It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the first several games on Notre Dame's schedule isn't a gauntlet. But it's been those types of games head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish have struggled with in the past. In 2022, they dropped games to Marshall and a Stanford team that hadn't beaten a P4 team in several seasons. In 2023 they lost to a Clemson team on the road missing numerous starters and in 2024, they lost to Northern Illinois. Three of those four losses came in the September window, but Freeman and this team believe this is the year to conquer their early season slate. Why? It's not just based on the level of talent on the roster. Notre Dame had more talent from top to bottom on their team than all four of those aforementioned teams. It's the level of maturity of this team that's going to propel it forward. "Leadership," Freeman answered when asked what makes a mature football team. "The ability to challenge each other when there's actions that are below the standard, and you're not afraid to challenge your teammates. You're actually vulnerable enough to uplift them when you probably want to yell at them. That's what I've seen from the leaders on this team is that when guys need to be challenged, they challenge them. When guys need to be uplifted, they're encouraging. That's when I say a mature team, we have a mature group of leaders, and it's a reflection of the team.” It's this level of leadership that has allowed Notre Dame to start off their 2026 season by outscoring their opponents 93-13 and shut out Rice in their home opener, the first shutout for Notre Dame since 2022 when they hosted Boston College. It's this level of maturity that also allows the coaching staff to make last-minute adjustments 24 hours prior to kickoff. "These guys have really good routines," Freeman explained. "You're able to challenge them schematically. You're able to really meet with them, maybe do a little extra, and you know that some of those older guys are meeting with the younger guys. I think that helps tremendously where you can really make a decision where is this too much, where they can't handle it, or do you think we'll be able to get it by Saturday? And a great example is we kind of tinkered with the game plan defensively Friday. There were some additions we had to make on Friday. "We thought we needed a little bit more to give them a different look," Freeman continued about the adjustments prior to the Rice game. "And for a group that's not mature, you don't do that, right? You just say, okay we got what we got. But a group that's mature that could handle that on Friday, study a little bit more Friday night, and do it again in a walkthrough on Saturday, it gives you a competitive advantage when you have a mature team.” This level of maturation and leadership isn't something every team in college football has. It's only been two weeks into the season, but we've seen teams who were perceived to have some of the top rosters in the country topple or not live up to expectations. Notre Dame has an exceptionally talented roster, but it's their player-led leadership and maturity that has allowed them to dominate two inferior opponents in the first two weeks of the season. ------ Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more. BECOME A MEMBER [https://ib.irishbreakdown.com/ib-member/#join] Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time! Join the Irish Breakdown community! [https://ib.irishbreakdown.com/ib-member/#join] https://ib.irishbreakdown.com/ib-member/#joinhttps://ib.irishbreakdown.com/ib-member/#joinSubscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/NotreDameFootballIrishBreakdown?sub_confirmation=1] Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/irish-breakdown/id1485286986] Follow me on Twitter: @TTrow5 [https://x.com/TTrow5] Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/groups/irishbreakdown]
