last season. Ole Miss was the only SEC team to reach a semifinal last year, and it did that after losing Lane Kiffin to LSU.

Pate's Notre Dame can win the SEC call is a confluence of two factors. We are in the midst of peak Irish. As laid out during his appearance on The Herd, the program is in a great spot. Meanwhile, the SEC is floundering. The days of a young man from the south being able to attach his confidence and personality to his favorite college football conference are long gone.

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