Winning a national championship in anything is difficult, but in major college football it is even more difficult.
Consider this: Only three current college coaches have won a national championship at the FBS level.
Kirby Smart won a pair in Georgia and appears prepared to set his sights on another this fall.
Dabo Swinney doesn’t really believe in the transfer portal, but he advised Clemson to two national championships in his time.
And Mack Brown didn’t do it in North Caroline but led Texas to its most recent national championship in 2005.
Other than that, no current head coach has led his respective team to the FBS crown.
So what are the chances that Marcus Freeman Can you join that rare air at Notre Dame?
Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy discussed several coaches’ chances of winning it all on a recent episode of Always college football.
“I put the percentage chance of him winning a national championship at Notre Dame at 10 percent,” McElroy said. “Still, I think, very good – very good.”
McElroy discussed Freeman and Notre Dame at length, noting that he has enormous respect for the Fighting Irish coach. He sees it more as it being difficult to win big at Notre Dame, specifically, than anything specific about Freeman.
“When you have to play in the first round – Clemson in the first round perhaps? Maybe in the second round you have to go play Alabama. In the third round you have to play Georgia. Then, for the national championship, you have to play Ohio State,” thought McElroy. “Will Notre Dame’s roster be deep enough? Will they be talented enough to be able to play up to the level of competition multiple times in a deeper playoff format?”
What McElroy didn’t mention is that in the current 12-team format, an undefeated Notre Dame team could theoretically have a much easier path than he mentioned.
For example, if Notre Dame went 12-0 in a regular season, they could very likely earn the No. 5 seed, which would guarantee them a date with the Group of Five’s highest-ranked opponent.
Following them would be the lowest-seeded conference champion of the Big Four, likely coming from the Big 12 or ACC.
Win these games and suddenly you’re in the national semi-finals and the path, although quite challenging, doesn’t seem so dire.
Then again, this format will only be valid for the next two years.
Interesting stuff, regardless.
Related:
Notre Dame tops latest 2025 recruiting rankings
