Despite offensive dominance, Notre Dame faltered inside the 20. Fixing red zone scoring and special teams woes is paramount for 2026 success.
This was an exceptional year by Mike Denbrock and the Notre Dame offense in 2025. They finished the regular season ranked 3rd in points per game (42.0), 3rd in the country in touchdowns scored (70), 5th in the country in passer rating (168.61), 3rd in the country in yards per attempt (9.5), 6th in the country in yards per carry (5.7) and 3rd in the country in rushing touchdowns (38). Over the course of the regular season, they scored 40 points on Texas A&M, 36 points on NC State, 34 points on USC, 49 points on Navy, 37 points on Pitt, 70 points on Syracuse, helped out by 21 defensive and special teams points and 49 points on Stanford.
For all of their success, the one major blemish on their 2025 resume was the red zone offense which finished the season ranked 119th in all of college football in scoring percentage. Now, the woes in the kicking game dragged that down quite a bit. The Irish finished the year ranked 128th in the country in field goal percentage, only attempted nine on the season and made five of them. On top of that, they finished the season ranked 130th in the country in extra point percentage made missing a total of four on the season.
With that being said, the offense didn't take advantage of some of the opportunities they had down in the red zone either. Big picture, the Irish ranked No. 22 in the country at the end of the regular season in touchdown percentage when getting down inside of the red zone, but it's the missed opportunities that have to get improved in 2026 on top of the mishaps with the place kicking game on special teams.
Over the course of the regular season, we saw this offense sputter when getting inside of the 20-yard line. I think back to the Boise State game where the offense drove the length of the field on their opening possession. A 10-play, 73-yard drive was stalled out on the 1-yard line after getting stuffed on 4th and goal. I think back to the NC State game where a 6-play, 60-yard drive ends in the red zone on 4th and goal because CJ Carr threw an interception. I think back to the USC game, a week after NC State where Carr threw an interception on the USC 3-yard line on 3rd and goal preventing the Irish from putting a minimum three points on the board.
For as dominant as running back Jadarian Price was this past season, he fumbled the ball three times in side of the 10-yard line and lost two of them putting a screeching halt to potential scoring drives against NC State and Boston College. Notre Dame did a lot of good things this past season, but their red zone offense wasn't one of them. It's easy to point out what went wrong, but what can be done to fix some of these issues down inside of the 20-yard line?
For starters, getting the right personnel on the field will go a long way. Using a pair of 5-10, sub 195-pound receivers to set the edge as blockers needs to stay in 2025. The tight end room this season is loaded with big bodied players like Cooper Flanagan, James Flanigan, Jack Larsen, Ty Washington and incoming freshman Ian Premer and Preston Fryzel. Tight ends need to be utilized inside the 20 and around the goal line in future seasons.
Denbrock also has to scheme a more creative game plan around the goal line as well. The sprint out right and sprint out left plays became too predictable once they got into October and November. I think the lack of creativity in the red zone hurt this offense and prevented them from putting more points on the board. In the same light, sometimes the creativity went too far. In certain situations, the wildcat is not needed to get the ball into the hands of your best playmaker.
Here's the good news, these are issues that are easily correctable and ones that I have full confidence Denbrock will adjust heading into the offseason. This offense is extremely talented, and finished the regular season 3rd in the country in scoring and only 0.5 points per game away from No. 2 in the country. Fixing the red zone woes will vault this offense, potentially, into the top spot in the country this upcoming season. That's a goal that's well within reach with the personnel returning in 2026.
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