Tag: South Bend

Top-rated 2025 Indiana recruit hypes official visit to Notre Dame

Will he pick the Irish?

Jalen Haralson is the top-rated 2025 recruit in the state of Indiana according to both 247Sports and On3. He played two years at Fishers before transferring to the prestigious La Lumiere. And he’s considering Notre Dame for his collegiate choice.

Haralson will make his official visit to Notre Dame on Saturday, the same day as the football team’s home opener against Northern Illinois. It will come exactly one weekend after he visited Indiana. Official visits to Michigan State, Missouri, Purdue and Kansas will follow.

Interestingly, all of Haralson’s official visits will come during home football games. It’s hard to tell how much, if at all, the football atmosphere will play a factor in his final decision.

In any case, Haralson is looking forward to visiting South Bend, and he indicated as much on social media:

There obviously is a long way to go before we know if Haralson picks the Irish. Until then, all we can is pray that he does.

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One College Football Playoff projection has game Notre Dame fans want

How would you like the chance to beat Brian Kelly in the postseason?

For nearly three years, there is one matchup Notre Dame fans have been clamoring for. They felt jilted the moment Brian Kelly abruptly left for LSU, and they want the Irish to prove to him that he was wrong to ditch them. One College Football Playoff projection would provide that opportunity.

The Athletic released its early playoff projection, and it has the Irish as the eighth seed, hosting the Tigers at Notre Dame Stadium. If this happened, Irish fans would be out for blood and would make life absolutely miserable for Kelly and his team. Combined with the cold temperatures, the result could be as intense an atmosphere as there’s ever been in South Bend.

Obviously, there’s a long way to go before this can become reality. For now, the mere thought of the Irish sticking it to Kelly is enough to get fans excited. Let’s see it come to pass.

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On3’s Nick Schultz places Notre Dame 10th in preseason rankings

This would be acceptable.

Most college football experts agree that Notre Dame will have a good 2024 season. There’s some debate though about whether it will be good enough for a College Football Playoff berth. If someone ranks the Irish in the top 12 of their preseason rankings though, chances are they think the Irish are good enough.

On3’s Nick Schultz has released his top 25 teams entering 2024. He opted to rank the Irish 10th and explained his reasoning this way:

“Year 3 for [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] is looking like an important one at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have CFP hopes this year with some talent injected into the offense, and it’s leading to some top-10 buzz.

[autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] will likely lead the offense, and [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag] is back on defense after leading the team in interceptions a season ago. Add in new offensive coordinator [autotag]Mike Denbrock[/autotag] – who’s back in South Bend – Notre Dame will take on a new look with a CFP run in its sights.”

There’s at least one standard for the Irish to clear. Can they do it? We’ll see very soon.

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247Sports projects Notre Dame-Ole Miss for College Football Playoff

The Irish don’t host in this projection.

Until the 2024 season begins, we’re left to make our own predictions for the newly expanded College Football Playoff. The only certainty is that Notre Dame can’t have higher than a fifth seed since the top four seeds are reserved for conference champions.

Most people think the Irish will host a first-round game, but Brad Crawford of 247Sports says not so fast. Crawford released his bowl projections for the season. While he does have the Irish in the No. 5 vs. No. 11 game, he has them as the 11th seed, traveling to Ole Miss.

The Irish and Rebels haven’t played each other much, and it’s been a long time. The Rebels were the only team the Irish lost to during their 1977 championship season, and the Irish won their only other meeting in 1985 in South Bend. Historically, this isn’t anything close to a rivalry.

Still, the Irish could use this as bulletin-board material. They know they’re good enough to host a first-round game at Notre Dame Stadium, and this should give them extra motivation to have a season that guarantees them that honor.

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Notre Dame to face Purdue on Nov. 10 in West Lafayette

Mark your calendars.

The rivalry between Notre Dame and Purdue should be more of a thing. After all, they’re the only two programs in Indiana to have won national championships. The good news is they’ll play each other for a second straight season.

The Boilermakers have announced that they will welcome the Irish to Mackey Arena on Nov. 10. It will be the Irish’s first trip to West Lafayette since a 66-38 victory in December 2011. That team included future WNBA players [autotag]Devereaux Peters[/autotag], [autotag]Natalie Novosel[/autotag], [autotag]Skylar Diggins[/autotag], [autotag]Kayla McBride[/autotag] and [autotag]Natalie Achonwa[/autotag].

