Notre Dame spent the entire calendar year in 2024 explaining that the Marcus Freeman Era was going to be different. If anything, the ghosts of 2016 felt like they were haunting Notre Dame Stadium. That year, a top-10 Notre Dame team lost in the first week of the season on the road. But, like the offense, Notre Dame has to hope that whatever wasn’t executed properly can be fixed. That will haunt a team that was convinced it could be the same Notre Dame team that contended for a title.