JD PicKell: Notre Dame primed to take next step toward CFP field in 2023

Marcus Freeman’s first season at Notre Dame was an interesting one. The Fighting Irish lost two of their first three games, saw starting quarterback Tyler Buchner go down with an injury and still managed to finish 9-4, including a Gator Bowl victory.

But as Freeman has gone through his second offseason as head coach, things appear to be looking up — and On3’s J.D. PicKell predicted Notre Dame can take a big step toward the College Football Playoff.

The Fighting Irish made a huge splash in the transfer portal by landing former Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman, who came in as the No. 5 overall player and the top quarterback to enter the portal, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings. That’s a far cry from last season’s quarterback situation with Buchner and backup Drew Pyne, who started a majority of the games, and PicKell said that will allow Notre Dame to play a much different style in 2023.

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“You won nine games last year, did the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and you did it mostly with a backup quarterback. Notre Dame, last year, was a team that fought one style, in my opinion, and that was just jiu jitsu,” PicKell said on The Hard Count this week. “‘We’re going to play you tough in the trenches, we are going to play stingy defense, we’re going to run the football and we’re going to be physical. That’s going to be our edge. We’re not going to make it a track meet, we’re not going to do this whole shootout, team that has the ball next wins, that’s not going to be how we do things.’

“However, now, they add Sam Hartman and they develop that fighting style, I believe. Like I said, you won nine games with a backup quarterback. You add a guy who’s the ACC all-time leader in passing touchdowns with 40-plus games of starting experience. You upgraded at the quarterback position, the most important position in the game of football. It gives me some optimism for them.”

JD PicKell: Not having a conference title game could impact Notre Dame’s CFP chances

Entering last season, neither Buchner nor Pyne had started a game at the collegiate level. By adding Hartman, Notre Dame added not only a quarterback who’s started 40 games over his career, but also led the ACC in career passing touchdowns while at Wake Forest.

However, PicKell said the Fighting Irish’s path to the CFP might be tougher because they don’t play in a conference championship. That said, if Notre Dame goes undefeated with Hartman at quarterback, he sees a strong case for the Fighting Irish to make the four-team field.

“Now, like I said, maybe Vegas likes that they don’t play in a conference title game. To me, it makes me nervous,” PicKell said. “I feel like Notre Dame, if they have one loss, you feel a little bit more uneasy. But if they go undefeated, I don’t know how they get denied. Now, the schedule for them is hard. Their whole thing at Notre Dame is, ‘We choose hard.’ I love that mantra. I think that’s great.

“But for Notre Dame, adding Sam Hartman, to me, very much so … makes them more dangerous because they can win different kinds of games. Marcus Freeman, in year one, a little more pressure now in South Bend. I think making the College Football Playoff is attainable. Will they do it? We’ll see. But I think it’s attainable. Sam Hartman changes the entire face of that program.”