Rakes Report #255: Favorite wins of the 2024 Notre Dame football season, ranked

Before we fully turn our attention to reloading for 2025 and the push to March Madness, some further reflection on the season that just transpired.

There are some offseason transactions and updates that need to be addressed but let’s not quite turn the page on the previous campaign just yet. In the run-up to the national title game, we did a podcast episode ranking our favorite wins of the 2024 season. Unfortunately there was no 15th win to add to the top of the list but for the sake of commemorating a very special season we felt it was worth putting some of our thoughts down in print.

Our approach was to treat this like a draft, with Jess having the first pick, although the results are listed in inverse order and also won’t be much of a surprise to those who listened to the pod. We had no set criteria in how we approached it but some of the factors considered included big plays, the stakes of the game (particularly “What would a loss have meant here?”), where the game fell versus expectations and general enjoyment.

14 wins! That’s so many wins. Let’s talk about them.

14. Virginia

Chris Wilson: The Senior Day game was never in doubt, with the Cavaliers mishandling the opening kickoff and Notre Dame taking a 7-0 lead four plays into the home finale. There was a chance for drama but as Virginia was driving to tie Rod Heard forced a fumble and then Anthony Colandrea (who has since transferred to UNLV) threw two picks (Leonard Moore and Adon Shuler) in the final three minutes of the first half, both converted into touchdowns, to make it 28-0 at the break. 76-yard touchdown from Jeremiyah Love and 64-yard punt from James Rendell also on the tally here.

Frustrating for a couple reasons: A 78-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Harrison and a 73-yard fake punt touchdown by Jordan Faison were both wiped out by penalties on the same drive, with the latter being inexcusable work by the ACC refs. The Cavaliers were also very try-hardy at the end, a theme of many blowouts. This and the RedHawks game make a pretty clear bottom two.

Jessica Smetana: There are two reasons why this was my least favorite win of the season. One: when the officials called back the fake punt play, Jack Kiser said, “My heart sank.” Don’t make Jack Kiser’s heart sink on Senior Night. Two: the reasoning behind the fake punt penalty was so convoluted, I was compelled to look up the official NCAA rule book to make sense of it, and no one should ever have to read during a football game. 0/10.

13. Miami (OH)

JS: If not for the memorably frustrating officiating during the Virginia game, the Sept. 28 home game against Chuck Martin’s Miami RedHawks would be the consensus worst win of the season. An entire fanbase suffering from Northern Illinois PTSD watched in horror as history looked to be repeating itself against a MAC team at home…for at least a quarter.

It may not have been a pleasant watch for offense and special teams early on, but Notre Dame’s defense dominated Miami. Well-timed interceptions by Christian Gray and Junior Tuihalamaka foreshadowed future playoff turnovers to come. Riley Leonard threw his first touchdown of the season on a pretty pass to Beaux Collins and finished the day with a stat line that would make anyone think it was a smooth and easy win. And it would’ve felt that way too, if it weren’t for the events of two weeks earlier.

CW: Impossible to overstate how bad the first quarter went for Notre Dame: 35 yards of offense, two first downs, one completed pass, one botched field goal, one muffed punt, and zero successful third-down conversions. It was fine after that, with Leonard running for 143 yards and Al Golden’s defense putting on a clinic, logging four sacks and forcing Brett Gabbert into an ugly performance (14 of 35 for 119 yards and two picks). Miami would go on to play for the MAC title and win the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl.

12. Stanford

CW: Coming off the season’s first bye, there was a question of how the Irish would perform after an up-and-down September, especially against a team that had won a shocker in their last trip to Notre Dame Stadium. The answer? Quite well, with Riley Leonard putting up an elite passing game (72% completion rate, over 10 yards per attempt, four total touchdowns) as the good guys closed things out on a 49-0 run. This game also included Joshua Burnham pulling off the pitch interception/fumble recovery touchdown and a lightning delay when the result was already clear.

