Tag: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
No. 12 Notre Dame bids to stay ‘disciplined’ vs. No. 24 Navy
Typically, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman tells his players on defense that he wants them to play loose and free and not get too caught up in technical details.
Freeman senses an exception to the rule, however, as No. 12 Notre Dame (6-1) prepares to kick off against No. 24 Navy (6-0) on Saturday afternoon at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Technical details are vital to stopping Navy’s triple-option offense, Freeman said, so playing “fit ball” could take priority over playing “football” for once.
The undefeated Midshipmen are averaging 44.8 points per game, good for fourth in the nation. The only teams with higher-powered offenses this season are Indiana (48.7 ppg), Miami (48.3) and Boise State (46.8).
“I don’t want to get caught up by playing just ‘fit ball’ defensively, but you’ve got to be disciplined,” Freeman said. “It’s really hard to simulate in practice the speed at which they run their offense. So it can take a little time, especially for guys who have not faced that type of offense, to realize the speed at which they run their offense.
“And then, all of a sudden when you’re trying to adjust to the speed, you can lose your eyes — keeping your eyes on your assignment. We have to be disciplined. We have to practice until we can’t get it wrong, but then we’ve got to understand that it’s going to take a little time to catch up to game speed on Saturday.”
Navy coach Brian Newberry said his team could perform even better. The Midshipmen are looking for their first 7-0 start since 1978.
“I don’t think we’ve peaked yet,” Newberry said. “I don’t think we’ve really come close to our ceiling.”
The Fighting Irish are no slouches on offense, either, averaging 34.6 points per game.
Riley Leonard leads Notre Dame with 1,182 passing yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions to go with 456 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. Jeremiyah Love is the No. 1 running back with 462 rushing yards and seven scores.
By comparison, Navy quarterback Blake Horvath has passed for 888 yards and 10 touchdowns, with one interception, and has rushed for 621 yards and 10 scores. Alex Tecza ranks second in rushing with 306 yards and seven touchdowns.
Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser provides a steadying influence over the rest of the defense, Freeman said. Kiser, a senior, ranks second on the team with 34 tackles.
“He’s a problem solver when he’s out there,” Freeman said. “The ability for him to communicate and get other people lined up … is tremendous.
“My challenge to Jack, I keep reminding him he’s gone in a couple games, this is it. Now you’ve got to challenge that room to step up. You can’t always make all the calls and the checks. Your job is to leave that room better than how you found it.”
Navy’s defense is led by Justin Reed (team-high four sacks) and Dashaun Peele, who leads the group with three interceptions. Linebacker Colin Ramos has a team-best 68 tackles.
This will be the 97th all-time meeting between the programs. Notre Dame leads the series 82-13-1 and has won the past six matchups.
–Field Level Media
College Football Picks: Notre Dame, Penn State, Oklahoma State
No. 16 Notre Dame has score to settle with No. 15 Louisville
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm knows that revenge will be a motivating factor when No. 16 Notre Dame hosts the No. 15 Cardinals on Saturday in South Bend, Ind.
Last October, Louisville posted a 33-20 upset at home over then-No. 10 Notre Dame. This time, the Cardinals (3-0) will head to Notre Dame Stadium, where the Fighting Irish (3-1) are eager to avoid another loss in front of a national audience.
“We expect their best,” Brohm said. “They will be ready to play, and they will be fired up to win this football game. So that’s why we have to worry about ourselves, have a great week of practice, and come ready to play. We can’t have a lot of mistakes.”
This season, Louisville has avoided crucial errors. The Cardinals have victories against Austin Peay, Jacksonville State and Georgia Tech in their first three contests.
Notre Dame already has had one major stumble, a stunning 16-14 home loss against Northern Illinois on Sept. 7. The Fighting Irish have rebounded with two straight wins against Purdue and Miami (Ohio) by a combined margin of 94-10.
Quarterback Riley Leonard has helped the Fighting Irish find their footing. Leonard has six rushing touchdowns and one passing TD and is averaging 7.0 yards per carry. He has completed 63.1 percent of his passes.
Leonard threw for 154 yards and ran for 143 in a 28-3 win over Miami last week.
