Joel Klatt ranks Notre Dame at No. 6 in preseason, compares them to 2023 Washington

After just releasing his Preseason Top-25 on Monday, Joel Klatt already thinks he should have placed Notre Dame even higher than he did.

Klatt assessed the Fighting Irish during the episode of his show yesterday to start the week. He said that, the more that he breaks them down, the better he feels about them having a great season up in South Bend.

“A team that, the more I study the season, the more I watch film, the more that I get ready? I’m like, ‘You know what? This team is going to be really good,'” said Klatt. “The more I look at it, folks, the more I’m just convinced that Notre Dame is going to be really strong.”

That starts with a roster that returns several players, especially with nine starters back from a Top-10 defense that gave up just 15.9 points a game. Now, paired with an offense that was also in the Top-10 but gets infused with new names, including at quarterback and coordinator, Klatt sees a team that he really likes.

“Notre Dame is going to have a dominant defense. You know that’s going to happen under Marcus Freeman,” said Klatt. “That side of the ball? They return several star players, including The Nagurski Award winner from last year in Xavier Watts. Benjamin Morrison, Howard Cross – all back on the defensive side.”

“Now you’re looking at this and you’re like Riley Leonard with his experience? Mike Denbrock? That defense? Well, hold on, they’re going to be pretty good,” Klatt claimed.

The next reason is because of their schedule. With that said, it is going to start with a difficult primetime opener for the Irish down in College Station.

“I think it’s an intriguing opening game because they’ve got to go to a difficult place to play in what will be hot weather at Texas A&M – tough environment, fanbase desperate for a big win, going to be fired up under Mike Elko,” said Klatt.

However, if they start at 1-0 after a win in Aggieland, Klatt thinks it sets up a significant final record for Notre Dame. An opening victory would mean at least an undefeated start into the start of November in his opinion. The fact that they only play three games on the road, including just one from September through November 23rd, only further supports his thinking on their slate.

“What does that schedule look like? Well, they get A&M in the opener. Then you start rolling through the games and you’re like win, win, win, win, win. Eyebrows go up – win, win. Then you’re like, ‘Wait, hold on a second, they’re going to be 8-0!'” Klatt said. “If they beat A&M, they’ll be 8-0 when they host Florida State at home. You think that’s not going to be a raucous environment?”

“Then you start to look at it and, because of some of their neutral-site games and games they play, they only go to a true road game three times. Their only three true road games? A&M to start the year, Purdue, and USC in the season finale,” noted Klatt. “They go on a true road game in week one and then to end things with USC. In the middle of year, they only go on a true road game once.”

All of that is reminding Klatt of how he felt about Washington going into 2023. He thinks he should have been higher on them then and now thinks he should be higher on Notre Dame going into 2024.

“I actually probably should have put (Notre Dame) at five,” admitted Klatt.

“I know people are going to roll their eyes – ‘Oh, Notre Dame! They’re always so hyped!’. Okay – I’m just saying,” Klatt said. “They feel a lot like Washington from last year. They just do. Washington? Last year at this point, I’d put them fifth. I should have had the courage to put Notre Dame in fifth but I didn’t.”

Notre Dame is a program that could be one that benefits the most with the new playoff format. They could now capitalize on that as early as this season with what Klatt is expecting from them throughout the fall.

“Watch out for Notre Dame!” Klatt stated.