Tag: Notre Dame football

ESPN is high on Notre Dame’s offense now and in the future

What do you think of ESPN’s ranking of the Irish offense?

One of the biggest aspects that has kept Notre Dame football from the upper echelon of the sport has been its offense.

The defense has held up its part of the bargain, but offensively there hasn’t been nearly as much success. That could be changing in the near future, as soon as this fall.

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg recently projected which offenses will be the best over the next three seasons and Notre Dame landed as his No. 12 team, a jump from being ranked No. 17 last season. He sees the offensive issues like I have, stating “the team’s outcome could come down to the offense, specifically quarterback play and the passing game, which hasn’t been at an elite level often enough.”

Rittenberg likes the Irish’s running back, and tight end’s, while is a little cautious about the offensive line due to the departures the unit had. With just two returning starters, Notre Dame is a bit green upfront. His biggest concern are the wide receivers, a group that the “production remains low.”

Again, it hard to disagree with Rittenberg’s assessment of the Irish offense, but this unit should be better than the one we saw last year.

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Fighting Irish Wire explores Notre Dame football and women’s basketball

Fighting Irish Wire joined us for a very fun 1-hour podcast.

Notre Dame and USC are Final Four favorites in women’s college basketball. Football is the main event at both schools, but the Irish and Trojans are in the midst of very prosperous times in women’s hoops, and they are trying to reach the mountaintop. They both have a real shot to play for the big prize next season. With so many interesting things to talk about at Notre Dame, we invited our friends at Fighting Irish Wire to discuss the Notre Dame-USC football rivalry and the women’s basketball landscape.

Fighting Irish Wire editor Nick Shepkowski returns to our Trojans Wired podcast to discuss football and women’s hoops. He is joined by first-time Trojans Wired guest Geoffrey Clark, a staff writer for Irish Wire. Clark produced this terrific photo gallery of the Los Angeles Coliseum. He took a tour of the venerable USC football stadium with his wife. He made some amazing discoveries at the Coliseum, and we talked to him about those discoveries at the start of the show:

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ESPN’s College GameDay is headed to Texas A&M to kick off the 2024 season

College GameDay is headed to College Station for Texas A&M’s season opener vs. Notre Dame

The 2024 season of Texas A&M’s football, under the leadership of head coach Mike Elko, is set to commence with a high-stakes clash against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This prime-time showdown, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, will be a thrilling start to the season. Adding to the excitement, ESPN’s College GameDay will make a long-awaited return to College Station for the first time since the 2018 season.

For the fourth consecutive season, Notre Dame will open the year on the road, and likely vs. a ranked Aggie team already pegged as the No. 25 program in ESPN’s early Top 25 rankings. So, why is this the first time College GameDay has returned to CSTAT in six seasons?

To start, former head coach Jimbo Fisher’s lack of ingenuity on offense led to predictable outcomes that bled through the last two seasons, leading to his eventual firing last November. Mike Elko’s familiarity with the program during his time as Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator (2018-2021) is a proven plus, while his offseason success via the transfer portal and a talented returning roster are highly intriguing on paper.

For the Irish, former Duke QB Riley Leonard, who played under Elko from 2022-2023, has undergone another ankle surgery this offseason after transferring to Notre Dame late last December. Whether he is ready to go for the opener, all eyes will eyes will be on Texas A&M starting quarterback Conner Weigman’s fifth start in his young career.

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Notre Dame to open 2024 season at Texas A&M in prime time

Finish whatever you need to that day before the evening.

We now have one official start time confirmed for Notre Dame’s 2024 season, and it’s the opener. The Irish already were scheduled to open Aug. 31 at Texas A&M. It has been announced that the game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. EDT and air on ABC.

Related: Notre Dame’s All-Time History on ‘College Gameday’

This will continue what has been a trend for the Irish. For the fourth straight year, they will not kick off the regular season at Notre Dame Stadium. It also will be the sixth time in the past nine seasons they have begun the schedule in prime time on the road.

Related: An Early Look at Notre Dame’s 2024 Football Schedule

None of this should be surprising though as the Irish routinely have finished first or second in weekly viewership during this particular circumstance. It shows that the powers that be highly value the Irish enough that they routinely will begin the college football season with them in a spot they know will be a ratings winner. Hopefully, 2024 will start with an Irish winner, too.

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Bon Jovi offering limited Notre Dame-themed edition of new album

Music and higher education come together.

There are so many notable football names connected to Notre Dame you might forgot the university has celebrity fans.

The members of the band Chicago are among the most notable, but another is legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi.

