Despite a playoff snub, Notre Dame reloads with a potent roster, earning ESPN's No. 3 spot for 2026 championship contention.
The 2025 season is officially over and the Indiana Hoosiers completed a perfect season to win the national championship. It was a bittersweet end for Notre Dame, the last team that beat Indiana. The Irish were snubbed from the playoffs and didn't get a chance to show what kind of team they were. Fortunately, Notre Dame will get another chance to do that in 2026 and the Irish return one of the top rosters in college football.
Notre Dame will be considered one of the top contenders for the national championship next season, and the Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings are showing that. ESPN dropped its first 2026 rankings just minutes after the title game was complete, and the world wide leader ranked Notre Dame as the No. 3 team in its initial ranking.
Here is what ESPN had to say about Notre Dame:
"After being left out of the CFP, the Fighting Irish should be right back in the mix in 2026. There's no question the Irish will miss Love and Price, who combined to run for 2,046 yards with 29 touchdowns this past season. Aneyas Williams, who averaged 9.3 yards per carry, is the heir apparent. Quarterback CJ Carr should be even better in his second season as a starter, especially if the Irish can get Graham and Porter going, and Jaden Greathouse returns from a hamstring injury. Nine of the defense's top 10 tacklers are back from 2025. Brewu and Keeley were important additions on the defensive line. Notre Dame figures to be heavily favored in all but two games: home against Miami and at BYU. There's little room for error playing a schedule that will be heavily scrutinized when it's CFP selection time. As Irish coach Marcus Freeman said this week, it's his team's responsibility to "leave no doubt." - Mark Schlabach, ESPN
Notre Dame returns 16 players that started games for the Irish last season, and the defensive line transfers give the team a major boost in an area where they were hit hard by graduation.
There is a lot of talk about Notre Dame's schedule for next season, and of course Schlabach had to get his little crack in there about it. What's ironic is that Schlabach has three Notre Dame opponents ranked among the top 17 teams in his initial Way-Too-Early Top 25. Notre Dame is literally the only team who Schlabach mentions having an easy schedule, which is typical of the lazy narratives we see from ESPN, and we'll continue to hear that throughout the 2026 season.
Notre Dame hosts Miami on November 7th, and the Hurricanes ranked No. 8 in the ESPN Way-Too-Early Top 25. An official date hasn't been given yet for the matchups against No. 11 BYU and No. 17 SMU, but the Irish will travel to Provo for the matchup against the Cougars and will host the Mustangs.
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