Notre Dame closed its 2022 regular season Saturday night with a 38-27 loss to rival and then-No. 5 Southern California at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The Fighting Irish will go bowling with a 8-4 record, with the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., or the Holiday Bowl in San Diego likely destinations. Notre Dame played a close game with then-No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus to open the season, looking very much the part of a preseason top 10 in leading the Buckeyes for much of the football game. The Fighting Irish sputtered after that game, though, losing a stunner to Marshall in their home debut before narrowly beating Cal for Marcus Freeman’s 1st win as Notre Dame’s coach.

Notre Dame found its stride late in the year, winning 5 of its final 6 games to close with 8 wins, including 3 victories over ranked opponents (Syracuse, BYU and Clemson).

Here are 10 takeaways from Notre Dame’s 1st season under Freeman.

1. Notre Dame’s future under Marcus Freeman is bright

When Notre Dame started 2-3, with home losses to Group of 5 Marshall and a bad Stanford team, serious questions about whether the Fighting Irish miscalculated in hiring a 36-year-old Freeman as the latest coach at what is among college football’s most storied programs. An excellent close, featuring victories over a ranked Syracuse and a top-10 Clemson team, silenced the cynics and reminded Fighting Irish fans of why they were so excited initially about the Freeman hire.

Yes, Notre Dame stumbled in its finale, bested by the best player in college football, Caleb Williams, who flummoxed the Fighting Irish defense to the tune of 267 total yards of offense and 4 touchdowns in the Trojans’ 11-point win. But Freeman knows his team didn’t perform its best in Los Angeles, and his “all business” approach to the loss was a reminder that while Notre Dame’s new coach might be young, he is relentless, a worker bee who will stop at nothing to restore the program to national prominence.

“You really want to see how you compare against a team like that when you’re playing at your best,” Freeman said after the USC loss. “We didn’t play our best. That’s a shame, because we have a really good football team and we played a really good football team. You want to see 2 really good football teams playing each other play well, and we didn’t live up to our end of the bargain. That won’t happen again.”

Freeman’s commitment to excellence and improvement was evident in Notre Dame’s 5-1 close, which saw the Fighting Irish improve dramatically in all 3 phases. Even Saturday, Notre Dame’s passing game, mediocre at best all season, had its best day, as Drew Pyne kept the Fighting Irish in the game with a season-high 318 yards passing and 3 touchdowns. Key point? Notre Dame, even in defeat, was getting better.

2. Drew Pyne has earned the opportunity to be QB1 in 2023

Pyne’s performance against Southern Cal should, at a minimum, be more evidence he is improving and deserves the opportunity to be QB1 in South Bend, Ind., next autumn. Notre Dame might hit the transfer portal for help, but Pyne, who was 8-2 as the starting quarterback and finished with 22 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions, should get 1st crack at being the starter in 2023. Pyne grew up dreaming of playing quarterback at Notre Dame, and while he’s more game manager than gamechanger, Pyne takes care of the football and his understanding of coordinator Tommy Rees’ offense is improving every week. A strong bowl performance would cement his case, but he should enter fall camp as QB1 regardless of the bowl outcome.

3. Tommy Rees needs to make a few changes offensively, but no overhaul is necessary

Midway through the season, a big question for Notre Dame was whether a full overhaul of the offense was necessary in 2023. Notre Dame ranked among the bottom half of the country in total offense, scoring offense and yards per play. Tommy Rees’ passing concepts, in particular, seemed unable to threaten defenses vertically, making life difficult on both the Notre Dame run game and All-American tight end Michael Mayer, who found himself jammed at the line of scrimmage and double-teamed consistently.

The Fighting Irish offense didn’t get out of the bottom half of the country in total offense over the season’s final 6 games, but they did jump 19 spots from 70th to 41st in SP+ offensive efficiency late over the 2nd half of the regular season, buoyed by an improving pass game and a maturing offensive line that ripped off over 200 yards rushing in 4 of Notre Dame’s final 6 contests.

Rees did a nice job adjusting his offense to make Pyne more comfortable, a move much needed after the Stanford defeat. The net result was a pitch perfect performance against Clemson and Pyne’s best game Saturday at Southern Cal. As Pyne improves, Rees can expand things, rather than overhaul them, and that should make this offense look more like the late 2022 version during 2023 than that which struggled mightily early in the season.

4. Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class will contribute immediately

Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class features 21 blue-chip (4- and 5-star) players, the highest haul in the country. Ranked 3rd overall in the 247 composite, the group will contribute immediately, especially at skill positions on the perimeter, where electric athletes Jeremiyah Love and Braylon James should boost Notre Dame’s playmaking ability immediately. Another 4-star receiver, Jaden Greathouse, also could play right away. While the class is led in star power by 5-star safety Peyton Bowen, the need for playmakers is glaring and Notre Dame will ride this class for help in 2023.

5. Audric Estime and Logan Diggs were a dominant 1-2, and they are just going to get better

Audric Estime, a load of a back who finished among the top 20 nationally in yards after contact, led the Fighting Irish in rushing with 825 yards. Just a sophomore, he needs to clean up the fumbling issues that landed him on the bench during midseason, but his ability to run through defensive linemen tackles and his surprising speed in the 2nd level of a defense make him a bona fide All-American candidate in 2023.

Diggs, a 3-star recruit out of Louisiana who was ignored by SEC powers LSU and Alabama, was among the season’s pleasant surprises for Notre Dame. He tallied 732 yards on the ground, including 114 yards on just 17 carries in the victory over then-No. 5 Clemson. Also a sophomore, he and Estime should be among the nation’s best 1-2 punches at running back in 2023.

6. Isaiah Foskey had a season for the ages

The Fighting Irish junior finished 2022 with an 11-sack season, tied for the 4th-best total in the country and just 2.5 sacks short of Justin Tuck’s school season record. Foskey also blocked 2 punts, collected 14 tackles for loss, registered 44 pressures (4th in the country), and forced a fumble. Foskey projects as a 1st-round selection in next spring’s NFL Draft, and still has a bowl game to chase Tuck’s record.

7. But it wasn’t as special as Benjamin Morrison’s freshman campaign

Even Saturday, as Notre Dame’s defense labored and languished against the spectacular playmaking ability of Caleb Williams, Benjamin Morrison was out there shutting down Jordan Addison, limiting the 2021 Biletnikoff winner to just 3 catches on 7 targets. Fans will remember Morrison for his game-clinching interception and touchdown against Clemson, and that’s entirely fair.

What’s most impressive, though, is the season coverage grade of 78.2, the highest ever for a Notre Dame freshman corner, per PFF. A lock to be a Freshman All-American, don’t be surprised if Morrison, who finished the season with 5 interceptions and 4 pass deflections, isn’t on a number of overall All-American teams as well.

8. Best Player: Michael Mayer, TE

The nation’s best tight end isn’t Brock Bowers, who faded late in the season for No. 1 Georgia. It’s Mayer, who finished the season with 67 receptions (37 more than any other teammate), 809 yards and 9 touchdowns, including a spectacular grab against Southern Cal.

Mayer graded out as the nation’s best tight end as well, per PFF, and he did it all while facing constant double teams and being jammed at the line of scrimmage because every defensive coordinator knew Mayer was the best playmaker the Fighting Irish had. To be the focus of every defensive game plan and still produce? That’s the stuff of future NFL stars, and Mayer, who should win the John Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end, will play on Sundays for a long time.

9. Best Win: Nov. 5 over then-No. 5 Clemson

You can’t play any better than Notre Dame did in the 35-14 demolition of then-No. 5 Clemson on Nov. 5. The Fighting Irish dominated both lines of scrimmage, ran the ball at will and made huge plays in special teams in their convincing win, which marked the 28th consecutive regular-season victory for Notre Dame against ACC competition. Tell me again why Notre Dame doesn’t want to become a full-time member of the ACC?

10. Worst Moment: Losing Tyler Buchner — and the Marshall game

Notre Dame’s offensive plan for 2022 changed immensely when starting quarterback Tyler Buchner was lost for the season against Marshall in the Fighting Irish’s home opener Sept. 10. Buchner, a dual-threat who could extend plays and keep linebackers at home in pass coverage, didn’t start the year fast. When he was lost, however, Notre Dame had to adapt on the fly.

That Buchner was lost during an embarrassing home loss while the Fighting Irish turned the ball over 3 times, couldn’t run the football against a Group of 5 front, and surrendered 220 yards rushing to the Thundering Herd, made matters worse. That Saturday, even more than the 16-14 home loss to a lousy Stanford team, was the low-water mark of the year for Notre Dame.