The 2025 season is just four games in for Notre Dame, but already the campaign has been quite the roller coaster for the team and its fanbase. What we'll learn over the net nine weeks is will the season ride remain up and down with lots of twists and turns, or will the Irish go through a gradual ascent that ends with them being the team we thought they would be coming into the season.
Notre Dame entered the season perceived as a legitimate national title contender, but just two games in those hopes seemed to be dashed after the Irish dropped games to Miami (27-24) and Texas A&M (41-40) to begin the season. At that point some were talking about hot seats, comparing the season to disasters like 2007 and 2016, and demands for firings and benchings.
Fast forward just two weeks and two blowout wins over Purdue (56-30) and Arkansas (56-13) later and now a lot of fans are talking about the playoffs, the Heisman Trophy and where the Irish should be ranked in the Top 25.
So who is Notre Dame?
Is Notre Dame an inconsistent team that can revert back to the form we saw in losses to Miami and Texas A&M? Is Notre Dame the extremely talented team that absolutely dominated Purdue and Arkansas by an averaged score of 56 to 21.5? Is this offense going to obliterate the majority of its remaining opponents, and will it be countered by an ever improving defense that can now hold high-scoring offense into the teens?
Well, the reality is we don't yet know. The most recent games certainly have fans excited about what this team can be, but the Irish will need to show this isn't just a hot streak. The next three games - beginning with Boise State - will tell us if this is the new normal, or if this team will remain a team that looks like world beaters one week and vulnerable to good teams the next.
One of the questions after the first three games was whether or not head coach Marcus Freeman could push the same buttons this season that he did a season ago. Fans weren't feeling great about the team after four games last year, either. Notre Dame had lost to Northern Illinois and had an ugly win over Miami (Ohio). But Freeman and the team's leadership were able to stay focused, they kept getting better and by the end of the season they were obviously one of the nation's best teams.
Can Freeman repeat that success? Again, we don't know. But the performance against Arkansas was a great sign, and it's not just because of the big picture nature of the win. You could see it during pregame as the Irish players were getting ready for the game. They were working quick, they were confident and there was a lot of energy. You then saw it when the game kicked off, especially on offense. They played fast, they played hard and the confidence level was far greater than you'd expect to see from a 1-2 football team.
It's not how they beat Arkansas from a score standpoint, it's the how. No, the defense isn't completely fixed and yes, the offense can still get better. But the team carried itself like you'd expect from a team that is undefeated and pushing for a championship. A week after Freeman kept talking about his team needing to stay together and stay unified, the Irish head into the Boise State matchup looking like the team we thought they were going to be.
Now we need to see if that can continue.
The offense needs to continue improving, especially when it plays better defenses. The defense. took a step against Arkansas. It was a big step from how the secondary played, and the addition of Tae Johnson and Dallas Golden into the lineup plus the return of DeVonta Smith play a big role in that. But it was just a baby step schematically, but that's still a positive. They will need to continue taking steps forward from a scheme standpoint, but the fact is if they can take baby steps every week from how they played against Arkansas this defense should be thriving by the time we get to November.
Boise State presents a good test that will tell us if this team has truly improved. The Broncos have strong line play, a strong run game and they have played in some big games the last two years. Boise State has played at Oregon a season ago, they played in a conference title game and they faced off against Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl during the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff.
The point is Boise State won't be afraid of Notre Dame. They will come into this game playing for their own playoff lives, knowing an upset of the Irish can get them right back in the playoff mix in 2025. Notre Dame will certainly get a team far more focused that what it saw against Arkansas and Purdue. That also means that if Notre Dame looks against Boise State like it did in its previous two wins there will be more reason to believe that the Notre Dame team we are seeing now is closer to the real Notre Dame than the one we saw during the first two games.
No matter what happens this weekend the Irish will still have plenty to prove, no doubt about that, but if we see another impressive win there will be more certainty that Notre Dame is poised for another big run.
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