Notre Dame Seeking Redemption: The Fighting Irish Look to Banish the Bitter Taste of Last Year’s Controversial Playoff Snub

Notre Dame spent the final ten games of the 2025 regular season looking like one of the best teams in college football. Unfortunately for the Fighting Irish, the College Football Playoff selection committee never completely forgave them for what happened during the first two.

Losses to Miami and Texas A&M left Marcus Freeman’s team with no margin for error. Notre Dame responded by winning ten consecutive games, finishing 10-2 and climbing to No. 10 in the penultimate playoff rankings. The Irish appeared positioned to receive an at-large invitation—until the committee abruptly changed course.

Miami, which had been ranked behind Notre Dame, jumped the Irish despite neither team playing during conference championship weekend. Alabama also remained ahead of Notre Dame after losing 28-7 to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. The Irish were ultimately ranked No. 11 but became the first team left outside the 12-team bracket.

Notre Dame responded by declining a bowl invitation and ending its season. Athletic director Pete Bevacqua described the decision as a betrayal of his players, saying the playoff had been “stolen” from them.

Whether Notre Dame was treated unfairly remains open to debate. Miami owned the head-to-head victory, but the committee had already spent weeks ranking the Irish ahead of the Hurricanes. Reversing that position without either team playing another game made the weekly rankings appear meaningless.

That decision has created the defining theme of Notre Dame’s 2026 season: leave no doubt.

The Irish Cannot Afford Another Slow Start

Freeman has established Notre Dame as a legitimate national contender. He led the Irish to the national championship game following the 2024 season and followed that breakthrough with ten consecutive victories to close the 2025 regular season. His team has demonstrated that it can recruit, develop players and compete physically with the best programs in the country.

The recurring concern has been September.

Notre Dame has won only 66.7 percent of its games in August and September under Freeman, compared with 83.7 percent during every other month. Slow starts have forced the Irish to spend too many seasons attempting to repair their playoff résumé.

That cannot happen again.

Notre Dame opens the 2026 season against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field on September 6. The Badgers are coming off consecutive losing seasons, but Luke Fickell will be coaching for his job. Wisconsin will approach the Shamrock Series matchup like a championship game.

After that come Rice, Michigan State and a road trip to Purdue. Notre Dame should be favored in all four September games. A 4-0 start would position the Irish for a playoff run. An early upset would immediately revive questions about their schedule, independence and ability to handle pressure.

The committee may have wronged Notre Dame in 2025, but the Irish also created the opening by losing their first two games. In 2026, they must close that opening themselves.

CJ Carr Gives Notre Dame a Championship Quarterback

The biggest reason for optimism is sophomore quarterback CJ Carr.

Carr started all 12 games in 2025 and finished with 2,741 passing yards and 24 touchdowns. His 24 touchdown passes tied the Notre Dame record for the most by a quarterback across his first 12 career starts since 1966. He threw at least one touchdown pass in every game and helped the Irish finish second nationally with 41.8 points per contest. Among returning Power Four quarterbacks, Carr ranked first in yards per completion and second in both yards per attempt and touchdown rate.

Carr was impressive as a first-year starter, but Notre Dame will ask more of him in 2026. The departures of running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price remove two of the most explosive weapons in the country. Love rushed for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns, while Price added 674 rushing yards and 11 scores before both entered the NFL Draft.

The offense can no longer be built around handing the ball to two future professionals and waiting for them to break a tackle. Carr must become the unquestioned centerpiece.

He has the arm talent, accuracy and temperament to make that transition. Jordan Faison gives him an experienced receiving target, while Notre Dame’s offensive line should remain one of the program’s strengths. If Carr develops from an excellent young quarterback into a genuine Heisman Trophy candidate, the Irish will possess an offense capable of surviving the loss of its star backfield.

A Defense Built Around Leonard Moore

Notre Dame’s defense will also undergo changes, but it retains one of the best defensive players in college football.

