Notre Dame statistical leaders through four games

Who’s on the board going into the next game?

The great thing about Notre Dame’s dominant win over Miami (Ohio) is that a few more players got a chance to shine. Consequently, we have a few new names popping up in our weekly statistical leaders listicle heading into the game against Louisville. That should force the Cardinals to be a little more aware of the players they’ll be going up against.

This goes without saying, but the Irish always can benefit from new players appearing in these categories. It highlights just how deep the team’s talent is, and anyone can step in at any point. It might take some players longer to crack the leaders lists than others, but that’s the beauty of a regular season that runs through the end of November.

So who are the players standing out the most going into the Irish’s last game before their first bye week? Take a look for yourself here:

Social media reacts to Riley Leonard first touchdown pass of 2024

Ladies and gentlemen, it happened.

Notre Dame fans understandably were getting impatient with [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag]. How could the man who was brought in to hold the fort down at quarterback for such a prestigious program not have a single touchdown pass almost three-and-a-half games into the season? Such a thing would be unacceptable even for a homegrown quarterback on a blue blood.

Leonard’s first touchdown pass for the Irish had to happen at some point though, and Miami (Ohio) was a perfect team against which it could happen. We finally can say it has come to pass.

After the Irish’s defense forced a three-and-out, the offense took over and started rattling off bigger plays than they had when Leonard ran for a touchdown to end its previous drive. Leonard opened it up more this time around, and it paid off. He hit leading Irish receiver [autotag]Beaux Collins[/autotag] for a 38-yard touchdown, his longest throw of the season, to put the Irish up, 14-3, a score that would hold going into halftime:

https://twitter.com/NBCSports/status/1837598433101644142

Here’s how social media reacted to it:

EarthCam shows showers passing through Notre Dame day before game

Check out this view.

The beauty about the age we’re living in is that we can get images from angles that wouldn’t have been possible before. That includes with EarthCam, which speaks for itself.

Among those with access to EarthCam is the Northern Indiana branch of the National Weather Service. That means it can access images of weather activity at Notre Dame, where one EarthCam is set up. When they get notable images from EarthCam, they sometimes are too good not to share with the public.

South Bend had been stuck in a drought for a few weeks before it finally accumulated measurable rain again Friday. Fortunately, the rain didn’t stick around, which is good news for Irish fans who already have ascended onto campus for this weekend’s game against Miami (Ohio).

While the South Bend AccuWeather forecast calls for hot and partly cloud conditions during the game, you might be interested in seeing what campus looked like during Friday’s passing showers:

Stay dry if you’re in South Bend right now. We don’t need anyone feeling miserable ahead of the Irish hosting the RedHawks.

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Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

2026 four-star Pennsylvania safety recruit to visit Notre Dame

Can the Irish get him?

In June, Tom Loy of 247Sports predicted that Notre Dame would land Joey O’Brien, a 2026 four-star safety recruit. 247Sports considers O’Brien the best player in Pennsylvania among the 2026 recruiting class. On3 also considers the Irish the odds-on favorite to be O’Brien’s choice.

Of course, the Irish aren’t the only program aiming for O’Brien’s services. Penn State and Michigan also are said to have good chances at getting him. Altogether, O’Brien has received offers from 19 programs. He can pick pretty much anybody he wants because he’s that good.

The Irish now will be able to make an on-campus pitch to O’Brien because he’s set to visit Notre Dame this coming weekend for the game against Miami (Ohio). Hopefully, they can put together a convincing presentation because their current 2026 recruiting class of [autotag]Noah Grubbs[/autotag] and [autotag]Dylan Faison[/autotag] hasn’t changed since Loy made his prediction. It would be nice to see another addition to that class:

https://twitter.com/SWiltfong_/status/1836069798301585916

Best of luck to the Irish in their pursuit of O’Brien, especially recruiters [autotag]Mike Mickens[/autotag] and [autotag]Marty Biagi[/autotag], the two defensive backs coaches.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Notre Dame announces two more football games have been sold out

Going to either of these games?

