UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

and that is a good thing. The media, and public opinion, has rightfully spared Freeman of the "ND is overrated" tripe that every coach prior to him since Holtz was subject to. That's a credit to his success (and having a general likeability helps). Freeman has delivered on all fronts. Winning the big games, getting to the title game in year one of the new playoff format, tearing it up on the recruiting path. There have definitely been hiccups along the way, but the general path of the program has been heading in the right direction.

With this success comes higher standards. Playoffs are the minimum goal, and this should be an annual expectation until something changes. The defense should be elite and the offense should be good enough. Internally, there's no doubt the only talk is about finishing the job and winning it all.

Last year's team was undoubtedly great in terms of the end result, but it was still frustrating and average on many occasions. I think if they can take last year's success and build upon it--become more efficient, more potent, more cut-throat--the sky is the limit assuming they stay healthy.

With a tougher schedule (it seems) this year and a new QB, it's going to be a harder road to the playoffs in my opinion. But my minimum expectation is to make the playoffs, then you just see what happens from there. I don't think this team is good enough to expect a national championship win, but that's the direction the program seems to be heading towards.