JS: This game gets bonus points for one of the funniest stat lines of the entire season. Pat Coogan caught a batted Riley Leonard pass and ran for a first down towards the end of the first half, which set up a touchdown to go ahead 21-7. This, plus his memorable pre-game pep talks and of course solid o-line play will be the lasting memory of his strong tenure at Notre Dame. F**k on 2!

11. Florida State

JS: When Notre Dame announced a primetime kickoff for the 2024 Florida State game, the Seminoles were stacked with talent (ranked 13th in the country in the 247 composite), coming off of an ACC Championship and spectacular 13-1* season. Months later when the game kicked off, FSU’s record was an abysmal 1-8 and the DJ Uiagalelei experiment in Tallahassee had already failed.

*13-0 if you ask them. Do not ask them about the 1.

It’s one thing to know that a team is bad and struggling, and it’s another to see it in action. Notre Dame cruised to a 52-3 victory with contributions from the entire cast. If you had parlayed Deion Colzie + Luke Talich anytime touchdowns, congratulations on your new mega yacht. Please donate to Rally.

CW: Florida State had ten completions, eight sacks allowed and six three-and-outs in this game and in its aftermath they fired their offensive coordinator/offensive line coach (they were 0th percentile in EPA per dropback), their defensive coordinator (they also gave up seven yards per play and 52 points) and their wide receivers coach (see above on the ten completions and three points). A very funny result after the Seminoles spent the offseason suing to get out of the ACC because they were too good for it. 2-10 with one FBS win, not great. Also shoutout Rylie Mills for a three-sack game.

10. Army

CW: After Notre Dame obliterated Navy, the stress levels weren’t overly elevated going into the Yankee Stadium clash with undefeated (and future AAC champion) Army, the regular season’s penultimate game. This was an annihilation: The Black Knights had three-and-outs on four of their first five drives, with Option King Jack Kiser logging both a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss on fourth down as the game wore on. The offense rolled as well, scoring touchdowns on five of their first seven possessions (the other two were a goal line hold from Army and a missed field goal at the end of the half).

Following the game, Army head coach Jeff Monken couldn’t remember the last time one of his punts had been blocked (Bryce Young, in the first quarter to help set the tone). Notre Dame had no punts, no turnovers, no sacks allowed and two drives that were one play and 50+ yard touchdowns (68 yards from Jeremiyah Love and 58 yards from Aneyas Williams). This was also the day Ohio State blew out Indiana, Ole Miss lost to Florida and Oklahoma defeated Alabama, three results that very much helped the Irish playoff situation.

JS: Army was one of only two unbeaten FBS teams in the country going into this matchup, the other being Oregon. Both teams had their unbeaten streaks ended by teams that would eventually play in the national championship. This game was a late addition to the schedule, and wound up being Notre Dame’s best win heading into the final playoff committee ranking. The image of Jeremiyah Love hurdling an Army player in the Blue-Gray Sky uniforms at Yankee Stadium should be the springboard for his ‘25 Heisman campaign.

9. Georgia Tech

JS: The vibes were incredibly strange to start out inside Mercedes Benz Stadium during the Oct. 19 matchup against Georgia Tech. For one, Notre Dame decided to wear white pants with blue jerseys, a decidedly Penn State-y look. Then, on Notre Dame’s first two possessions, the offense went three-and-out and Riley Leonard threw an interception that was returned 27 yards to set up a Georgia Tech touchdown.

From that drive on though, Notre Dame stifled the Georgia Tech offense, led by backup QB Zach Pyron. If it weren’t for a long drive in garbage time, the final score (31-13) would be more indicative of the defensive beatdown on display. Notre Dame’s linebackers shined, holding the Yellow Jackets’ run-heavy offense to only 80 rushing yards. Second half interceptions from Xavier Watts and Adon Shuler (his returned for a touchdown) stalled any hope of a Tech comeback.

