This season didn't begin the way a lot of us thought that it would. I would argue, that no team in the country had a harder schedule to start the 2025 season than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They started the season on the road against the Miami Hurricanes who have spent the entire season ranked. The Irish followed that up with a home game under the lights against Texas A&M who has spent all season ranked and the majority of the season inside of the top seven teams in the country.
Unfortunately, Notre Dame dropped both of those games back to back by a combined margin of four points and started the season 0-2. Now, let's fast forward to today, December 1st, 2025; the Irish have capped off their regular season with a 10-game win streak like they did a season ago and are in a position to make back to back playoff appearance for the first time in the playoff era. As impressive as that is, that's not the most impressive thing the Irish and head coach Marcus Freeman have done this season.
For the first time since 1966, Notre Dame, in all 10 of their regular season wins, defeated their opponents by double digits. The last time that happened was in 1966 when the Irish went 9-0-1, won a national title and were led by head coach Ara Parseghian. The average margin of victory for the 1966 Irish squad was 32.4 points. They shut out six of their 10 regular season opponents including No. 10 USC on the road and No. 10 Oklahoma on the road. Their defense that season allowed a grand total of 38 points all season long.
Offensively, the Irish were led by quarterback Terry Hanratty who finished the season with 1,247 passing yards, eight touchdown passes, 124 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. Their running back room was headlined by Larry Conjar and Rocky Bleier, Bob Gladieux and Nick Eddy who combined for 1,467 rushing yards, 22 rushing touchdowns and three receiving touchdowns. Wide receiver Jim Seymour led all pass catchers with 862 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in 1966.
Let's fast forward 59 years to this season where Notre Dame currently sits 10-2 and are the No. 9 ranked team in the country by the College Football Playoff committee. In their 10-game win streak, they defeated their opponents by an average margin of 29.7 points. The most points they allowed was 30 to Purdue in their 3rd game of the season. Since September 20, the Irish held nine straight opponents to 24 points or less including USC, Arkansas, Navy, Boise State and NC State (all offenses ranked inside of the top 50 in the nation in scoring).
Here's the scary thing folks, this team hasn't peaked yet. Yes they have one of the best, if not the best, redshirt freshman quarterback in the country in CJ Carr. Yes, they have the best backfield in the country led by Heisman hopeful Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Yes, this defense has been playing like one of the hottest units, on offense or defense, in the country during this 10-game stretch. But they haven't peaked quite yet. Despite their 0-2 start, this is a level of dominance we haven't seen in South Bend in quite some time.
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