GREEN BAY, Wis. — You can be forgiven for forgetting that the last time Notre Dame entered a season ranked in the AP top-5 was in 2022, back in Marcus Freeman’s first season as head coach.
Then 17.5-point underdogs, the Irish entered the Horseshoe to take on Freeman’s alma mater, No. 2 Ohio State. They held their own, then held on for dear life. Up three at halftime, Notre Dame then got shut out in the second half by the Buckeyes in an 11-point loss that probably didn’t properly illustrate the gap between the two programs at the time.
Those Buckeyes, for all intents and purposes, came a missed field goal against Georgia away from winning that year’s national title. Those Irish took the rocky road that accompanies a new regime, from the peak of smoking Clemson to the valley of losing to Marshall and Stanford en route to a 9-4 campaign.
In retrospect, Freeman’s squad that year had no business being ranked in the top-5.
The depth and talented on this year’s team — with the Irish entering Sunday ranked No. 4 — further underscores that point.
Notre Dame beat Wisconsin, 41-13, in front of a bipartisan crowd at Lambeau Field. Freeman, the pupil, beat Luke Fickell, the teacher.
Freeman’s squad has legitimate national title hopes. Fickell’s squad has undergone a massive renovation in hopes of saving his job.
While the 2026 Badgers aren’t exactly the 2022 Irish, they did carry a bit of a mystery to them. And they exceeded expectations in hanging with a more touted opponent for a half, trailing 13-10 at the break on Sunday.
Then the Irish asserted their dominance.
