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Nick Saban predicts Notre Dame to make College Football Playoff

Matt Connollyby:Matt Connolly•08/23/24•

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Marcus Freeman
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman (center) during the Wake Forest game on Nov. 18. (Chad Weaver/Blue &Gold)

There is a lot of hype around the Notre Dame football program entering Year 3 under Marcus Freeman. The Irish are ranked in the top 10 in the preseason and are expected to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Former Alabama head coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban added to that hype on Friday, revealing that he expects Notre Dame to make the CFP in 2024.

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Saban appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and discussed the fact that Notre Dame can’t get a buy in the College Football Playoff because they are not in a conference, but the Irish can host a CFP game by finishing in the top 8.

“I don’t really feel like Notre Dame — there’s good and bad in their circumstances,” Nick Saban said. “They can never be one of the top four teams because they can’t be a conference champ. But they don’t have to play a conference championship game either, so they have a built-in bye before the playoff ever starts.”

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The Fighting Irish open the season at Texas A&M but after that the schedule is manageable. Notre Dame plays only two ranked teams the rest of the way after the matchup against the Aggies in Florida State and USC.

“Because of their schedule, I think they have a good chance to be one of the 12 top teams in the country,” Saban said. “I think they will get in the playoff. I think what they need to work toward is being 5-8 so they have a home game.”

JD PicKell confident in new-look Notre Dame offense under Mike Denbrock

One of the reasons there is so much optimism around the Notre Dame program is the addition of offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock this offseason.

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The former LSU OC led the top offense in the country in 2023 and expectations are high that he can have an excellent offense in South Bend, too.

On3’s JD PicKell recently spoke about what he expects from the Fighting Irish offense this fall.

“This is not the old-school Notre Dame offense that we’ve been accustomed to,” PicKell said. “This is not going to be three yards and a cloud of dust, this is not going to be under center a whole lot. It’s going to be spread it out. ‘Yes, we’re going to run the football but we want to get you out on the perimeter. We want to get the ball to playmakers downfield. We want our quarterback to be a dual-threat and rip it downfield.’ This is going to be an exciting brand of offense under Mike Denbrock.”

The Fighting Irish welcome Denbrock back to the program after spending the last two seasons in Baton Rouge with LSU. All he did was develop No. 2 overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels while in Baton Rouge, while also producing two first-round wide receivers.

Riley Leonard is hoping to develop just as well and find a way to put up similar numbers. He was brought in from Duke with high expectations and hopes to lead the way.