Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 OCT. 10, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED O f the countless complaints we've all shared about Notre Dame football over the last couple of decades, being a boring program never made the list. Unthinkable upsets. Last-sec- ond losses. Bad coaching. Missed o p p o r t u n i t i e s. G o o d n e ss, n o t greatness. There have been plenty of games, plays and moments to lose sleep over. But fair or not, Notre Dame foot- ball has become delightfully dull under fifth-year head coach Mar- cus Freeman. The Irish entered their game against North Carolina Oct. 3 as a three-touchdown favorite and expected to extend their winning streak to 15 straight games, dating back to last year. The 14-game un- beaten streak was the second-lon- gest in the country behind reigning national champion Indiana at 20. No t h i n g b o r i n g a b o u t t h a t , right? Well, when you consider that Notre Dame won all 14 of those games by double digits and by an average of 30.9 points per outing, this winning stretch didn't provide much excitement or drama, and that's okay. About the only anxious moment the Irish faced during those 14 straight wins after losing to Texas A&M in Game 2 last season came five games later when Notre Dame trailed Southern Cal 24-21 for 15 seconds in the third quarter before scoring 13 unanswered points to claim a 34-24 victory. And that completes your stress-test checklist. Without losing sight of the fact that one key injury, one ill-timed turnover, or just one "off" game can flip a sea- son's fortunes fast, Notre Dame, at least to this point, has delivered a deliberate and businesslike approach to its weekly preparation that "leaves no doubt" it's one of the best teams in the country. "Part of leaving no doubt is that mindset of going to practice every day, going to perform with that intensity, and then going out to the game and go- ing to play to leave no doubt," senior linebacker and two-time team captain Drayk Bowen said. "It's doing every- thing you can to make sure that your team comes out on top." And through four games this season, Notre Dame barely broke a sweat while coming out on top, ranking third in the country with an average winning mar- gin of +34.0 points (Miami was first at +42.8 and Georgia was second at +41.5). Gone this season were the inexplica- ble September upsets that had plagued Freeman. And gone so far are the ups and downs and the sketchy Saturday stretches when Notre Dame backed off the throttle and let opponents back into games. Anchored by its defense, Notre Dame trailed only once through its first four games this season when Wisconsin kicked a first-quarter field goal in the Sept. 6 opener and led the Irish 3-0 for five minutes. From there, Notre Dame outscored the Badgers 41-10 and never trailed in consecutive victories over Rice, Michi- gan State and Purdue. While many programs around the country rely on either their of- fense or their defense for success, Notre Dame dominates in both categories with a scoring offense that averaged 42.3 points a game and a defense that allowed only 8.3 points per game during the first third of the season. In one of the more remarkable stats through four games this sea- son, Notre Dame's defense scored 3 touchdowns of its own, while al- lowing only 3 touchdowns to op- posing offenses. Penalty yardage is another rather mundane measure of team disci- pline and success. And again, Notre Dame ex- cels. Through the four September games, the Irish led the nation with only 2.5 penalties and 26.5 penalty yards per game. This year's Notre Dame team has brought little game-day drama or fourth-quarter heroics for fans to celebrate and talk about. Instead, the precision and focus it operates with ev- ery week have brought a calmness and a Saturday sureness that is translating into "easy" victories. Can this smooth ride last all season? That's probably unlikely with the meat of the Irish schedule coming quickly. But with the focus this talented team plays with on Saturdays and prepares with Sunday through Friday, anything seems possible. "There's no magical formula," Free- man said. "It's work, it's practice, it's understanding the whats, the whys, and the hows of executing on game day. It's the belief in what we're doing and in playing fast with velocity and violence." Disciplined, attentive and assured may be better words than boring to de- scribe this Notre Dame team. But if boring fits best, then let's call boring beautiful. ✦ Head coach Marcus Freeman's focus on discipline is paying off — through four games the Irish led the nation with the fewest penal- ties (2.5) and penalty yards (26.5) per game. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at toddburlage@gmail.com UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Boring Results Are Beautiful To Watch