“I’m really proud of him,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “He was the player of the game for our offense (last week) in terms of what he did. … And there is always room to grow. We’re never satisfied. We’re greedy people.”
Leonard and several other key players are new to the Fighting Irish this season, but Freeman said he would show clips of last year’s defeat to Louisville to help motivate his team.
“It’s a lot like therapy,” Freeman said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to revisit some of those dark places to kind of get out of it what you need to. So we’re definitely going to revisit last year, but my intentions are to make sure we gain the wisdom and the learning opportunities that the film of last year will truly tell us.”
Meanwhile, Louisville is eyeing a 4-0 start one year after opening the season with six straight wins. The Cardinals are led by Tyler Shough, a senior who has completed 68.4 percent of his passes for 850 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions this season.
Ja’Corey Brooks is Shough’s top target with 17 catches for 297 yards and two scores.
Brohm said he understands the high stakes surrounding this week’s matchup.
“This is a huge stage for our team,” he said. “To go up there and play in this atmosphere against a really good opponent can be a huge momentum swing in our direction if we can find a way to win, without question. It gives your team credibility and definitely elevates your program, so this is one of those games that you’ve got to take advantage of.”
–Field Level Media
No. 17 Notre Dame on guard with MAC’s Miami up next
No. 17 Notre Dame is approaching Saturday’s game against visiting Miami (Ohio) with heightened awareness as another MAC opponent comes calling.
It will be the Fighting Irish’s first game on its home field in South Bend, Ind., since Northern Illinois stunned them two weeks ago as a four-touchdown underdog. Notre Dame (2-1) bounced back with a 66-7 road win against Purdue last week.
Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman was asked about the similarities that existed between Northern Illinois and Miami (Ohio) as his players returned home.
“(It’s) a good football team that could come in here and beat us if we don’t prepare the right way,” Freeman said. “So, that’s the similarities I see between those two teams — both of them are good football teams, and we have to respect them in terms of the way we prepare.”
The RedHawks (0-2) still are looking for their first victory of the season. They were competitive in each of their first two games, falling 13-6 to Northwestern on Aug. 31 and 27-16 to Cincinnati last Saturday.
Miami linebacker Matt Salopek said it was important to stay positive.
“We just have to come in here, and I’ve got to remind guys that it’s a brand new week,” Salopek said. “We still have goals that we’re trying to accomplish this season. That’s to go win a MAC championship, and that’s still in play.
“We’ve got to go play Notre Dame (on Saturday). They’re a very good opponent. But you’ve seen it, anybody can lose on any given day in football. That’s just how it is. We’ve just got to come in and fix our mistakes on both sides of the ball.”
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard pursues a second straight quality performance after he led his team to a 42-0 halftime advantage at Purdue. Leonard completed 11 of 16 passes for 112 yards and rushed 11 times for 100 yards and three touchdowns before giving way to backup Steve Angeli in the second half.
Jeremiyah Love also could figure prominently into Notre Dame’s game plan. The sophomore running back, who had 10 carries for 109 yards and a touchdown last week, is averaging 8.0 yards per carry with three touchdowns in three games.
Freeman said Love and fellow running back Jadarian Price were key weapons.
“You still have to be committed to running the ball, and that’s what our identity is,” Freeman said. “… We’ve got a couple guys that can run the ball and take it all the way. We know that, and so we’ve got to continue to play to our strengths.”
Miami quarterback Brett Gabbert completed 23 of 35 passes for 339 yards with two touchdowns and one interception last week against Cincinnati. He is the youngest brother of Blaine Gabbert, who has made 49 starts in the NFL.
The youngest Gabbert’s top target on the RedHawks is Cade McDonald, who caught eight passes for 135 yards and a touchdown last week. McDonald also had eight catches in the season opener against Northwestern, and he is averaging 120 receiving yards per game.
This will be the fourth meeting between the programs. Notre Dame is 2-1 in the series, including a 52-17 victory in the most recent matchup on Sept. 30, 2017.
