Notre Dame football: Realistic post-spring expectations for 2023

Spring ball is in the books and Notre Dame football fans have a better idea of what to expect from the Irish in year two of Marcus Freeman.

The second-year head coach has assembled a solid roster heading into the 2023 season and there’s an expectation that his Irish will outperform the 2022 squad that finished 9-4 and ranked No. 18 in the final AP Top 25.

A big reason for the elevated expectations is the addition of Sam Hartman, one of the most prolific passers in college football who transferred in from Wake Forest. He finished his career there with 12,967 passing yards and 110 touchdowns while completing just under 60 percent of his throws. He’s going to elevate this offense.

Coming in with Hartman is four-star transfer Kaleb Smith from Virginia Tech. He’s expected to push for that WR1 spot this season.

The defense also added some pieces from the portal and it returns its top four tacklers from last season, led by JD Bertrand. Isaiah Foskey is gone, but the Irish defense should reload.

Post-spring Notre Dame football expectations

With everything above in mind and the fact that Hartman looked really good in his first public appearance in the gold dome, we now have a realistic expectation set for the Irish.

I think Hartman is going to improve the offense more than people realize. He makes everyone around him better, he knows how to win, and he’s a prolific passer. He’s going to improve Notre Dame’s 31.8 points per game average from last year. Plus, he has a potential 1,000-yard rusher behind him in Audric Estime.

This will be enough to help the Irish outscore Navy, Tennessee State, NC State, Central Michigan, Louisville, and Pitt. There are a few toss-up games like Ohio State, Duke, USC, and Clemson. If the Irish can split those four, at worst, I think we’re looking at a 10-2 season on the lower end of expectations, but entirely realistic.

I could see Notre Dame losing three of those like Ohio State, USC, and Clemson, so 9-3 is also possible, but I could also see the Irish winning all of the home games and dropping the road ones. So I’m going with a 10-2 season with a New Year’s Six berth as a realistic outcome for this year’s team.