Marcus Freeman took over a talented Notre Dame team and struggled early on in 2022. Now, entering his second season at the helm, the current college football odds have the Notre Dame win projections at 8.5 total victories.
Can he keep up the recruiting momentum and translate that into at least a nine-win season in 2023?
College Football Odds – Notre Dame Win Projections: O/U 8.5 Total Wins
Freeman leads the Fighting Irish into the 2023 season with a lot of expectations and a quarterback that is better than average.
Sam Hartman transfers in from Wake Forest with 12,967 passing yards and 110 touchdowns in his career. This will also be the first time in Hartman’s college career that he will be playing in a normal offense. Wake Forest’s head coach Dave Clawson runs the slow mesh offense, which is an RPO-heavy attack with a very elongated mesh point.
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Former offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is now at Alabama and Gerad Parker steps in for the Irish.
What is going well for Hartman is the infrastructure he walks into. Left tackle Joe Alt and right tackle Blake Fisher are both thought of highly as NFL prospects, and the interior has two seniors. That will be the best offensive line that Hartman has played with his entire career.
Tobias Merriweather is in line for a bigger role after a solid true freshman season, with Lorenzo Styles Jr. ready to step up in year three.
The defense is projected to be an experienced unit with eight seniors set to start. They finished in the top 25 percentile in defensive efficiency but struggled to get off the field, ranking 112th in goal-to-go touchdown rate and worst in the FBS in red zone touchdown percentage.
Those are worrisome metrics, but an offseason to learn and grow should show some improvement, especially without the coaching turmoil that they dealt with when Brian Kelly left abruptly.
Should You Bet on the Fighting Irish this Season?
Draft Kings Sportsbook has the over at -140 with the under at +120. If you got in earlier this offseason, it was apparent the early numbers were set up to tell you that they expect this to push.
Even though the Fighting Irish have a difficult schedule, there aren’t a lot of really difficult games. They host Ohio State on September 23rd for their fifth game, host USC on October 14th and travel to Clemson on November 4th. If they somehow go 0-3 in those games, they will still likely end up 9-3, and it’s a win.
Win just one of those three marquee matchups, and it’s clear sailing.
Bet: Over (-140)
