Despite a strong finish, the Irish offense must conquer slow starts. Achieving consistent early scoring is the crucial challenge for 2026 success.
Every week during the season, the No. 1 key to victory we talk about for the Notre Dame offense is 'Start Fast'. It's simple; come out of the gates hot, don't give the opposing team any chance to gain momentum and look to put opponents away early. The Irish offense this season, big picture, finished on an extreme high note.
They finished ranked 2nd in the country in points per game, 13th in the country in total offense, 2nd in the country in yards per play, 4th in the country in rushing touchdowns and 4th in the country in pass rating. When you dive a little deeper, there's another level for this offense to achieve and that beings with starting and remaining fast throughout the season on offense. Starting fast is key, but staying consistent is the goal.
In five of their 12 regular season games, Notre Dame didn't score on their opening possession and in certain cases, they didn't score on their following offensive possession either. To open the season against Miami, the Irish didn't put points on the board until their 5th drive of the game. Against Texas A&M, they didn't score on their first offensive possession but then put together three consecutive scoring drives. Unfortunately, that streak ended with back to back possessions with turnovers.
In back to back weeks, Notre Dame set the standard for starting and remaining fast. Against Purdue, they scored on their first four possessions of the game including a 66-yard bomb to Malachi Fields on the opening play of the game for a touchdown. When they traveled down to Fayetteville, Mike Denbrock's offense scoring on all six of their offensive possessions in the first half, setting the gold standard for how an offense should start a game.
Unfortunately, they didn't score on their first drive against Boise State but put points on the board on their second and fifth drives of the matchup. That's the lack of consistency piece we're talking about. In back to back weeks, they scored on their opening possession against NC State and USC. But they followed up their opening drive score with a turnover on downs against the Wolfpack and back to back punts against USC.
After the bye, they came out flat against Boston College and didn't put points on the board until their third drive of the game. They followed that up with a punt and then turnover on downs. Notre Dame scored on their opening possession against Navy, then after a punt on their second drive of the game, put together back to back touchdown drives. They started slow against Pitt, missing a field goal on their first possession of the game but followed that up with a one-play touchdown run by Jeremiyah Love followed by a pick six by Tae Johnson on Pitt's ensuing drive which blew the game open.
Their final two games were spectacular. Not much to complain about when you put up 35 points in one quarter as a team, and the Notre Dame offense accounted for 14 of those points. They scored on four straight possessions in their final outing against Stanford, but their third touchdown of the game came on a special teams trick play where defensive end Josh Burnham threw an 84-yard touchdown to safety Luke Talich.
To some, this conversation may seem harsh, after all, Notre Dame scored over 35 points in eight of their games this season. But it's the lack of consistency with the offense that prevented wins against Miami and Texas A&M. It's the lack of offensive consistency that led to the final score of the Boston College game to be 25-10. It was the lack of offensive consistency that made the USC game a one possession game going into the 4th quarter. Improvements like this take this offense from being great to elite and it's something they're fully capable of doing in 2026.
-------
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!