Notre Dame is expected to have a big season, and fans want to get out to see the Irish. Naturally, fans want to see them at Notre Dame Stadium, and it’s becoming clear it doesn’t matter who the opponent is.

While sellouts are typical for Irish games, it always amazes that they happen even when it’s not the home opener or involving a high-profile opponent. The Irish have confirmed this fact by announcing they’ve sold out the game against Miami (Ohio) and their lone night home game against Florida State. This is on top of the sellout against Louisville they already announced, bringing their sellout total to three:

If you want to go to a home game this year but haven’t bought tickets, there’s no need to panic yet. There still are three games available: the home opener, senior day and the annual clash with Stanford. It’s not too late.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Pro Day roundup: Jaguars well-represented at South Carolina workout

The Jaguars are making the pro day rounds, which has included stops at South Carolina, Texas, and Clemson.

Teams across the NFL are dishing out big money to acquire free agents, but the Jacksonville Jaguars have been watching from the sideline.

After weeks of reports that the Jaguars are focusing on building through the 2023 NFL Draft following their 2022 spending spree, those prognostications have come to fruition. Through the first 24 hours of the legal tampering period, Jacksonville reached no agreements with any pending free agents and watched as right tackle Jawaan Taylor and tight end Chris Manhertz found deals elsewhere.

Much of the Jaguars’ attention was instead in Columbia, S.C. where the South Carolina Gamecocks held their pro day. Reportedly in attendance for the workout were the team’s defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend and defensive line coach Brentson Buckner.

South Carolina has one of the top cornerback prospects in Cam Smith as well as cornerback Darius Rush, who may be a Day 2 selection. The Gamecocks also have defensive tackle Zacch Pickens, who was put through his Monday workout by Buckner.

Pickens measured in at 6’4, 291 pounds at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. He was one of six defensive tackles at the event to finish his 40-yard dash in under 4.9 seconds and one of four to eclipse 30 inches in the vertical jump.

Other pro days:

  • The Jaguars were one of two teams (along with the Buccaneers) present at the Southeastern University Pro Day, according to running back Bryan Bell. The back was a four-time All-Conference selection in the NAIA’s Sun Conference.
  • The Jaguars were one of six teams spotted at the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks Pro Day. The top prospect to watch was Mac Hippenhammer, a former Penn State receiver who twice earned All-MAC honors after transferring in 2020.
  • All 32 teams were reportedly in attendance at the Texas Pro Day. The headliner, running back Bijan Robinson, didn’t participate but Texas also has defensive lineman Moro Ojomo and running back Roschon Johnson among the other notables.
  • The Jaguars were among 13 teams at the UNLV Pro Day last week where all eyes were on linebackers Adam Plant Jr. and Austin Ajake.
  • All 32 teams were in attendance at the Clemson Pro Day on Tuesday where pass rusher Myles Murphy, defensive lineman Bryan Bresee, and linebacker Trenton Simpson are all hoping to be first-round selections.

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Running back recruit will visit Notre Dame

Hope the Irish can land him.

Notre Dame never can have enough players at skill positions. That’s because you never know when you might find the next player to electrify crowds at Notre Dame Stadium. That surely is the reason the Irish staff is thrilled to see the below tweet from Tony Phillips Jr., a running back recruit from Bishop McNamara in Kankakee, Illinois:

Unless there’s something we don’t know about, Saturday stands to be a busy a day for Phillips because he already has tweeted about going to Illinois on the same day. He hasn’t tweeted about visiting the Illini since:

In March, Phillips also visited Purdue and Iowa, so it’s obvious that a lot of Big Ten programs are looking heavily at him. In January, he received offers from Massachusetts and Miami (Ohio). Those were on top of the offers he already had received from Syracuse, Tennessee and Florida Atlantic.

This kid will play somewhere with a fine reputation in college, and let’s hope it’s Notre Dame.

