In the blink of an eye another season of Notre Dame football is over. While we will have a larger college football digest piece to come this week, I wanted to take some to talk about my Fightin’ Irish. We’ll discuss this season and look ahead to what the offseason will bring and how it sets the team up for 2024. Let’s dive in!

Season Review

As the season comes to a close, The Irish will likely look back at it with regret. They were a team with lofty expectations (rightfully so), but they ultimately fell short of them with a 9-3 finish. They were mere inches, and in some cases a player, short of their ultimate goals. While they were flawed, a true fan will be left asking themselves “what could have been?” They had Ohio State dead to rights, if they had shown up against Louisville they probably would have won, they had the chance recover with a win at Clemson, a win that likely would have gotten them into a New Year’s Six bowl. But in the end all they have to celebrate is a win over rival USC, a win that diminished in quality by years end.

They’ve been drawn to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, quite literally out of a hat, and will go to the remote location without most of their players. Most of the receiver room has entered the transfer portal, Audric Estime is expected to sit out with Joe Alt and Blake Fisher. Even Sam Hartman will sit this one out and I can’t say I blame him. Hartman came to South Bend to raise his NFL profile for the upcoming draft. Through a mix of his hit and miss play, poor play calling and poor receiver play, his season was ultimately a letdown.

While number 10 was a fine ambassador for the program, along with the other names I mentioned, I’m sure even he’d say he was hoping for more. ND’s opponent in the Sun Bowl is Oregon State, who despite a successful season will come to the game in shambles. Their former head coach Jonathan Smith is now in charge at Michigan State and they have no conference to play in next year. That has combined to essentially gut their roster as a mass exodus to the portal has occurred. They may not even have a full coaching staff for this game, so this will be very hard game to take anything out of, unlike last year’s bowl game against South Carolina.

What’s Next?

The offseason ahead is now a critical one for Marcus Freeman and this staff. A staff that has already seen changes, though it was not the one we expected. Offensive coordinator Gerard Parker will remain in his job (at Freeman’s own peril), while wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey was fired. Stuckey was a top recruiter but seemed to have trouble helping to develop his guys. The Irish wasted no time in replacing him with Wisconsin receivers coach Mike Brown.

Brown was on staff at Cincinnati with Freeman so the ties are there. By all accounts this is a good hire and one ND should benefit from quickly. The only other potential staff opening to pay attention to is defensive coordinator Al Golden. Golden is not on the head coaching radar around the country, but rather a candidate to return to the NFL. He previously worked for the Bengals, and should their current DC Lou Anarumo leave, he may be tabbed for the gig. Losing him would be a blow so fingers crossed he stays on campus.

While there are a lot of outgoing players in the portal, the Irish haven’t lost a true “star” amongst them. As college football becomes more of a “out with the old, in with the new” sport, Freeman has the chance to replace them with better players via the portal. It seems early on they will be aggressive in doing so with two transfers already locked in. Arizona State safety Jordan Clark, son of former Steelers star and ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, was the first to join via the portal. Clark was joined by Florida International receiver Kris Mitchell, who will hopefully help address the issues at receiver. Mitchell may soon be joined by Vanderbilts Will Sheppard and Clemson’s Beaux Collins, who are rumored targets at ND. All three of them would serve as instant upgrades for the Irish on an offense that struggled vertically.

Of course you can have all the weapons you want but you need a quarterback to get em the rock. Which brings us to former Duke signal caller Riley Leonard. Leonard is visiting the Notre Dame campus this week, at the same time Beaux Collins is, so perhaps this will be a joint venture from the Irish. Leonard is expected to join the program and be the starter over Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey. While this goes against a philosophy of developing these players, Freeman needs a big year in his third campaign and a veteran QB like Leonard will be key to that. Leonard brings a different skill set than Hartman to the table. While a solid passer, he will utilize his other best asset, his legs. This could really open things up for the offense in an RPO scheme with ND’s stable of backs.

Ironically enough Leonard and the Irish will face a coach they are both very familiar with opening weekend. Their trip to College Station will see them face former Duke head coach and Notre Dame DC Mike Elko coach the Aggies in his A&M debut. While that will certainly be a difficult game, when looking at the rest of the schedule, the Irish need to have a big year. This program needs to be a part of the 12 team playoff field next year. With new AD Pete Bevacqua and Freeman working together it to be aggressive in the portal this team should improve on offense. While they will lose talent on both sides of the ball the incoming class and portal additions should do the trick, especially against that schedule. Anything less than 10 or 11 wins would be a disappointment.

Best of the Season

Before we sign off here I wanted to hand out some awards and highlight some favorite moments of the season. Check out the list below and let me know what some of your favorites were.

Team MVP: Xavier Watts – While I could have picked a number of players, the offense needed so much help from the defense at times, it was hard to ignore safety Xavier Watts. Watts had one of the best seasons any player has ever had in the history of the program. The Nagurski award winner had 47 tackles, a nation leading seven INT’s, and a scoop and score touchdown. He will play in the Sun Bowl and the program is awaiting confirmation on his draft status. Hopefully there is one more year of X Watts in South Bend!

Best Win: 48-20 win over USC – There was really only one choice here. This was almost Ohio State but the less said about that the better. While the SC “upset” became less impressive as the year went on, beating your rival is always special. Blowing out Caleb Williams and the smug Trojans one more time was fun. Even more fun to start their downfall with the win and expose them with big plays in all phases. The field storming was a nice touch to cap off another big home win in the Freeman era!

Unsung Hero: WR Jordan Faison – I’ll call this the Rudy award as Jordan Faison lived out his own movie script of a season. The former lacrosse player walked onto the football team this year and performed extremely well. So well in fact that he earned a scholarship for his play. Certainly a wonderful story the program can rally around as he stays at ND.

Best Play: Jadarian Price’s 99-yd Return TD – What a moment this was! Price showed his promise on this one helping to seal the win over SC. It was so exciting that even the awful broadcast booth showed emotion. Look for more of this next season from the running back law firm of Price, Payne and Love.

Closing Thoughts

While this season was disappointing I remain optimistic about this program and where it’s going. Next season will hopefully be an exciting one for the Irish, one that will I think could see them take a big step. While there will be changes on the field I think they will be for the better. I love this program and its tradition and I look forward to seeing the team in person next year as they will be coming to my neck of the woods twice. My family and I are also planning a pilgrimage back to South Bend for the first time since 2010. Let’s make 2024 a special year. I leave you with perhaps the greatest gift we fans have received this year. This deleted scene from Rudy is just perfect and should have stayed in the film. It captures what being a fan of the program was and is all about. Go Irish! Love thee Notre Dame!

Share your thoughts on ND with me on Twitter @YNWA9623 and in the comments below. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner of your screen and entering your email address. I’ll be back with more College football content soon!