Kirk Herbstreit Reveals His Pick to Win the 2026 National Championship
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The college football season is just around the corner, and while it’s still early to make national championship predictions, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has already made his pick.
During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday, Herbstreit unexpectedly asked McAfee and the rest of the crew who they thought would win the 2026 national championship. After everyone made their selections, Herbstreit revealed his own.
Herbstreit Predicts National Champion
While McAfee picked his alma mater, West Virginia, the rest of the panel went with more traditional contenders, including Oregon, Ohio State, Miami, and Notre Dame.
Herbstreit joined the Notre Dame camp, predicting Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish will win this season’s national championship behind star quarterback CJ Carr.
“I’m going Notre Dame,” Herbstreit said.
“They’re saying CJ [Carr] is the real deal, this kid,” McAfee responded.
“Real deal. CJ is the real deal,” Herbstreit added.
On the @PatMcAfeeShow yesterday, @KirkHerbstreit made his pick for the college football national championship 👀‼️https://t.co/KTzvip2dpTpic.twitter.com/PWO3oN7EiR
— BlueandGold.com (@BGInews) July 23, 2026
Why Marcus Freeman Stayed at Notre Dame
After being one of the more controversial omissions from last year’s 12-team College Football Playoff, just one season removed from reaching the national championship game in 2024, many believed Marcus Freeman could leave Notre Dame for an NFL head coaching opportunity.
Instead, Freeman chose to stay, recently explaining why.
“For me, you have to make a decision that’s best for you and your family,” Freeman said last week on ‘Get Up.’ “For us, there was no other option. For me, selfishly, it’s the opportunity to be around some of the greatest young people in the world. Yeah, they’re great football players, but they’re great people. To see them succeed and excel is something that I aspire to continue to do. I’m grateful for it. I always say, when you’re not grateful for something, you’re going to lose it. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be around these guys and in this program right now and for years to come.”
CJ Carr Leads High Expectations
The Fighting Irish return the bulk of last year’s roster while also bringing in the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, according to On3/Rivals.
However, Carr still remains the centerpiece of this year’s team, and it appears the message inside Notre Dame’s locker room after last year’s CFP snub is simple: “leave no doubt.”
“I think ‘leave no doubt’ means, like Coach said, keeping the pain and remembering the struggles we had last season,” Carr said. “We need to take those lessons into this next year so that we’re not back in that situation where we have to watch another video and receive disappointing news. We want to go out and dominate and be the best version of ourselves. We do that by leaving no doubt.”
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