2024 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team


The 2024 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Fighting Irish were led by Marcus Freeman in his third year as Notre Dame's head coach. They played their home games at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana.
Despite an upset loss as heavy favorites against Northern Illinois, Notre Dame proceeded to win their next ten games, including ranked wins over [2024 2024 Louisville Cardinals football team|Louisville Cardinals football team|Louisville], [2024 2024 Navy Midshipmen football team|Navy Midshipmen football team|Navy], and [2024 2024 Army Black Knights football team|Army Black Knights football team|Army], and made their third College Football Playoff appearance. They defeated the Indiana Hoosiers, 27–17, in their first-round home game, a game which marked the first time a home game aired on ESPN and ABC since 1990, due to ESPN's ownership of the College Football Playoff. The Irish would then defeat the #2 Georgia Bulldogs, 23–10, in the quarterfinal Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl victory was the program's first win in a New Year's Six bowl game since 1994, ending the Irish's ten game losing streak in such games. The Irish then defeated the #4 Penn State Nittany Lions, 27–24, in the semifinal Orange Bowl. With the win, the Irish improved to 7–0 against AP-ranked teams during the season, the team's most ranked wins in the poll era. Also with this win, Freeman, who is of mixed black and South Korean ancestry, became the first African American, as well as the first Asian, head coach to reach a Division I college football national championship. The Irish fell to [2024 2024 Ohio State Buckeyes football team|Ohio State Buckeyes football team|Ohio State] in the championship game 34–23.
Notre Dame was one of four teams to play 16 games in 2024; no NCAA Division I team had played more than 15 games since the 1914 Carlisle Indians. The Fighting Irish finished the season ranked second overall and tied with Ohio State for the second-best win percentage in the country, behind only the 13–1 Oregon Ducks.

Offseason

Coaching changes

The following coaches left the program:
The following coaches were hired:
The following coaches were promoted:
The following coaches were demoted:

Departures

UFL

Sam HartmanQBBirmingham Stallions972

Transfers out

Retirements

  • RB Sam Assaf
  • DL Cole Aubrey
  • S DJ Brown
  • WR Henry Cook
  • WR Chase Dixon
  • P Bryan Dowd
  • WR Griffin Eifert
  • DL Tyson Ford
  • DL Aiden Gobaira
  • RB Chase Ketterer
  • P Ben Krimm
  • OL Andrew Kristofic
  • WR Matt Salerno
  • TE Hakim Sanfo
  • S Eddie Scheidler
  • OL Brennan Wicks

Additions

Transfers in

Walk-on transfers in

New walk-ons

  • OL Max Anderson
  • CB Mickey Brown
  • CB Charles Du
  • WR Matt Jeffery
  • LB Tommy Powlus
  • QB Anthony Rezac
  • WR Xavier Southall
  • LS Joseph Vinci
  • OL Robbie Wollan

Other

Changes

  • Marty Auer switched positions from S to CB.
  • Dylan Devezin switched positions from QB to RB.
  • Justin Fisher switched positions from TE to RB.
  • Kahanu Kia switched positions from DL to LB.
  • Chris Salerno switched positions from P to K.
  • S Luke Talich earned scholarship on March 7; previously walk-on.

Game summaries

at No. 20 Texas A&M

StatisticsNDTAMU
First downs1817
Total yards356246
Rushes/yards34–19838–146
Passing yards158100
Passing: Comp–Att–Int18–30–012–30–2
Time of possession31:3528:25

Northern Illinois

StatisticsNIUND
First downs1617
Total yards388286
Rushes/yards45–19028–123
Passing yards198163
Passing: Comp–Att–Int10–20–020–33–2
Time of possession34:3825:22

at Purdue (rivalry)

StatisticsNDPUR
First downs276
Total yards578162
Rushes/yards44–36225–38
Passing yards216124
Passing: Comp–Att–Int18–26–011–24–2
Time of possession35:4324:17

Miami (OH)

StatisticsM-OHND
First downs1724
Total yards229428
Rushes/yards28–11036–270
Passing yards119158
Passing: Comp–Att–Int14–36–217–28–0
Time of possession29:5430:06

No. 15 Louisville

StatisticsLOUND
First downs1911
Total yards395280
Rushing yards35–13131–163
Passing yards264163
Passing: Comp–Att–Int24–41–117–23–0
Time of possession32:0527:55