–Field Level Media
After ‘lowest of lows,’ No. 18 Notre Dame bids to turn back Purdue
A week after suffering a humiliating home-field loss to Northern Illinois, No. 18 Notre Dame will look to regain its footing when it visits Purdue on Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette, Ind.
Notre Dame (1-1) tumbled 13 spots in the AP Top 25 poll after losing to the Huskies, who entered last weekend’s matchup as a four-touchdown underdog. The Fighting Irish dropped a 16-14 decision after kicker Mitch Jeter’s last-gasp, 62-yard field goal attempt was blocked as time expired.
Now the Fighting Irish turn their attention to Purdue (1-0), which cruised to a 49-0 win over Indiana State in its season opener.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman will try to keep his players focused on the task ahead as they take on the Boilermakers. Just recently, Freeman was celebrating his team after a road win against Texas A&M.
“It’s disappointing,” Freeman said. “You go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in a tale of two weeks. But we’ve got to own this thing. As coaches and players, we’ve got to own it, and we’ve got to fix it.
“We’ve been here before, right? We’ve been here before. Now it’s time to get it fixed. We’ve got to get it fixed and get back to playing football the way we know how to play, (the way) we’ve played before. And we can, and we will.”
On the other side of the field, Purdue coach Ryan Walters also senses an opportunity with Saturday’s showdown. The Boilermakers had a bye last week, which gave them extra time to prepare for an in-state rival that long has landed top recruits and dominated headlines in the region.
Walters knows Purdue stands much to gain from an upset win.
“Yeah, I definitely think there is an element of proving it or earning respect,” Walters said. “You know, I would be lying to you if I didn’t say this game was circled on my calendar. So we’re excited.”
Purdue quarterback Hudson Card completed 24 of 25 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns in his season debut. Max Klare was the top target with five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, while Devin Mockobee led the ground game with 11 carries for 89 yards.
On defense, Purdue edge rusher Will Heldt tallied a pair of sacks.
The Notre Dame player in the brightest spotlight will be quarterback Riley Leonard, who has completed 38 of 62 passes for 321 yards and two interceptions this season. He also has rushed for 79 yards and a score.
Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love could help to take some of the burden off Leonard and the rest of the offense. Love has scored in back-to-back games, and he has 25 carries for 170 yards to lead the team.
Howard Cross III leads Notre Dame with one sack, and Xavier Watts and Adon Shuler have one interception apiece.
Walters said he expected Notre Dame to be motivated at kickoff.
“We’re going to err on the side of thinking they’re going to be an angry football team,” he said. “Any time you’re top five in the country and lose the home opener, that’s going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. I know Coach Freeman will have those guys fired up and ready to play.”
–Field Level Media
No. 20 Texas A&M-No. 7 Notre Dame matchup features ‘weird’ reunion
A head coach and quarterback tend to have a close bond.
That’s why it feels so strange for Mike Elko to prepare for the Saturday season opener between No. 20 Texas A&M and No. 7 Notre Dame in College Station, Texas.
For the previous two seasons, Elko served as head coach at Duke, where he recorded back-to-back winning seasons with Riley Leonard as his quarterback. Both of them moved onward and upward this offseason, with Elko landing the top job at Texas A&M and Leonard transferring to Notre Dame.
Now, the coach will spend Saturday trying to ruin his old quarterback’s evening.
“I think it’s interesting and weird and not really something I want to do,” Elko said. “But at the end of the day, it’s a part of the game. Obviously, (I) have a tremendous amount of respect for who he is not just as a player but also as a young man, his family and all of that.
“It’ll be three hours competing against each other and then the rest of the year rooting for him.”
Leonard will make his debut under center for Notre Dame, which brought him in to replace departed signal-caller Sam Hartman. Leonard passed for 4,450 yards and 24 touchdowns in parts of three seasons at Duke, and he proved capable with his feet as he rushed for 1,224 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman knows that Leonard and his teammates are in for a hostile environment at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field. Freeman and his coaching staff piped in noise during recent practices as a way to prepare for the chaos.
“We’ve trained, really, being able to execute your assignment in crazy conditions, with crowd noise and trying to do surprise situations in practice,” Freeman said. “But at the end of the day, they’ve got to do it when it matters, right?”
