Notre Dame’s 2025 season is built for a CFP return trip
Expect ND favored every game into Dec.
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SOUTH BEND — A CFP berth is no longer a wish for Notre Dame. It’s an expectation.
If you're not paying attention to the Irish early in 2025, best believe they'll be putting college football on notice down the stretch.
Marcus Freeman’s squad enters the 2025 season not just loaded with talent, but with sky-high expectations baked into the schedule.
This is a big year for Notre Dame. A CFP-or-bust kind of year.
Even Vegas has Notre Dame favored to run the regular-season table. That’s not sentiment. That’s money talking. That’s professional oddsmakers, the most objective folks in the room, saying: This team is a problem. For everybody.
And the rest of the country should be on alert.
Built for the CFP
For what it’s worth, the majority of Vegas sports books have Notre Dame’s projected win total at 10-plus, and the betting public is confidently taking the Over-10.
This is a sense of conviction that comes from watching the Irish almost get it done in their 2024 CFP run, then return smarter, stronger, and deeper in 2025.
They bring back a top-tier offensive line, a bruising run game, and a defense that'll be giving QBs nightmares by November.
Notre Dame opens the season Aug. 31 with a Sunday kickoff in Miami, then hosts Texas A&M two weeks later for Game 2.
Miami replaces April’s top Draft pick Cam Ward with the surgically repaired throwing arm of Carson Beck, who hasn’t played a full game since his Georgia career ended with a cringe-worthy first-half elbow injury in the 2024 SEC title game.
That’s the part casual fans don’t quite grasp: This isn’t about hype. It’s about matchups. Execution. Health. Depth.
And right now, the Irish seem to check every box.
A Defense to watch
The Irish defense was already scary-good, and it’s only getting better.
Sophomores Bryce Young (Edge) and Kyngstonn Viliamu‑Asa (LB) stood out in Notre Dame's 2024 run to the College Football Playoff final. The two are expected to lead the charge to take the Irish defense to a new level in 2025.
Young, 6-foot-7 with a blistering pass rush, recorded 23 tackles and 1.5 sacks as a freshman and is forecasted to be a breakout star under new Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash.
That Irish front seven also includes Viliamu‑Asa, a versatile LB with NFL instincts and closing speed that should be illegal.
Ash's trademark style of defense will have these guys flying to the football. Opposing offenses can expect pressure early and often.
Assuming Notre Dame makes it back to the CFP this year, it won’t be all on the offense. It'll be because this defense can take the air out of any drive.
It all starts up front and in the trenches. Notre Dame recovering from a Game 2 upset last year to win 13 straight wasn't smoke and mirrors. You do it with a line that owns Saturdays, and a defense that ruins Mondays in the film room.
A program with payoff
The whole college football universe doesn't have to love the Irish. But if you love college football, you'll come to respect what the Irish are building.
The freedom from playing in-conference duds built into independent scheduling paves the way to their postseason. In the 12-team playoff era, any capable Notre Dame squad is essentially a CFP wrecking ball on a steady grind toward December.
The 2025 Irish look to be that much and more.
Loaded with talent.
Coached-up.
Built for glory.
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