SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Twenty minutes have passed since practice ended, the organized chaos of players and coaches trying to prepare the Notre Dame football team for the moment. And now Marcus Freeman is in his office, picking at a salad.

He laughs. This is the very brief period in a head coach’s day when he can sit back and take stock of the work that’s been done. It’s the eve of the 2024 college football season; almost all the hay is in the barn.

The Irish defense has sharpened up, ready to prove its case as one of the best units in the country. Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard says he’s fully healthy after a pair of offseason ankle surgeries, ready to play and show what he’s learned from a new playbook. And Freeman has decided to take a chance with young and inexperienced offensive linemen who have started a combined six games.

Freeman believes the role of a head coach is to prepare his team as best he can so that it has the opportunity to perform at its highest level as often as possible. He’s done it with this group and believes he knows how they’ll perform — but even he can’t predict what will happen Saturday night against No. 20 Texas A&M.

The season opener at Kyle Field could be the most challenging game on Notre Dame’s schedule this season. The Irish have only two other games against teams ranked in the preseason AP poll (No. 10 Florida State and No. 23 USC), and one of those teams has already lost a game. On paper, it seems doable. And it appears that this — Freeman’s third year — could be his breakout season, leading the Irish to the College Football Playoff for the first time under his belt.

Such pressure (and the accompanying excitement) coincides with the first year of the 12-team CFP. There will now be seven at-large spots available, meaning even more people are expecting Notre Dame to fill one, even without a conference championship to play for. Under Freeman, the Irish are 19-8 with two bowl wins, a few signature victories (like last year’s win over USC) and a few disappointing losses (like the one against Marshall two years ago). It’s time for Notre Dame to beat the teams it’s supposed to beat and knock off at least one or two of the best teams on its schedule.

“I’m in a place where expectations are high, and every player wants that,” Freeman said. “I don’t want to be in a place where their expectations aren’t to make the playoffs. And that’s our expectation here — to make them, win them and win a championship. …

“You dream about your season, that it’s going to be perfect, that you’re going to win every game by a wide margin and that everything is going to go smoothly. But there are going to be challenges. How do you prepare your group for those tough times? That’s my ultimate goal. … My job is to keep us all together and give this team a chance.”

Auerbach and Perry also choose their Heisman Trophy winners and National Coaches of the Year.

It’s also helped to have two veteran coordinators on his side. Al Golden is in his third season at Notre Dame, so both coaches know each other and this place well; they know exactly how they want that side of the ball to work. Freeman brought back veteran forward Mike Denbrock from LSU to lead the offense. He trusts both coordinators implicitly, which means Freeman feels free to focus on what’s most pressing on a given day. If the punt team needs work, he can give the group his full attention and trust that Golden and Denbrock have everything under control.

That means Freeman doesn’t have to spend a lot of time judging every snap on both sides of the ball himself. He can also spend more time on the little things that can win or lose a game, like how quickly the Irish break out of the huddle or what players on the sideline are doing between plays. Freeman said he has “no worries and high expectations” for the defense.

The offense is more compelling. As a unit, it’s taken on a bit of Denbrock’s personality, Freeman said. Denbrock is a fierce competitor, as is Leonard. The two have spent a lot of time together, even while Leonard was rehabbing his ankle in the spring. They’re working on getting Leonard to progress as a passer rather than going straight to running. He’s a good, tough runner who’ll have some designed runs, but they want to unlock more in the passing game (and keep him healthy). And he likes the system; Leonard said Denbrock’s offense is as quarterback-friendly as advertised.

“A lot of times he’ll call a play, but that’s just the basic play,” Leonard said. “That’s not really what we do. He gives the quarterback the keys to the car to do everything. The quarterback runs the offense.”

He’ll do so with veteran running backs in Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Receiver will be by-committee, headlined by Clemson transfer Beaux Collins and returners Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse. Tight end Mitchell Evans will be a matchup problem for opponents, but the Irish could really use more production from their receiving corps. It’s been a weakness for a few years now.

But the biggest question mark is the offensive line. The left side of the line in particular will be anchored by a true freshman in Anthonie Knapp and a redshirt sophomore in Sam Pendleton. Redshirt sophomore center Ashton Craig and redshirt sophomore right guard Billy Schrauth return after starting the final three games of last season, and redshirt sophomore Aamil Wagner will start at right guard with just 52 career game snaps.

“We’ve got guys that have (more) experience in the game, but we’ve decided that we’re going to play different guys,” Freeman said. “The thing about that is we believe the guys we’re going to play give us the best chance to win, and that makes me feel good. We’re not going to settle for, ‘Hey, this guy has more experience.’ We’re going to pick who we believe is going to give us the best chance to win. I know they’re young. Everybody’s inexperienced at some point, but we have a lot of confidence in what they can do.”

That inexperienced group will be tested for the first time Saturday night at Kyle Field, the most challenging environment they’ll face this season. Notre Dame has been playing crowd noise over the speakers during practice to simulate it, but there’s no way to fully replicate how deafening it is in there.

But this team is ready to take on this challenge. The Irish want to see where they are. But more than that, they want to see where they can go.

“I just want us to reach our full potential,” Leonard said. “Everybody wants to take it game by game, week by week. But with a 12-(team CFP) it leaves the door wide open. You think about that, of course.”