Irish sit No. 4, but Freeman says none of it is earned yet
Notre Dame opened preseason at No. 4 with a Bruce Feldman title pick attached, but Marcus Freeman and his new captains are pointing back at last year's playoff miss instead.
Freeman's message to a No. 4 team: none of this is earned yet
Bruce Feldman put Notre Dame at the top of his national title picks this week — "Love the D. Love what I saw from CJ Carr last year. Love how Marcus Freeman has built that staff & how he leads," he wrote — and the Irish opened the season at No. 4 in the AP poll, their highest preseason slot since they were No. 2 in 2006, per Brett McMurphy. Six first-place votes found their way to South Bend, tucked behind Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana. McMurphy was quick to add the history that comes with that kind of preseason company: the last three times Notre Dame cracked the top five before a season, it finished unranked, 18th or 17th.
Sacrificing for his brothers. CJ Carr, 2026 captain #GoIrish☘️ | @13Cjcarr t.co/kjS7TRAulj
Freeman isn't buying the hype, and he said as much this week, framing last year's playoff miss as unfinished business rather than bad luck. "We didn't earn that opportunity," he told reporters, according to ESPN, adding that "it's the reminder of what work must be done to give your program a chance to play past Game 12." Two-time captain Drayk Bowen has been saying some version of the same thing since camp opened: "You can't go 0-2 and expect to be in the playoffs. ... It left a not-great taste in everybody's mouth — as it should," he told Pete Nakos.
The program made that accountability literal on Friday, naming its 2026 captains — Bowen for a second time, alongside quarterback CJ Carr, safety Adon Shuler and receiver Jordan Faison. Notre Dame Football's post on Carr carried the caption "Sacrificing for his brothers," a line that matches exactly how Freeman has talked about a locker room still answering for last November. The name on the front of that jersey now comes with everything everyone quoted this week attached to it.
Last time out, Notre Dame closed the books with a rout of Stanford
Notre Dame finished last season on November 30 with a 49-20 win at Stanford, the fifth straight win to close out the year — Boston College 25-10, Navy 49-10, Pittsburgh 37-15, Syracuse 70-7 and then the Cardinal. It was as complete a stretch as the Irish played all year, and it's the game tape still sitting behind CJ Carr's name when people talk about what he showed last year.
None of it was enough to get Notre Dame into the playoff, which is the whole reason Bowen's quote about going "0-2" carries the way it does inside the building. The record now resets to 0-0 for 2026, and last season's finish is context for what's coming, not current form — the last thing anybody around the program wants is for that Stanford score to be mistaken for momentum instead of a receipt from a season that still came up short.
Camp settled the quarterback question and cost the roster an edge rusher
CJ Carr enters as the unquestioned starter after fall camp, with Blake Hebert as his backup and true freshmen Noah Grubbs and Teddy Jarrard behind him, according to On3's post-camp depth chart. Freeman has also settled on his top three backs — Aneyas Williams, Nolan James Jr. and Kedren Young — while Cooper Flanagan has become what On3 called the "de facto alpha" at tight end.
The camp news wasn't all additions. Defensive lineman Junior Tuihalamaka, who played in 54 games over four seasons in South Bend, has committed to LSU as a graduate transfer after a Louisiana court ruling opened up a fifth year of eligibility, Pete Thamel reported. Covers' injury log also lists receiver Quincy Porter as questionable with a knee injury as of last week — it's a hedge, not a ruling, and it remains unclear whether he's active for the opener.
Notre Dame opens at Lambeau Field, against a Wisconsin defense built to make it a game
Notre Dame's opener falls on September 6 vs. Wisconsin, and it's happening somewhere Irish fans have never seen this program play: Lambeau Field, just the third college football game ever held there. It's also the first meeting between these two since 2021, when Notre Dame beat Wisconsin 41-13 at Soldier Field, and the first time either side has faced the other under its current coaching staff.
Wisconsin arrives in what feels like a make-or-break year for Luke Fickell, leaning on Old Dominion transfer Colton Joseph at quarterback and, by most early scouting, one of the better defensive fronts Notre Dame will see all season. The line opened at -20.5 in Notre Dame's favor with the total set at 47.5, a number that reads low-scoring for a game with this much star power on one sideline — a sign the market expects Wisconsin's defense to make the Irish work for it, even if it doesn't expect it to be enough.