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It’s been nearly 40 years since the Notre Dame Fighting Irish won a college football national championship.
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The South Bend, Indiana program last won it all in 1988, led by then-head coach Lou Holtz. Notre Dame has made a few national title games since then, but they’ve lost to schools like Alabama and Ohio State.
Notre Dame has a College Football Playoff-contending team this year. The Fighting Irish are 6-0 on the season and ranked inside of the top five. Notre Dame is heading into a big-time matchup against BYU this week.
ESPN’s computer model, the Football Power Index, is actually predicting that Notre Dame will win it all this season.
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Notre Dame leads the list of ESPN’s Football Power Index national title contenders as we head into the second half of the season.
The top contenders, per ESPN’s computer model:
- Notre Dame – 18.4 percent chance
- Georgia – 17.8 percent chance
- Miami – 14.1 percent chance
- Ohio State – 12.2 percent chance
- Alabama – 10.0 percent chance
Indiana, last year’s national champions, currently have a 9.4 percent chance to win it all, according to the Football Power Index.
How ESPN’s Football Power Index works
ESPN’s Football Power Index is a projection-based system.
“The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule. Ratings and projections update daily. FPI data from seasons prior to 2019 may not be complete,” ESPN writes.
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You can view the full projections here.
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This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 8:53 AM.