Notre Dame is coming off a 10-win season and has lofty goals in the first season of the expanded College Football Playoff format. The Fighting Irish have gone 19-7 since Freeman succeeded Brian Kelly as head coach.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M hopes that Elko can re-establish a proud program that has waned in recent seasons. The Aggies finished 7-6 last season and 5-7 the year before that, which is a big reason the school bought out former coach Jimbo Fisher.
Elko’s first test will be a big one. He said opening the season against a top-10 team comes with pros and cons.
“The pluses are the attention you’ve had (from) your players for the last eight months,” Elko said. “When you have this type of game, the sense of urgency you have from a preparation standpoint, the sense of urgency we had in training camp, you’d like to say that’s because of the coaches, but I’m certain the opener plays a huge role in that. …
“The negatives of it is it’s an opener. … You’re not going to have a lot of time to ease into this new program, these new systems that we’re running. You’re going to have to go out there opening night and be firing on all cylinders.”
This is the sixth meeting between the programs. Notre Dame has a 3-2 edge in the all-time series, though the Aggies won the most recent matchup in 2001 at home.
–Field Level Media
Elijah Burress, son of Plaxico, commits to Notre Dame
Elijah Burress, the son of former NFL wide receiver and Super Bowl champion Plaxico Burress, committed to play college football at Notre Dame on Saturday.
The younger Burress, who also is a wideout, is a product at DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne, N.J. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound player had 25 catches for 434 yards and five touchdowns in 10 games last season and ranks as the 36th wide receiver in the 2025 recruiting cycle by 247Sports.
He reportedly chose the Fighting Irish over Duke, James Madison, Marshall, Cincinnati and Liberty, among others.
The 2025 recruiting class for Notre Dame also features cornerback Ivan Taylor, who is the son of Ike Taylor. The elder Taylor was a former teammate of Plaxico Burress with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The elder Burress’ top highlight of his NFL career was catching the game-winning touchdown pass in Super Bowl XLII. He finished his career with 553 receptions for 8,499 yards and 64 touchdowns over 148 career games (138 starts) with the Steelers, New York Giants and New York Jets.
–Field Level Media
Sun Bowl: Quarterbacks in focus when Oregon State faces Notre Dame
The Sun Bowl could have featured a quarterback battle between Sam Hartman and DJ Uiagalelei.
Instead, two signal-callers making their first starts of the season will be on display when No. 16 Notre Dame battles No. 19 Oregon State on Friday in El Paso, Texas.
Hartman opted out of the contest for Notre Dame to prepare for the NFL draft, while Uiagalelei of Oregon State entered the transfer portal.
Also, Beavers second-string quarterback Aidan Chiles entered the portal and chose Michigan State, the school that just hired Jonathan Smith away from Oregon State to be its coach.
So, when the Beavers (8-4) and Fighting Irish (9-3) line up in the Sun Bowl, it will be Ben Gulbranson (one pass attempt this season) for Oregon State and Steve Angeli (25 attempts) for Notre Dame.
The good news for the Beavers is that Gulbranson went 7-1 as a starter in 2022 before being buried on the sidelines this season. In his last extensive action, he was the MVP of the Las Vegas Bowl when Oregon State routed Florida 30-3 to end last season.
“It’s kind of helped me become a more well-rounded person,” Gulbranson said of the situation. “You realize football is a gift. It’s an opportunity. It’s a privilege to play this game. I think being able to kind of step back and see it like this is pretty sweet. I’m cherishing every snap I get, whether it be in practice, whether it be in a bowl game.”
Angeli threw four touchdown passes in his limited work this season and gets to make his case for being the Notre Dame starter in 2024.
“Obviously, I’m now the starter, but my preparation — the way I’m preparing for the game — doesn’t change,” Angeli said. “Now it’s time for the real bullets to fly. We’ve got a job to do to get to 10 wins (by winning) the Sun Bowl. And that’s my only job, my focus.”
Among the other Notre Dame standouts to opt out of the bowl include running back Audric Estime (1,341 yards, 18 touchdowns rushing) and All-American left tackle Joe Alt.
