Notre Dame football projected for title game return, but heartbreak looms

Notre Dame football fans should make preparations for a return to the National Championship Game.

At least, they should make those preparations if they trust that Andy Staples knows what he’s talking about. The On3 analyst put out his “way too early” projection for the 2026 College Football Playoffs and Irish fans are going to be very happy that he believes Marcus Freeman and company are prepared to make another march towards the title.

However, the joy over someone having that kind of projection for Notre Dame football does have a downside. Staples believes that while the Irish will get back to the big game, he believes they’re going to lose again. And it’s almost a repeat of the 2025 National Championship game.

Notre Dame football has return ticket to National Championship Game 

This time around, Staples says the Golden Domers will take on the Texas Longhorns. And the presumably Arch Manning-led Texas squad will emerge victorious. 

Staples has Texas toppling Ohio State in the seminfinals, meaning that should everything else play out the way Staples believes but that, it could indeed be a rematch for the championship game. Notre Dame vs Ohio State is certainly a game that Marcus Freeman and company would probably love. A chance at revenge would be nice, but the rest of the country would like to see a new matchup, most likely.

So what does the On3 analyst believe is the path for Notre Dame to the playoffs? He thinks Freeman’s crew will be the No. 6 seed and will host the Florida Gators in South Bend next year.

Then it’s a matchup against the Clemson Tigers (which will be a fun revenge game in its own right) and then a tilt in the semifinals with the No. 2 seed Oregon Ducks.

You can check out the entire bracket above, but one thing is clear. With Notre Dame football making quite a few of these very early playoff predictions, Marcus Freeman has people convinced they’re among the best in the country, even if the team still has a  big question mark about who will be calling signals in 2025.