SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The annual Notre Dame survey is a way to gauge the optimism and engagement of Irish fans. And on both fronts, the fan base appears to be peaking.More than 3,000 subscribers filled out this summer’s survey, a record turnout. And the hope around this Notre Dame football season is unmatched by any since the days of Lou Holtz.Thanks to everyone who participated this year. The idea for this started in the summer of 2020, when we weren’t sure there would be a football season. Now these 20 questions are a signpost of the summer, en route to a season that could take Notre Dame all the way to Las Vegas on Jan. 25.Enjoy.We are now reaching the mathematical limits of optimism among Notre Dame fans.This is as good as you've ever felt about the state of the program — at least in the seven years of this survey — with "excellent" responses inching upward from last year's record-setting mark of 84.2 percent. As a reminder, after Marcus Freeman's first season in charge, just 13.1 percent of fans saw the football program as being in "excellent" shape. Now, just four of the more than 3,000 respondents dared to pick "average."If this is the peak of optimism for the fan base, enjoy it. Barring Notre Dame winning a national championship this season and Freeman rebuffing NFL interest again, the vibes may have reached their summit.Opinions on Freeman inched upward even though the Irish missed the College Football Playoff after early losses to Miami and Texas A&M. Two-thirds of you believe Freeman's first five seasons in charge have been "excellent," even though that time includes unforgettable losses to Northern Illinois, Marshall and Stanford. The goodwill Freeman built during the national championship game run of two seasons ago seems to be holding up. Will that be the case a year from now? For the first time in Freeman's tenure, there's an expectation, not just a hope, that Notre Dame will compete for a championship.Seven times more Notre Dame fans consider this a national-championship-or-bust season than did last year. And that doesn't include the doubling in size of the group that considers winning at least two College Football Playoff games the bare minimum for a successful season. Put another way, a year ago, roughly two-thirds of respondents would have been satisfied with the Irish just making the CFP or winning one postseason game. Now, just 10 percent would accept a one-and-done or worse season as being successful.You might feel roughly the same about the state of the program or the head coach. But you feel a lot differently about what qualifies as a successful season.This is probably a mix of heightened expectations and a weaker schedule, but the share of fans who believe Notre Dame will run the table through the regular season increased eightfold, from 5.1 percent to 43.5 percent. And that's with the percentage of votes for an 11-1 season remaining relatively flat. We've come a long way from just three years ago, when a quarter of all respondents predicted (correctly) that Notre Dame would go 9-3. This year, only 92 fans voted for 10-2.Combining the results for cornerback and safety, more than half of voters picked the secondary as the strength of Notre Dame's team, although Leonard Moore and his fellow cornerbacks drew the larger share of votes. Oddly, a larger percentage voted for quarterback as the team's biggest strength when Sam Hartman was the quarterback than did today with CJ Carr behind center. That probably speaks to the faith in the cornerback spot, which has been voted No. 1 in two of the past three seasons. Also, two-thirds of you correctly picked running back as the biggest strength of last year's team. All four defensive positions got more votes than every spot on offense other than quarterback.Tight End U might be taking a gap year. In the history of the survey, the tight end position has usually been an afterthought. But fans are wavering with Eli Raridon off to the NFL, even with Cooper Flanagan returning and five-star freshman Ian Premer enrolling. Receiver has been a constant weak point that has yet to be resolved in your eyes. The wideouts drew roughly the same percentage of responses as the running backs, and the running back depth chart lost two first-round picks. The receiver position did not.Notre Dame's breakout player this season will be _______.It's A-N-E-Y-A-S Williams.It's clear you like the new starting running back as Notre Dame's breakout player of this season. It's also clear that, 616 votes and all, he's not yet a household name among Irish fans. Williams' first name was spelled 31 ways during the write-in voting. But whether you're partial to Aeneas (73 votes), Aneas (40 votes) or all the way down to Ananias (one vote), Angus (one vote) or Aeneid (one vote from a big Virgil fan?), you have high hopes for the junior who has been sitting behind Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price.The other big vote-getters were CJ Carr (378 votes), receiver Mylan Graham (333 votes) and defensive lineman Bryce Young (212 votes). O-lineman Will Black and safety Tae Johnson each got more than 100 votes. D-lineman Rodney Dunham (49 votes) led all freshmen, with tight end Ian Premer (31 votes) and receiver Devin Fitzgerald (23 votes) the only other freshmen in double digits.Also, 10 people voted for first-team All-American and Thorpe Award finalist Leonard Moore as a breakout player, which seemed to miss the point. Although not as much as the one person who chose Darnell Ewell.I'm curious how 2025 will be remembered as Notre Dame moves further away from a run that was a whipsaw of emotion, from the maddening start to the entertaining middle to the controversial ending. For now, you remember the ending most.Two-thirds of respondents expect Freeman to remain at Notre Dame for the medium term. If Freeman stayed four more seasons, that would mean an eight-year run and, if he keeps winning at the rate of the last couple of seasons, roughly 90 victories and a winning percentage close to Ara Parseghian's (83.6 percent). Only nine Power 4 coaches will be entering their eighth season (or longer) this fall in the same job. But three have won national titles: Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney and Ryan Day.Also notable: Barely 8 percent of you think this will be Freeman's final year, despite NFL interest the past two offseasons.What is your favorite part of being a Notre Dame fan?I wasn't sure where you'd take this, but the results weren't all that surprising.The runaway winner was "tradition," which was included in nearly 600 responses, with a combination of "games" and "Saturdays" coming a close second. "Family" got nearly 200 mentions, but "community," "history," "independent" and "hate" all got more than 100 mentions. Clearly, part of being a Notre Dame fan is an awareness of everyone who's not.