Oregon State’s list of opt-outs includes star linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold (team-best 107 tackles) and receiver Anthony Gould (718 yards to tie for team lead).
Beavers star running back Damien Martinez is not expected to play despite having a suspension for a DUI arrest lifted by the school. Martinez rushed for 1,185 yards and nine touchdowns during the regular season.
It isn’t just the player front where Oregon State is making adjustments.
After Smith took the Michigan State job, defensive coordinator Trent Bray was promoted to head coach. However, Bray elected to focus on filling out his staff and recruiting and isn’t part of the coaching process for the Sun Bowl.
Instead, wide receivers coach Kefense Hynson is serving as interim coach, and he’s excited about Oregon State’s third all-time meeting with Notre Dame. The Beavers won the first two — a 41-9 shellacking in the Fiesta Bowl to end the 2000 season and a 38-21 victory in the 2004 Insight Bowl.
Hynson wants to finish on a winning note after Oregon State lost to then-No. 5 Washington and then-No. 6 Oregon in its past two outings.
“It’s another test,” Hynson said. “You’ve got a really, really good team, they’re well coached, they’ve got good players. Then obviously, finishing the year the way we finished it, we’re excited to just get back on the grass and try to finish the year with a ‘W.’ “
Notre Dame enters the contest with a two-game winning streak. It also features Bronko Nagurski winner Xavier Watts as the national defensive player of the year. The junior safety led the nation with seven interceptions during the regular season.
The Fighting Irish are 20-21 all-time in bowl games, including 1-0 at the Sun Bowl. Oregon State is 12-7, including a 2-0 mark in El Paso.
–Field Level Media
No. 19 Notre Dame limps into meeting with Wake Forest
While the hopes of playing for a national championship evaporated weeks ago, No. 19 Notre Dame still believes it has plenty to play for on Saturday afternoon against visiting Wake Forest at South Bend, Ind.
“We have a shot to send the seniors out the right way,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said in advance of the final home game of the season. “That’s our motivation. We know Wake Forest will be motivated. This team will be ready to go. They will come in knowing they have to win to become bowl eligible. We know we have a challenge in front of us.”
The challenge not only will come from Wake Forest, but also replacing several key players who are sidelined with injuries.
Notre Dame (7-3) most recently lost players on the offensive line during a 31-23 loss at Clemson on Saturday.
Rocco Spindler went down with a knee injury and the right guard is out for the season. Starting center Zeke Correll is in concussion protocol and his backup, Andrew Kristofic, went down with a high ankle sprain.
Billy Schrauth is expected to start at guard against Wake Forest and Ashton Craig will remain at center after finishing Saturday’s game.
“Ashton Craig did a really good job filling in at the center position,” Freeman said. “I was really impressed with what he did.”
The Fighting Irish lost safety Luke Talich to a broken collarbone during practice last week, while wide receivers Deion Colzie, Jayden Thomas and Matt Salerno remain sidelined.
Complicating things even more for Notre Dame is the slow mesh offensive system that the Demon Deacons run, a complicated system of run-pass options that can leave a defense spinning.
“How do you defend it?” Freeman said. “Linebackers attack and then create open areas behind you. They are really good to answer when you react to their system. It’s not the triple option, but it’s a system and they have answers. We have to be aggressive though and that is important.”
Wake Forest (4-6) got off to a promising 3-0 start but has dropped six of its last seven games. The Demon Deacons most recently fell to visiting North Carolina State, 26-6 on Saturday.
“It was not even a competitive football game,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. “It’s on me. It’s Game 10 and to show up like that is very disappointing.”
Wake Forest switched quarterbacks in the second quarter last week and Michael Kern led the Demon Deacons to their only touchdown, but he was then picked off on the two-point try and that was returned for two points the other way.
The rushing attack was even more shackled, as Wake Forest combined for seven net yards on 18 carries.
“On offense, right now, we’re broken,” Clawson said. “This isn’t anything like the offense that was put out there the last six years. I should have had us in a better spot with some of the personnel losses we had. We’re not getting the most out of these guys. I think we have good players, but they’re not playing well and it all boils down to coaching.”
–Field Level Media