When you’re at a program that has won 11 national championships and has the 4th-most wins in the history of college football, it’s tempting to puff out your chest and suggest you aren’t scared of anybody.

So tempting, in fact, that Notre Dame coaches and players have suggested that frequently over the past few decades, despite the fact the program won its last national championship in 1988 and has played for only 1 national championship in the 3 1/2 decades since.

The reality isn’t as simple.

Notre Dame is a college football blueblood, to be sure. But it’s up for debate as to whether Notre Dame is in the top tier anymore, where the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and yes, LSU, where Notre Dame’s most successful head coach in decades bolted over the winter, take up residence.

Under Brian Kelly, Notre Dame made a stirring rise back to relevance, advancing twice to the College Football Playoff. Typically, a program making multiple CFP appearances would be considered a part of the sport’s highest tier. Notre Dame, as anyone who follows the sport knows, is anything but typical.

Instead of commanding respect, the Fighting Irish’s performances in playoff games have been scrutinized and shredded by the national media. Notre Dame lost both semifinal games, of course:  a rout to Clemson and a competitive but decisive defeat to Alabama. But instead of focusing on a program that has won 54 games in the past 5 seasons, writers have used the 2 playoff losses as referendums on Notre Dame’s ability to access or compete in the sport’s highest tier. Look no farther than national SEC mouthpiece Paul Finebaum’s comment that Notre Dame’s preseason ranking of No. 5 “was laughable” to get a dose of the derision the Fighting Irish face annually, largely as a result of their failure to win any of the 2 playoff games or the 2012 BCS National Championship game against Alabama.

Setting aside the fairness of Finebaum’s claims, rooted, I think, in the empirically denied argument that Notre Dame is always “overhyped” or “underachieves,” and you come up with a simple answer for Notre Dame to silence the doubters. Win. More to the point? Win a big game against a fellow blueblood, like the one it will play Saturday night at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio, against No. 2 Ohio State (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

A win at Ohio State wouldn’t quiet all the haters. But it would silence any lingering rational criticism. It also would announce to the college football world that the hype surrounding coach Marcus Freeman is real, and unlike in 2005, when Notre Dame missed out on a chance to usher in the next great era of Fighting Irish football by bringing Urban Meyer to South Bend, Ind., the school and its leadership didn’t swing and miss this time.

Freeman, 36, is a sensational recruiter with an All-Big Ten pedigree as a player and a reputation as one of the sharpest young defensive minds in the sport. He also talks and thinks like a CEO, a trait he undoubtedly inherited playing and coaching under 2 of the best CEO-style head coaches to do it in Jim Tressel and Kelly. Freeman’s recruiting acumen, age, and energy give him the reputation often associated with a player’s coach, a stark difference from Kelly, who was, most frequently evidenced by the world’s most awkward and cringe-inducing recruiting dancing, no such thing.

Having a player’s coach at Notre Dame could be a great thing. It’s certainly a refreshing change in culture and identity on the recruiting trail. The problem with a player’s coach, however, is that sometimes they trust their players too much. Freeman’s decision to go for it on 4th down late in the Fiesta Bowl when he still had time to punt and play defense, for example, might fall into this category. But Freeman doesn’t just check the “player’s coach” box. He plans and thinks like a CEO, a man with a detailed and exact plan, not just a rah-rah speech, intended to get Notre Dame back to college football’s pinnacle.

It won’t be easy Saturday night.

All-American tight end Michael Mayer says he is “not worried ” and “won’t be bothered” by the crowd noise at the Shoe, which is a fine thing for an All-American to say. Whether his younger teammates, including quarterback Tyler Buchner, making his first start, agree, is a different question. The crowd, for all Mayer’s confidence, likely will be a factor.

Ohio State’s tremendous skill on offense will be an even bigger problem. The Buckeyes led the nation in scoring offense, success rate offense, and SP+ efficiency offense last season. They return C.J. Stroud, a Heisman Trophy favorite at quarterback, an elite receiver, another 5-star receiver behind him and a running back in TreVeyon Henderson who rushed for 1,248 yards as a freshman.

What does that mean? Notre Dame isn’t going to “stop” Ohio State on Saturday night. What the Fighting Irish have to do is slow down the Buckeyes, force field goals on a few drives, and give coordinator Tommy Rees a chance to be aggressive with his offense early and often. The largest problem for Notre Dame in its recent bouts with elite teams has been that the Fighting Irish fall behind quickly. Remember: Notre Dame trailed 23-3 at halftime in their CFP duel with Clemson. Alabama led 14-0 in its semifinal with Notre Dame and even when the Fighting Irish cut it to 7, the Crimson Tide scored on the next drive. Cincinnati led the Fighting Irish 17-0 at the half last season, taking the crowd out of the game and ultimately costing Notre Dame a spot in a 3rd CFP. To beat an elite team, Notre Dame needs to punch them in the mouth.

That’s a formula that has hurt Ohio State in the past. Even in the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes had to fight for 4 quarters because Utah held a 2-touchdown lead for about 2 quarters. The Buckeyes also played from behind in both of their 2021 losses, to archrival Michigan and their early-season home defeat to Oregon. If Notre Dame can find an early lead, it can quiet the crowd and force coach Ryan Day and Ohio State to take a few chances. At that point, Notre Dame’s opportunistic defense could survive a tight game.

There’s no reason not to be aggressive if you are Notre Dame. If the Fighting Irish lose, they’ll just do what Vegas, who pegged Ohio State as a 17-point favorite, and the national media expect them to do. The narrative that Notre Dame isn’t elite won’t change and, given how rarely Ohio State loses in Columbus, it isn’t likely to become any more entrenched. It’s weird to think of a program that has its own mythology and mystique and is the subject of multiple classic movies as one playing a game with house money, but that’s what Notre Dame will be doing Saturday night.

Win, though, and everything changes. Win, and Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman are on their way to a place Brian Kelly couldn’t quite get: the top of the national conversation.