Even though Notre Dame finished the day 6-1 on the season, the dream of returning to Mercedes Benz Stadium 3 short months later still felt like a long shot…

CW: This was the game where ESPN decided it would be helpful to remind the viewing audience of Notre Dame’s playoff chances every 90 seconds and to frame each Marcus Freeman decision through the lens of it being an attempt to impress the committee even though it was mid-October. Following Leonard’s pick he completed 12 straight passes to help Notre Dame take the lead into the half. (Asked about what he saw on the interception, our beautiful boy: "More like what I didn’t see. I didn’t see pretty much anything. Bad read. Can’t just throw the ball up like that.")

Will always remember Brent Key trying to get Pyron murdered to make the score look more respectable, leaving him against an unrelenting Irish defense even as his body stopped working. Marty Biagi was in his bag for this one, pulling out all kinds of fakes that would become a theme of the season’s second half.

The victory included another Leonard leap that led to a tremendous postgame quote from Freeman: “You don’t love to see your quarterback without at least one foot on the ground.”

8. Navy

CW: Noon kickoff against an academy in an NFL stadium had the potential to get dicey but this started about as well as you could hope for with two Midshipmen fumbles and two Notre Dame touchdowns. Navy quarterback Blake Horvath ripped off a long run to make it a one-score game but the Irish put the throttle down and it was 31-7 at the half, a beyond insurmountable lead. Jeremiyah Love had a 64-yard run, Jaylen Sneed had a fumble recovery touchdown and Leonard Moore had a leaping interception in the endzone that showed off his freakish length and helped give hope as we adjusted to life after Ben Morrison. Nothing better than noon domination and then getting to see the score roll by as you watch games for the rest of the day and night.

JS: Navy was a trendy upset pick heading into this ranked matchup with an offense that was averaging 44 points per game and the nation’s best turnover margin. In hindsight all three of those things are very funny. Navy head coach Brian Newberry admitted after the game that the spotlight may have been too bright for the undefeated Midshipmen in the Meadowlands that afternoon.

You could mistakenly think that the lopsided victory was due to Navy’s numerous turnovers, however, that would not account for the fact that Navy had no answer for the Notre Dame offense. The Irish offense finished with a success rate in the 93rd percentile — nearly a perfect outing. Bonus points for Notre Dame becoming the leading touchdown scorers of the season at MetLife Stadium with seven touchdowns. The Giants and Jets had combined for six through seven games prior to the Irish’s matchup against Navy.

7. Purdue

JS: Purdue, by every metric, was the worst team Notre Dame played this season and also a bottom ten team in all of FBS. That is why the Week Three matchup in West Lafayette could not have come at a better time for the blue and gold. By all accounts (thank you to Peacock’s “Here Come the Irish”) the Notre Dame players were eager to prove they didn’t suck after the debacle versus NIU. The Ultimate Get Right Game.

Uncles Brad and Gary called a 66-7 rout on CBS, while Boilermakers fans booed and streamed out of the stadium before the first half even finished. A fair reaction, as Jadarian Price scored on a 70-yard touchdown run with only 30 seconds remaining before halftime to go up 42-0 without even really trying.

The Irish offense which had been disjointed, mistake-ridden, and downright ugly the week before finished with exceptional marks for EPA per play, yards per play, success rate and just about any other statistic that exists. Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey and CJ Carr joined in on the fun as well. If this game had come at any other time in the season, it’d be much less memorable and much lower ranking. But it was a well-timed blowout of a bad team with a tiny drum when Notre Dame really needed it most.