Stanford (rivalry)

StatisticsSTANND
First downs1424
Total yards59–20066–477
Rushing yards41–11339–229
Passing yards87248
Passing: Comp–Att–Int10–18–018–27–0
Time of possession30:4429:16

at Georgia Tech

StatisticsNDGT
First downs2318
Total yards69–38567–333
Rushing yards39–16829–64
Passing yards217269
Passing: Comp–Att–Int21–30–120–38–2
Time of possession35:4524:15

at No. 24 Navy (rivalry)

StatisticsNDNAVY
First downs2017
Plays–yards65–46657–310
Rushes–yards40–26543–222
Passing yards20188
Passing: Comp–Att–Int15–25–07–14–1
Time of possession30:2929:31

Florida State

StatisticsFSUND
First downs1422
Total yards69–20862–453
Rushing yards43–12032–201
Passing yards88252
Passing: Comp–Att–Int0–0–00–0–0
Time of possession33:1126:49

Virginia

StatisticsUVAND
First downs1521
Total yards68–30071–448
Rushing yards32–12838–234
Passing yards172214
Passing: Comp–Att–Int17–36–322–33–1
Time of possession25:2434:36

vs. No. 19 Army (rivalry)

The 2024 meeting between Army and Notre Dame at new Yankee Stadium commemorated the Notre Dame's Four Horsemen backfield that led them to an upset win over Army at the Polo Grounds in 1924. Notre Dame wore special blue-gray uniforms, a nod to the blue-gray sky mentioned in Grantland Rice's 1924 "Four Horsemen" dispatch in his opening line, "outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again." While the shiny gold uniform numbers represent the Gothic Blackletter of New York City's newspaper mastheads. Notre Dame again won easily, 49–14, handing Army their first loss of the season.
StatisticsARMYND
First downs1520
Total yards67–23347–462
Rushing yards58–20729–273
Passing yards26189
Passing: Comp–Att–Int4–9–014–18–0
Time of possession39:4920:11

at USC (rivalry)

StatisticsNDUSC
First downs2329
Total yards61–43677–557
Rushing yards38–25828–197
Passing yards178360
Passing: Comp–Att–Int18–23–127–49–2
Time of possession29:4530:15

No. 8 Indiana (College Football Playoff – First Round)

This game marked the first time a home game would air on ESPN and ABC since the 1990 season. The reason it aired on those networks instead of NBC was due to the fact that playoff games aren't part of Notre Dame's deal with NBC.
StatisticsIUND
First downs1720
Total yards278394
Rushing yards63193
Passing yards215201
Passing: Comp–Att–Int20–33–123–32–1
Time of possession24:1735:43

No. 2 Georgia (Sugar Bowl / College Football Playoff Quarterfinal)

This will be the fourth meeting between the Fighting Irish and the Bulldogs. The two teams have previously met in the postseason just once, in the 1981 Sugar Bowl, which resulted in a 17–10 Georgia win. Though Georgia won all three previous matchups between the teams, each game was decided by seven points or less.
The game was delayed from January1 to January2 after a truck attack that took place in the nearby French Quarter.
StatisticsNDUGA
First downs1416
Total yards244296
Rushing yards15462
Passing yards90234
Passing: Comp–Att–Int15–24–020–32–0
Time of possession31:4728:13

No. 4 Penn State (Orange Bowl / College Football Playoff Semifinal)

StatisticsNDPSU
First downs2320
Total yards73–38375–339
Rushing yards42–11642–204
Passing yards267135
Passing: comp–att–int21–31–212–23–1
Time of possession29:5630:04

TeamCategoryPlayerStatistics
Notre DamePassingRiley Leonard15/23, 223 yards, TD, 2 INT
Notre DameRushingJeremiyah Love11 carries, 45 yards, TD
Notre DameReceivingJaden Greathouse7 receptions, 105 yards, TD
Penn StatePassingDrew Allar12/23, 135 yards, INT
Penn StateRushingNicholas Singleton15 carries, 84 yards, 3 TD
Penn StateReceivingTyler Warren6 receptions, 75 yards

vs No. 6 Ohio State (CFP National Championship Game)

StatisticsOSUND
First downs2219
Plays–yards62–44558–308
Rushes–yards41–21426–53
Passing yards231255
Passing: ––17–21–022–32–0
Time of possession32:2527:35