Notre Dame couldn't have asked for a better season in 2024; the only thing that would have made it the best season would have been a National Championship win to top it all off. The Fighting Irish have heard for years about how they don't play anyone, especially when they mostly play ACC opponents, and until they join a tough conference, they won't win anything.
Well, Notre Dame proved a lot of people wrong by making it to the National Championship in 2024, but they weren't able to finish it off with a win, and that is something that will stick with this team for a while. Sometimes a loss can be more motivating than a win can. Even though the Fighting Irish were able to make it to the National Championship, there is still more to improve on.
So, if Notre Dame wants to make it back to the National Championship in the 2025 season and finish the job this time, here are five key stats they have to improve on.
Red zone touchdown efficiency
Notre Dame had a scoring efficiency of 81.7% overall on offense, but when it came to scoring touchdowns, they only scored seven points on 71.7% of their red zone trips, meaning they scored just 43 touchdowns on 60 red zone attempts. However, when they were facing ranked opponents, they only scored a touchdown in the red zone 58.8% of the time.
The Fighting Irish need to up that percentage in the 2025 season in order to keep up with the higher-flying offenses. With Notre Dame losing some key players on the offense, especially quarterback Riley Leonard, the offense will have to improve on the stat with new guys on the field.
Third-down conversion rate
In the 2024 season, Notre Dame converted on third down 38.7% of the time, which is not a very high conversion rate. From an opponent's point of view, all they have to do is get the Fighting Irish to third down, and they have the best opportunity to get off the field on that drive.
Notre Dame has to improve this stat in order to sustain drives going forward in the 2025 season. It is always great to convert on early downs, but that is not always possible. The third-down conversion rate is the biggest stat Notre Dame needs to work on next season.
Fourth-down defense
This is not the biggest need for Notre Dame heading into next season, as opponents only converted on 33.3% of fourth-down attempts last season, but cleaning this stat up is still something the defense can work on.
Passing efficiency
With quarterback Riley Leonard now in the NFL, this stat could see a serious change next season with a new player under center. Leonard had a completion rate of 60.1% with 2,856 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and just nine interceptions. Those are pretty solid numbers, but now with the battle between CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey, the passing game could look very different in 2025, changing the efficiency as well.
Penalties per game
Cleaning up the game penalty-wise is another big thing Notre Dame needs to work on for the 2025 season. The Fighting Irish averaged 6.2 penalties a game, which is a pretty high number, as it cost them an average of 55.3 penalty yards per game.
Avoiding mistakes that can cause either more yards for the other team or erase big plays for the Fighting Irish would be huge, especially when playing tough, ranked opponents.