Examining Notre Dame Football’s Road Struggles

A problem that can’t show up Week 1 of 2024…

With 2023 in the rearview mirror we have a lot of time to look ahead to Notre Dame football in 2024.

Staff changes have been made while a new recruiting class has been officially assembled and the transfer portal has been used often.

But what about actually tangible play?  Where does Notre Dame have issues that need addressed in 2024?

Seeing as they start 2024 with perhaps their toughest test, a road game at Texas A&M, fixing the road woes seems like a good place to start.

Let’s spend a couple minutes examining how Marcus Freeman and the Irish started games in the friendly confines of Notre Dame Stadium compared to those played away from South Bend and see just how much of an issue it is.

National Analyst Weighs Notre Dame Title Chances in 2024

Playoff or bust, sure…but what about Notre Dame’s actual championship chances?

What are fair expectations for Notre Dame in 2024?

Personally I look at pretty much any year going forward being a disappointment if the Irish aren’t hosting a first round playoff game in the middle of December.

Anything short of a College Football Playoff appearance, essentially being one of the nation’s top 12 teams, would certainly be seen as a failure.

But what about more than that?

What about winning a national championship for the first time since 1988?

To do so will require beating multiple powerhouses in the postseason, something Notre Dame hasn’t done a single time since the 1994 Cotton Bowl when they beat Texas A&M.

Josh Pate of CBS Sports and host of The Late Kick Podcast recently discussed Notre Dame in the 2024 season to come.  Check out how Pate handicaps Notre Dame’s chances both at the playoff and at actually ending their title drought below:

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2024 Safeties Outlook: Ducks need to find some help in the portal

Oregon is in some serious need of an immediate infusion of talent and experience when it comes to the safety position for 2024.

The 2023 season is now behind us, and while there is still a bowl game to be played — The Fiesta Bowl vs. The Liberty Flames — Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks are working hard on the construction of their roster and hitting the transfer portal in attempts to formulate what this team will look like going into the 2024 season, the team’s first year in the Big Ten Conference. While they work on bringing new players in via the transfer portal, we want to look at the future breakdown of each position, detailing current players on the roster, incoming recruits, and potential targets on the market right now.

So far this offseason, we’ve broken down the future of the Quarterbacks, Running backswide receivers, tight ends, offensive line, cornerbacks, defensive line, and edge rusher. Now let’s focus on the safeties.


Oregon has some recent success with the transfer portal in getting safeties to come to Eugene and make an immediate impact and the Ducks need to most likely do it again for the 2024 season.

They lose a lot of talent at that spot due to graduation and outgoing transfers. While the players on the roster are talented, they are lacking in experience for the most part. It’s not a spot you want to be in as you go into the Big Ten Conference. Securing the services of a couple of safeties in the portal might be almost as important as getting Dillon Gabriel at quarterback.

Here’s a breakdown of Oregon’s safety position going into 2024, and some transfer targets that the Ducks are looking at.