The band Bon Jovi celebrated its 40th anniversary a year ago. Now, it wants to give Irish fans an opportunity to share in its upcoming album “Forever” in a special way.

The album will be released June 7, but Irish fans can preorder a Notre Dame-themed limited edition of that album on the band’s website. In fact, the university itself is promoting this limited edition because this is the result of a partnership between the school and the band.

So if you or someone you know loves both the Irish and Bon Jovi, this is the perfect gift. Hopefully, you have someone in your life worth buying it for.

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Notre Dame gets plenty of love in EA Sports NCAA College Football teaser photos

It’s happening!!!!!

The time is coming for everyone to be able to fire up their gaming consoles with NCAA Football back on the screen.

Anticipation has been building since the announcement that the game would make its return after an 11-year hiatus. Plenty of Notre Dame football fans will start dynasties, trying to win as many titles with the Irish as possible.

Adding to the excitement has been some of the teasers that have been released in the recent months, and the latest hit social media on Friday. A few screen shots of the cover were shown, along with a shot of Notre Dame standing in the tunnel preparing to enter the field at Notre Dame Stadium.

If you are like me, you’ll be preordering yourself a copy and playing as soon as the game is released.

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Notre Dame football not found on one analysts top 30 post-spring rankings

It wasn’t a mistake…

When both major polls release their preseason top 25 teams, Notre Dame football will surely be one of those teams.

With that said, 247Sports Brandon Marcello doesn’t believe that will be the case. He released his top 30 rankings following spring practices, and the Irish were nowhere to be found.

You do have to give him some credit, as he had an explanation ready. Marcello believes there are “too many new pieces at crucial spots,” singling out the quarterbacks and wide receivers. It’s hard to disagree with his hesitation and not putting Notre Dame in his top 10, but omitting them all together is a bit off.

At worst, Notre Dame should be on this list, as they are better than the majority of teams ranked below No. 15. At the end of the day, Marcello’s rankings don’t matter and Freezing Cold Takes has surely bookmarked this post.

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Notre Dame football gets a crystal ball pick for 2026 quarterback

The Irish are looking good with one of the nations top 2026 quarterbacks

The influx of talent at quarterback for Notre Dame football has seen an uptick since Marcus Freeman took over the program.

They have come from all over, recruiting and the transfer portal, with the next one up being 2025 commit Deuce Knight. It looks like they have another top quarterbacks attention in the 2026 cycle, with Florida’s [autotag]Noah Grubbs[/autotag].

The 6-foot, 4-inch and 188-pound signal caller was crystal balled to eventually commit to Notre Dame by Tom Loy on Friday. Grubbs is one of the top prospects in the country, ranking as the No. 121 overall player and 10th quarterback of his class by the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Grubbs would be a huge recruiting win for the Irish, as they try and continue to stack talent at quarterback.

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Buffalo Bills Sign Chase Claypool in NFL Free Agency

Chase Claypool gets another NFL deal. Is this his last chance?

The NFL draft has come and gone and a small wave of free agency across the league has picked up again.

Friday morning saw the Buffalo Bills announce a few signings, including a one-year deal with wide receiver Chase Claypool.

After starring at Notre Dame, Claypool made an instant splash as a rookie with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  In 16 games in 2020, Claypool hauled in 873-receiving yards while scoring 11 touchdowns.  He seemed like a star in the making but by his third year the wheels started to come off.

Claypool was dealt to the Chicago Bears early in the 2022 season where he hauled in 191 receiving yards in 10 games split over two years.  The Bears dealt him to the Miami Dolphins where he played in nine games last year, catching just four passes.

In signing with Buffalo, Claypool may be on his last chance in the NFL.

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Notre Dame football offers 2026 Ohio athlete

The Irish are working on Storm

One of the benefits that Notre Dame football has with its 2025 class is that its virtually full and they can start looking ahead to the next class.

With just one current commit, wide receiver Dylan Faison, the Irish coaching staff is scouring the 2026 class for player who deserve an offer. One of those players turned out to be Ohio athlete [autotag]Storm Miller[/autotag], who got his Notre Dame offer on Monday.

Miller is an intriguing prospect, as he can play multiple positions but will most likely end up as a linebacker with his 6-foot, 3-inch and 220-pound frame. 247Sports Composite Rankings has him as the nations No. 15 at the prospect and 204th nationally.

The offer list isn’t overtly impressive at the moment, but it’s still very early in the cycle. Expect other big teams to follow Notre Dame’s lead in offering Miller.

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