CW: I personally had this game a little lower only because the Irish played so well it made me angry about the loss to the Huskies all over again but it did affirm that this wasn’t a shattered team and there’s a benefit to that. Both Riley Leonard and Jeremiyah Love hit 100 yards rushing (Price had 86) and the defense showed out, with Boubacar Traore notching a sack and a pick six (miss that guy so much) in a nightmare day for Hudson Card. In the first trip to Ross-Ade Stadium in over a decade we also got to learn a lot about Uncle Gary’s college experience, watch Max Hurleman’s impressive garbage time performance earn him the spot as the main punt returner and enjoy Minchey running for a score.

not to get too fancy with the advanced stats but Green = Good and Purple = Bad

6. Louisville

CW: Major stakes to close out September, as the Irish would either be heading into a bye week with a revenge win against a ranked team that had defeated them the prior season or with their second loss and an embarrassingly early elimination from playoff contention. It was an inauspicious beginning with the opening kickoff fumbled and an early lead for the Cardinals but Riley Leonard, Jeremiyah Love (who combined to account for all four touchdowns) and the defense (came through with multiple fourth down stops) all stepped up.

Few other fun things: The Irish forced Tyler Shough and his receivers to make a number of incredible plays to score but it still wasn’t enough. Leonard Moore’s first career start included running down Shough and forcing a fumble. Sweet Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa sack. Great tailgate. Hilarious that the Cardinals’ four losses were to two playoff participants (ND and SMU), a team that almost made the 12-team field (Miami) and then also Stanford.

JS: Another sloppy start at home led to an uneasy feeling inside the stadium, but fortunately Notre Dame forced a couple Louisville turnovers and capitalized early. (You could theoretically blame the early fumbles on a completely random, cold, spitting rain that started 2 minutes before kickoff).

Without a knockout punch, the score was within one possession late with Louisville driving. On fourth and one on the Irish 46, Louisville took a delay of game. From Jeff Brohm postgame: “Give the crowd credit. We wanted to make sure we get the first down, so we did switch the personnel. It got loud. You couldn’t hear the call in from me. He finally got it and got up there and unfortunately the clock was winding down and he didn’t see it.” Notre Dame’s second ranked win of the season (at the time) avenged the disastrous ‘23 game with the help of the home crowd and no thanks to Lake Michigan.

5. Texas A&M

JS: In a normal college football season, a Week One win against Texas A&M at Kyle Field would be more than just a top 5 win, it would probably be the highlight. All of the preseason hype, expectations and anxieties finally crescendoed with a memorable Marcus Freeman tunnel walk-out in front of 100,000 screaming Aggies fans. (Juxtaposed with Mike Elko walking out in his large nightie).

Much of the angst resided in the Notre Dame offensive line, with a combined dozen starts and true freshman Anthonie Knapp helming the left tackle spot. The night ended without Texas A&M logging a single sack. Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price ran for 198 yards and 2 touchdowns. Riley Leonard orchestrated a much needed late touchdown drive. Mitch Jeter was a perfect 3/3.

Xavier Watts began the year where his ‘23 campaign left off: with an interception. Adon Shuler also caught a pick and Christian Gray had a pass breakup to effectively end the game.

CW: As Jess wrote, a lot of years this would be so much higher and there’s definitely a case it should be here as well. I love how this game foretold how much of the season would go: Just enough from Leonard, touchdowns from Love and Price, picks from Watts and Shuler and a big play from Gray late. Slight demerit for it involving the main ESPN crew but huge bump for sending a big SEC crowd home very sad and the fact the Aggies won their next seven games, which lended the Irish some credibility and a poll floor when they really needed it. One difference between this and the games above is if Notre Dame had lost we could have talked ourselves into 11 straight while the top four all had far more finality to them.

When discussing these rankings last month, our friend Michael Bryan made a pitch for the trip to Kyle Field being further up the list. We wanted to give him the floor and also use this opportunity to plug his recently launched newsletter Spreadsheets & Tailgates, which you should subscribe to immediately, especially if you’ve enjoyed his work at 18 Stripes and/or when he’s joined us on the podcast.

MB: The in-person experience boosts this one to the top of my personal top three. Kyle Field lived up to the hype, and compared to some other wins the intensity in College Station was consistently high until another of Mitch Jeter’s final field goals let us start to breathe again and celebrate.