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Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech: Second-Quarter Analysis

We have another half of this, folks.

We’re only at halftime, and we’re already running out of ways to describe Notre Dame’s dominance over Georgia Tech. That we have 30 more minutes of this contest to go won’t convince college football fans who don’t root for the Irish to keep it on. As much as NBC would love to have a high viewership throughout its final Irish broadcast of the season, that appears unlikely now. Still, it’s nice to see the Irish have a 45-0 lead at the midway point of the game.

The Yellow Jackets punted very early in the second quarter, and it only continued to get bad for them from there. The Irish breezed down the field on their first possession of the frame and ultimately got a 5-yard touchdown run from Logan Diggs. After another Yellow Jackets punt, Diggs scored again. This one came on a 20-yard pass from Jack Coan on the fourth play of the drive. He was set up nicely thanks to a 26-yard run by Kyren Williams.

The Yellow Jackets then put together something resembling a respectable offensive drive, picking up two first downs and getting into Irish territory. All this resulted in was another punt. Yes, it was that kind of first half for the visitors.

The Irish started their next drive on the 11-yard line, but Coan solved that quickly with a 51-yard pass to Kevin Austin. He soon followed those with an 18-yard completion to Michael Mayer and a 19-yard completion to George Takacs to get to the 1-yard line. While it took three plays to reach the end zone from there, Williams did it. That put a stamp on the frame and gave the Irish their most first-half points since their game against Miami (Ohio) in 2017.

The Yellow Jackets moved quickly in their final drive of the half. They even got into field-goal range this time. With this stroke of good fortune, Jude Kelley came on for a 47-yard attempt in the final seconds. Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa preserved the first-half shutout by getting a hand on the kick and causing Kelley to miss. Some things just will stay the same for now.

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Notre Dame part of tough nonconference schedules for Power Five teams

The Irish will be part of tough schedules for some teams this year.

Any team that has Notre Dame on its nonconference schedule automatically receives a bump in the strength of that schedule. Even during seasons in which the Irish struggle, there at least is a bump interest for that game. Either way, any matchup with the Irish is serious business.

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has released a piece comparing nonconference schedules for the entire Football Bowl Subdivision. For the Power Five conferences and the AAC, he lists the nonconference schedules for the teams he believes have the toughest and weakest in those conferences. Notre Dame pops up in the toughest nonconference schedule for Georgia Tech in the ACC, USC in the Pac-12, and Cincinnati in the AAC. In fact, Palm ranks the Yellow Jackets as having the fifth toughest nonconference schedule in all of the FBS.

Here are the other nonconference opponents for all the teams that have the Irish on their schedules:

  • Georgia Tech: Georgia, Northern Illinois, Kennesaw State
  • USC: BYU, San Jose State
  • Cincinnati: Indiana, Miami (Ohio), Murray State

Notre Dame’s Ivey records first career win

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team improved to 1-1 on the young season Sunday as they won new head coach Niele Ivey’s first home game.

The Notre Dame women’s basketball team got off to a tough start over Thanksgiving weekend as they fell on the road to Ohio, 86-85, despite entering the fourth quarter with a 65-62 lead.

Better news came in the form of new head coach Niele Ivey’s first career win as the Irish bounced back by trouncing Miami (Ohio) on Sunday, 88-68, and moving to 1-1 on the young season.

Sixth-year-senior-guard Destinee Walker paced Notre Dame with 24 points while freshman Maddy Westbeld added 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block.

Notre Dame got out of the gates quickly as they took a 45-30 lead to halftime and cruised to a fairly easy victory.

Ivey was cleared excited to get win number-one out of the way on what was an understandably emotional day.

“This was a dream, something I visualized, something I’ve prayed about, just to be able to say that I can get a win,” Ivey said, sounding both relieved and thrilled. “To be the head coach and walking into Purcell Pavilion was an absolute dream.”

Ivey and the 1-1 Fighting Irish return to the court on December 3 when they host No. 24 Michigan on Thursday night.