Notre Dame looks like a CFP contender, but against a weak schedule, what have the Irish proved?

It was no secret heading into the year that Notre Dame's schedule was among the weakest in the country, a potential double-edged sword for the Fighting Irish. 

On the one hand, their path to the College Football Playoff is clear, but, like last year, losses in their few games against top-ranked foes could cost them dearly in the rankings, with few opportunities to make up ground in the minds of the voters on the playoff committee. 

Through four games, the No. 3 Irish have understood the assignment and not only won their first four games, but have done so in a dominant, convincing fashion. The question for many when discussing where Notre Dame belongs in the conversation among the sport's elite is: What have we learned about them? As Bud Elliott noted on Tuesday's Cover 3 Podcast, there is still something to be learned from a team beating up on lesser (but still Power Four) competition. 

"There is still an open question about how they look against playoff-caliber teams, but like the rosters they've played are at least -- they're bad Power Four rosters, but they're at least Power Four," Elliott said. "They're spending $10+ million on the roster. They're still a vast majority better than the G6 or FCS games being played. And they're killing them. That doesn't tell you exactly what they are, but there is definitely a signal there that if you go out and kill every Power Four team you play. I think Notre Dame deserves some measure of credit." 

With that in mind, we wanted to dive into this year's Notre Dame squad after four games, including three against Big Ten competition, and try to figure out what we know about the Irish, what's still to be determined, and when we will find out. 

Why we're confident in Notre Dame

There is something to be said for a team being able to handle its business in a dominant fashion each time it steps on the field. That is a sign of a high-floor team with good coaching and a roster that's bought in on what they're being coached to do. 

It can be easy for a group of 18-22-year-olds to sleepwalk through a game against a lesser opponent, but to this point, the Irish have avoided that kind of trap. The message in South Bend (which the locker room seems to have heard loud and clear) has been that they must leave no doubt to the playoff committee that they belong in the field after being the odd team out in 2025. 

The first order of business in doing that is to dominate the teams you are supposed to. The Irish are doing that in all three phases of the game so far, lighting up Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State and Purdue in games that have rarely been competitive past halftime. 

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An elite defense is the reason for that, and even without seeing that group up against a top-tier offense yet, it is safe to call this one of the best defensive units in the country. Notre Dame is second in scoring defense (8.3 points per game), third in yards per rush allowed (1.75) and fourth in havoc rate (24%). 

Marcus Freeman's calling card has always been defense, and this year's squad, led by two elite corners in Leonard Moore and Christian Gray and a burgeoning star pass rusher in Bryce Young, might be the best of his tenure. That remains to be seen by how they perform against the game's elite, but their dominance through four games, even in the context of their competition, has been spectacular. 

What Notre Dame still has to prove

The offense is good, but even as they've put up more than 40 points per game, the Irish don't seem to be firing on all cylinders just yet. Quarterback CJ Carr was viewed by many as a potential Heisman candidate coming into 2026, but he hasn't been torching these lesser defenses to the degree needed to sit high up on September Heisman lists. 

That said, with 963 passing yards, nine touchdowns and just one interception in the first four games, he is playing well enough that a couple of well-timed strong performances going forward can get him in that conversation. Carr and the passing attack are not the main question the Notre Dame offense has to answer, though. 

The concern for the Irish is whether their rushing attack is as dynamic as it needs to be to provide the balance they want to have against elite competition. Losing two first-round picks at running back in Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price was always going to leave massive shoes to fill, and Aneyas Williams and Nolan James Jr. have been adequate to this point. 

That said, there are signs that this running game isn't where it needs to be. The Irish are 91st in the country with a pedestrian 4.08 yards per carry on 139 attempts. Last year, they were third in the nation at 5.69 yards per rush, leaning on the big play ability of both Love and Price for explosives in the run game. 

That dynamism hasn't been apparent yet, which puts an even greater burden on Carr's shoulders to be spectacular. To this point, that hasn't caused any problems because their defense is elite and their opponents aren't as talented, but it is concerning that they've struggled to consistently run the ball at a high level against lower-level Big Ten competition. 

When will we know if Notre Dame is legit?

While the actual answer to this is "January," the first weekend of November will be when people outside of South Bend are going to be willing to fully buy in on this Notre Dame team or if we'll be wondering if this is the same old Irish that are a level below the sport's elite tier. 

Before we get there, the Irish will have a pair of benchmark games to provide some further optimism -- particularly with regards to the offensive ceiling. The first is this weekend's game against North Carolina, where Notre Dame is a three-touchdown favorite on the road, but Bill Belichick's defense has proven to be stingy so far this season and should present some challenges for Carr and company. 

Notre Dame's defense should dominate this game, but it's worth watching how efficient and effective the offense can be in its first true road game of the season against a solid defense. The Tar Heels will be trying to bait Carr into mistakes, and the Irish running game will need to prove it can be a threat to force Belichick's defense to creep down into the box and open up passing windows for Carr. 

The first real test for the Irish comes on Oct. 17 when they travel to Provo, Utah, to face BYU. The Irish will be favored on the road, but BYU is sneakily one of the toughest places to play in the country, and the Cougars' defense in particular will give us a real measuring stick for the level Notre Dame's offense is capable of reaching. BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier presents a unique challenge for the defense, and the Cougars should still be undefeated and in the top 10 when Notre Dame makes the trip out. 

Even a strong performance in Provo won't be enough for everyone, and most folks won't truly be won over until Nov. 7, when the Irish host a Miami team that looks to be as good if not better than last year's team that beat Notre Dame and went to the national championship game. The Hurricanes' offense is, without question, the best unit Notre Dame's defense will face all season, and the vaunted Irish secondary will have its hands full trying to bottle up one of the nation's most dynamic receivers in Malachi Toney and an elite passing attack helmed by quarterback Darian Mensah. 

What makes that matchup so fascinating is that it will be the defining game of the season for both teams, as Miami's schedule currently features even fewer ranked opponents than Notre Dame's. That'll ramp up the intensity and the sense of urgency on both sides, as the winner will position themselves for a first-round bye, while the loser will know their margin for error is slim to none for making it into the playoff -- especially if it's a lopsided defeat. 

After the Miami game, the Irish will have to handle SMU in South Bend in late November, which is the only other game that could trip them up, but by then, we should have plenty of data on what this Irish squad is capable of.