I can’t describe how immaculate the vibes were for the many Irish fans in our section exiting the stadium down an endless loop of ramps. It felt like an exorcism of past SEC demons, and that despite 11 games ahead the path to the playoffs and hosting a home game in December was a lock. Which of course it was all along, in exactly the way we expected in early September.

4. Southern Cal

CW: The classic situation of “Beat your scuffling rival to achieve your goal of hosting a playoff game or lose and be horrifically sad.” Lincoln Riley turned to an effective chuck-it-deep strategy that kept this close throughout with the teams at one point combining for five straight touchdown drives. The Trojans were on the verge of tying it in the final minutes when Christian Gray — who had been targeted much of the afternoon with the YOLO tactics — came through with a 99-yard pick six. To cement the win and playoff bid, Xavier Watts followed up with a 100-yard pick of his own that included a cheerful acknowledgement of the USC sideline as he passed by.

Elite Riley Leonard hop in this one, a successful fake punt conversion from Tyler Buchner and perhaps the cleanest of all Jeremiyah Love hurdles. The all-white uniforms looked great in the Los Angeles sun and it was a treat to have Uncles Brad and Gary on the call for such a monumental win.

JS: The stakes were extremely high — essentially a playoff play-in game — and Lincoln Riley’s team was desperate to spoil the Irish’s season. There were shades of the 2018 finale, when Notre Dame completed its perfect 12-0 season on the road in a tight game in the Coliseum. Beating USC on two back-to-back pick sixes to roll into a guaranteed home playoff game was a fitting finale to a special regular season.

After the game, the AP recap described Christian Gray’s pick 6 as “the play of his life.” How could they have known that only five weeks later, Gray would be reeling in another interception at Hard Rock Stadium in another “play of his life,” but this time, to send Notre Dame to the national championship game?

3. Georgia

JS: There is obviously no such thing in sports as being “due” but after 31 years without a New Year’s Six bowl game victory and brutally close losses in ‘17 and ‘19 to the Georgia Bulldogs, maybe it was just finally time. If you also take into account that Notre Dame had a superior offense, equally as devastating defense, and a head coach who was willing to do anything to outsmart their opponent in all three phases, then maybe it’s less about being due and more about Notre Dame simply being better than the SEC champions for the first time in a while.

The fun began when Kirby Smart disrespectfully attempted a one-minute drill before the half with backup QB Gunner Stockton. RJ Oben strip-sacked Stockton, which was recovered by Junior Tuihalamaka and quickly converted into a touchdown pass from Riley Leonard to Beaux Collins. Jayden Harrison ran back the opening kickoff of the second half, catching Georgia and Molly McGrath off-guard.

Marcus Freeman’s pièce de résistance came when he subbed the offense onto the field after initially sending the punt unit out on 4th and 1 in the fourth quarter deep in Irish territory. Smart screamed at the officials to no avail while the Bulldogs jumped offsides to give Notre Dame a first down. Leonard cemented himself as a legend when he flew upside down and landed head-first on a third-down conversion. Notre Dame’s defense finished with nine tackles for loss and four sacks to Georgia’s one and one.

CW: The run-up to this game felt surreal after the postponement amid the tragedy on Bourbon Street but once things kicked off there was a sense of normalcy. Notre Dame had dominated the Middle Eight all season but they were more efficient this time around, turning the game in a mere 54 seconds that bridged the halftime break. 15 combined tackles for Xavier Watts and Adon Shuler, the latter of whom had the filthy forced fumble when it looked like the Dawgs were about to take a first quarter lead.

While a few of the college football media members who hate the sport they cover had attempted to downplay what beating the Hoosiers meant, there was little argument about a two-score win over the SEC champions. Very funny to win a game in which your longest drive is 41 yards and results in no points but hey you still get the trophy.

2. Indiana

CW: The first-ever home FBS playoff game started the expanded playoff in epic fashion. A bonus Friday “College GameDay” that showed off the magic of campus, gave us the Shane Gillis/Nick Saban showdown and allowed Curt Cignetti to talk some trash he failed to back up in any way. A really special day and night all around, with a raucous home environment and total immolation of an in-state foe that was trying to notch the biggest win in their program’s history.