Cornerback Leonard Moore returns as the foundation of the unit. Moore has the size, athletic ability and coverage skills to eliminate one side of the field, giving the Irish tremendous flexibility with their pressure packages. He enters 2026 as a preseason first-team All-American and potential early NFL Draft selection.

Veteran linebacker Jaylen Sneed also returns to provide experience and playmaking ability in the middle of the defense. Notre Dame has recruited well enough that the depth chart is filled with talented players waiting for larger roles. The question is whether that potential will immediately become dependable production.

The Irish cannot rely solely on Carr and the offense to overwhelm opponents. Their path to the 2024 national championship game was built largely on defense, physicality and the ability to create turnovers in important moments. Those qualities must remain part of the program’s identity.

Notre Dame does not need to lead the country in every defensive category. It does need a unit capable of controlling the line of scrimmage and surviving against elite quarterbacks when the playoff begins.

The Schedule Provides Opportunity—and Danger

Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule is manageable enough to support a national championship run but contains several games capable of destroying it.

The trip to BYU on October 17 could be the most dangerous game before November. Playing in Provo presents a difficult combination of altitude, crowd noise and a physical opponent. Notre Dame then receives a bye before facing Navy at Gillette Stadium.

The defining stretch begins November 7 when Miami visits South Bend.

That game will be about far more than revenge. Miami’s victory over Notre Dame in the 2025 opener ultimately became the committee’s justification for placing the Hurricanes ahead of the Irish. Notre Dame will have an opportunity to settle the argument on the field, in its own stadium, with the entire country watching.

Boston College follows before SMU visits South Bend on November 21. The Irish finish the regular season at Syracuse, where former Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli will provide an intriguing storyline.

The complete schedule includes Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina, Stanford, BYU, Navy, Miami, Boston College, SMU and Syracuse.

It is not the most punishing schedule in the country. That means Notre Dame cannot afford multiple losses and expect the committee to overlook them. The Irish must dominate the teams they are supposed to beat and win the résumé-defining games against BYU, Miami and SMU.

The Playoff Rules Now Protect Notre Dame

The controversy surrounding the 2025 snub produced an important change. Under the 2026 playoff agreement, Notre Dame is guaranteed a berth if it finishes inside the committee’s top 12. The playoff will remain at 12 teams after the major conferences failed to agree on expansion.

That guarantee prevents a repeat of last season, when Notre Dame finished No. 11 but was excluded because of the automatic bids awarded to conference champions.

The new rule provides clarity, but it should not become Notre Dame’s objective. The Irish should not enter the season hoping to finish 11th or 12th and squeeze into the field. They should be pursuing a home playoff game and a realistic path to the national championship.

An 11-1 record would almost certainly accomplish that. A 12-0 season could put Notre Dame in contention for the No. 1 overall seed. At 10-2, the Irish would probably qualify under the new guarantee if they remained inside the top 12, but they would once again leave their fate in the hands of a committee that gave them no reason to trust it last season.

The solution is simple: win enough that the rule never becomes necessary.

No More Excuses

Notre Dame enters 2026 with an established head coach, an elite quarterback, a potential superstar on defense and a favorable schedule. It also enters with the emotional fuel created by one of the most controversial playoff exclusions of the expanded era.

The Irish can remain angry about what happened. They can use the committee’s decision as motivation. What they cannot do is spend another season waiting for sympathy.

Notre Dame’s national championship drought has lasted since 1988. Freeman has moved the program closer to ending it than any coach in decades, but coming close carries its own pressure. After reaching the championship game in 2024 and being excluded from the playoff in 2025, the next step must be taken.

The Fighting Irish do not merely need to return to the playoff. They need to enter it as a team capable of winning the entire thing.

In 2025, Notre Dame believed the committee stole its opportunity. In 2026, the Irish have the roster, quarterback and schedule to take the decision completely out of the committee’s hands.