On3 Roundtable: Sam Hartman makes Notre Dame a CFP contender

Notre Dame is no stranger to the College Football Playoff. Brian Kelly had the Fighting Irish as one of the final four teams remaining on two different occasions. Now, Marcus Freeman is looking to do the same, even if it’s only his second season in charge of the program.

An 8-4 record was far from being in contention last season but a huge change has been made at quarterback. Sam Hartman was brought in via Wake Forest and the NCAA transfer portal and with the departure of Tyler Buchner, he will take over as the starter.

Blue and Gold‘s Tyler Horka thinks Hartman has the ability to lead Notre Dame back to the CFP, even if he has never been there before. However, who the backup quarterback is plays a role in the scenario too. People in South Bend saw that first land last year when Drew Pyne was thrown into action after a Buchner injury.

Notre Dame most likely has more confidence in their overall quarterback room this year.

“I think he does,” Horka said when joining J.D. PicKell on the On3 Roundtable. “Especially if you didn’t have him, you’re looking at — I don’t want to say 8-4 like last year because it’s completely different. I don’t know if you feel better with Steve Angeli than Drew Pyne. That’s the difference right there because obviously, Drew Pyne was a backup.

“Tyler Buchner gets hurt and all of a sudden, your backup is starting 10 games and you weren’t expecting that. You also weren’t expecting Steve Angeli to start this year because Tyler Buchner was hear as a couple of months ago and then all of a sudden, he ships off to Alabama.”

Buchner competes for the job with Notre Dame this spring and now will do the same in Tuscaloosa. Remember, former offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is now with Alabama. But he was not expected to make too big of an impact for the Irish with Hartman in town.

Horka then pointed out the starting experience Hartman presents. Had Buchner stayed with Notre Dame and won the job, he would have just three games under his belt. Hartman has plenty of reps in his system while playing for the Demon Deacons.

“I think just from a stability standpoint, the fact that you have a guy that started 45 games — as good as Buchner was and Alabama wants him so he’s got to have a little bit of talent in that arm and in those legs — he’s only started three games in his career,” Horka said. “Sam Hartman has started 45.”

Hartman has 45 career starts but 48 total appearances. A majority of those have turned into wins, something Horka is taking into account. Wake Forest is not a place starting quarterbacks are traditionally able to stack up wins. Notre Dame is a different story.

“They’ve all been at Wake Forest but you have to remember he led Wake Forest to 11 wins at a place where they just don’t win 11 games a whole lot,” Horka said. “They do it at Notre Dame a whole lot though. So when you have the marriage of those two things… I think you got to think they’ll be right there in the conversation to make the College Football Playoff at the end of the year.”