Marcus Freeman has taken over Notre Dame football and he’s looking to lead the Irish back to the College Football Playoff. Will that happen in 2022?
The Marcus Freeman era with Notre Dame football is kicking off sooner than expected after Brian Kelly bolted suddenly for LSU last November.
Fans probably wanted Freeman to be the next coach after Kelly hired him as defensive coordinator ahead of the 2021 season, but no one expected it to be this soon and that’s forcing the former Cincinnati defensive coordinator to grow up fast.
Notre Dame brings back a ton of talent from a New Year’s Six-bound squad last season but it also loses Kyren Williams and Kyle Hamilton.
Will the Irish make it back to the New Year’s Six or even the playoff in 2022?
Opening the season with a road game against Ohio State isn’t exactly what Marcus Freeman needed in his first regular-season game as head coach, but it will at least give him an idea of how good his team is. Tyler Buchner looks to be the starting quarterback but he’s no CJ Stroud yet.
And that defense might struggle mightily to stop one of the nation’s most explosive offenses led by Stroud and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Ohio State wins by two scores here.
Prediction: Loss (0-1)
Marshall went 7-6 last season and is expected to improve slightly but not having an experienced quarterback returning is going to hurt them here in South Bend.
After a tough loss in the opener, Notre Dame will bounce back to put up some big offensive numbers against the Thundering Herd as Buchner has his first big game as a starting quarterback. Everything will go right for Notre Dame in this one.
Prediction: Win (1-1)