It’s incredible to have a two-play sequence that defines a season as well as “Xavier Watts ends the Hoosiers’ attempt to take an early lead with his 13th career interception and then Jeremiyah Love runs 98 yards to score in his 13th consecutive game.” Monster game for Jordan Faison, who had seven catches for 89 yards (including the bomb that helped set up the final touchdown), a long kickoff return to start the second half and a fumble recovery. Minus a few points for the lack of an exclamation point in the final minutes as Indiana scraped their way to a respectable final score and no big singalong moment in the stands but minor issues in the grand scheme.

JS: The Fighting Irish dominated Indiana on the lines of scrimmage in a historic night at Notre Dame Stadium. Mitch Jeter was back. (Thanks for the healthy groin, dad.) The beatdown was so bad, most of the postgame analysis revolved around Indiana not belonging in the playoff (false) instead of discussing how talented Notre Dame was (true). As annoying as that was, it felt great that the Irish weren’t the team being shamed for losing a playoff game for once. A real turning of the narrative tide and a fantastic way to start a lengthy postseason run.

1. Penn State

JS: After a sluggish first half, it appeared that Notre Dame’s terrible injury luck and taking part in the longest season ever had finally caught up to them in the Orange Bowl. Penn State seemed to have a half-step advantage and Notre Dame was running out of answers. Is it bad when the healthiest offensive lineman missed the season because he tore his pec in camp? Oh great, and now Riley Leonard is hurt, too!

Once again, everything changed in the Middle Eight. Thanks to a clutch field goal drive led by Steve Angeli (6 for 7 passing) to finish the second quarter, Notre Dame started the second half down only seven. Leonard came back in after halftime and took the Irish downfield on a steadying touchdown drive to tie it up. Suddenly, Penn State’s first half blunders (remember that wide open touchdown pass that they couldn’t convert?) seemed to matter a lot more.

Jeremiyah Love on one knee battled several defenders to reach into the end zone on an epic two-yard run. After a pair of Nicholas Singleton touchdowns (and a questionable DPI call on a Jack Kiser interception), Notre Dame needed another touchdown of their own. Enter Jaden Greathouse, in the game of his young career, juking two defenders to tie it all up.

On Penn State’s final possession, Drew Allar threw a late pass to the middle of the field, with Jaylen Sneed barreling towards him. Christian Gray caught a spectacular diving interception, somehow topping the one against USC. Leonard took the ball into field goal range and Mitch Jeter kicked it through the uprights to send Notre Dame to the national championship game.

Notre Dame exorcised a lot of demons in the ‘24-‘25 season. The Irish won three major postseason games, they won inside Hard Rock Stadium and they overcame a devastating early season loss. Walking out of Hard Rock Stadium while high-fiving various Notre Dame fans and parents and exchanging shouts of “See you in Atlanta!” is not just the best feeling I had after any win this season, it may have been the best of my 30-year Notre Dame fandom.

CW: I have watched the slow motion video of Love’s touchdown run set to “Like A Prayer”¹ several dozen times over the last month and it still gets very dusty every time because it’s such badass shit. A classic Orange Bowl against some dudes who are going to go very high in this spring’s draft (what kind of damage can Abdul Carter do with two arms and Tyler Warren was a matchup nightmare as advertised).

The Irish could have lost this game and it still would have been a wildly successful season but to gut it out the way they did when it felt like hope was lost so many times — especially after James Franklin’s annoying press conference — showed incredible heart. So many heroes in this, from Aneyas Williams and Jeter and Gray to Angeli and Sneed and Greathouse. There were wins on this list that were considerably less stressful but none of them quite matched the epicness of what makes college football the best like this victory over the Nittany Lions.

1. Big January for that song in videos I love, as it’s a runner in this excellent tribute to the films of 2024.