Notre Dame is walking into the 2026 season with a wave of national belief behind it, and some of the sport’s biggest voices are flat-out picking the Irish to finish the job.
With the Fighting Irish set to open their 2026 campaign in six days and begin their run toward the 2026-2027 CFP national title game at Lambeau Field on Sunday night, the buzz around Marcus Freeman’s team is loud. The idea taking hold across the college football media landscape is simple: this could be the season Notre Dame finally ends its near 40-year championship drought.
FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt is one of the most prominent names on that list. He has Notre Dame reaching the semifinals in a rematch with Miami and then moving on to face Oregon in the title game. Klatt was direct about where he stands.
"A rematch of that game in South Bend this year," Klatt shared. "I think Notre Dame wins the first one, I think Notre Dame wins the second one.
Notre Dame is that good... It might be a curse to be the team that I pick as the national champ.
Last year, I picked Clemson. My national champ in my very first bracket prediction of the year is [drumroll please]: the Notre Dame Fighting Irish."
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit is also firmly in the Irish camp. He has stayed with Notre Dame throughout the offseason and again backed the program to win it all, this time over Indiana.
"Can you imagine the state of Indiana if that happened?" Herbstreit explained when he picked the Irish to win the title over the Hoosiers. "I got CJ Carr and Notre Dame winning the national title over Indiana."
Another ESPN voice, Dusty Dvoracek, pointed to the amount Notre Dame brings back and said he’s all in on the Irish. He highlighted Freeman, the line of scrimmage, the defense and CJ Carr in making his case.
"I'm all in on the Fighting Irish this season," Dvoracek stated. "I think this is Notre Dame's year.
Last year, they were just left out. Marcus Freeman's mantra for this year: leave no doubt.
I love the line of scrimmage; this is an elite defense, and I think CJ Carr is a star."
Bill Connelly also put Notre Dame at the center of his preseason thinking in ESPN’s preseason magazine, predicting the Irish would beat Georgia in the title game. He said the pick emerged only after he forced himself to make predictions.
"Notre Dame over Georgia [in the title game]," Connelly shared about his prediction. "I never know which teams I think the most highly of until I force myself to make some predictions.
Apparently, 2026 is Notre Dame's year. You heard it here first.
The Irish appear loaded on paper, and whoever beats Oregon in the CFP has to win the whole thing. It's the rule at this point."
The support for Notre Dame does not stop there. Several other national voices from CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated have also picked the Irish to win the national championship.
None of those projections will matter much if Notre Dame doesn’t handle business on the field this fall, but the national sentiment is clear: plenty of experts believe this is the year the Fighting Irish break through.
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Notre Dames Captain Vote Revealed A Leadership Problem Freeman Welcomed
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Freeman said nine players drew meaningful support, which created more candidates than the team ultimately wanted to carry into the season. Rather than stretching the role too thin, Notre Dame kept the group at four for the third time in five years, a sign that the rosters leadership is spread deeper than usual even if only a few players will wear the title. [Read more 🡒]