The Irish hosted the Boilermakers in South Bend last season on the day [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag]’s statue was unveiled outside Purcell Pavilion. They cruised to a 76-39 victory to tie the all-time series at 14 wins apiece. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] led the charge with 23 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and seven steals. [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] had a double-double of 15 points and 12 boards, and [autotag]Natalija Marshall[/autotag] scored 14 points off the bench.

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Notre Dame makes offer to 2026 guard, daughter of former NBA player

Hope she picks the Irish.

Kate Harpring hasn’t even begun her junior year at Marist in Atlanta. That’s the same high school her father, former NBA player Matt Harpring, attended. But that hasn’t stopped many prominent programs from making her offers already. She confirmed that Notre Dame is one of those programs on social media:

On the same day, Harpring also announced an offer from Iowa, which only added onto the list of schools that already have offers to her. Among the other schools hoping to add her as part of their 2026 recruiting class are Florida State, Clemson, Louisville, Maryland, Kentucky, Arizona, Utah and Vanderbilt. Needless to say, the Irish will have plenty of competition here.

We don’t know how the Irish would look as far as competitiveness by the time she arrives on campus. However, if many prominent schools already have made her offers, she obviously is something special. Hopefully, she chooses to prove that in South Bend.

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Phil Steele predicts Notre Dame will place sixth in Preseason AP Poll

Would this be a fair starting point?

We still have a little bit of time before the release of the 2024 Preseason AP Poll. That poll will give teams their starting points en route to a national championship. Even though it isn’t out yet, people already are making predictions for it.

Phil Steele claims to have correctly predicted the teams in the Preseason AP Poll 95.3% of the time in the 15 years he’s been doing so. So Notre Dame fans should be happy to know he’s predicting the Irish to enter the season as the sixth-ranked team in the nation.

On3 opted to break down Steele’s predicted top 10 and offered this take about where the Irish are at:

“This could be the highest preseason prediction in the AP Poll for the Fighting Irish. [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] went the way of a veteran QB in the portal, this time Duke’s [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag].

Still an Independent, Notre Dame can’t finish higher than No. 5 in potential CFP rankings. However, Freeman might be set up for his best year as coach in South Bend when it’s all said and done.”

Let’s hope they’re right. That’s the only thing that really needs to be added here.

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Pick Six Previews predicts Notre Dame will open CFP vs. Penn State

Would love this matchup.

Notre Dame widely is expected to make the College Football Playoff in its first season with a 12-team bracket. Most people also expect the Irish to host a first-round game. One publication officially has made a call on that.

Pick Six Previews, which brags about accurate it has been with its past predictions, has the Irish facing Penn State at Notre Dame Stadium in the first round.The Irish and Nittany Lions haven’t played other since 2007. The Nittany Lions last came to South Bend in 2006. The all-time series is deadlocked at 9-9-1.

This definitely would provide one of the playoff’s best environments as both teams have fiercely passionate fan bases. Even if the game turns into a blowout, there’s a fair chance that nobody in the stands would be sitting down for this one. And we already have covered the likely frenzied atmosphere of a December game at Notre Dame Stadium. There are no real losers in this scenario.

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Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame to face JuJu Watkins, USC in home-and-home

You won’t want to miss these two First Team All-Americans battle it out.

Women’s basketball fans will be in for a real treat over the next two seasons. Notre Dame’s [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] and USC’s JuJu Watkins both were First Team All-Americans as freshmen during the 2023-24 season. Given that and the schools’ football history together, there was an appetite to see these two face off in college. Fortunately, we’ll have that chance.

The Irish and Trojans have announced a home-and-home for the next two seasons. The first game will be played Nov. 23 in Los Angeles, hopefully before the football team’s Shamrock Series game at Yankee Stadium kicks off. The Trojans will come to South Bend the following season.

This isn’t only about the two phenoms though. Both the Irish and Trojans are expected to contend for the national championship this coming season, and everyone with even a slight interest in women’s basketball should be excited for this first game especially. We’ll see where the teams are by the second game, but for the moment, this is a series worth getting hyped for.

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Notre Dame one of six finalists for five-star 2025 Kentucky guard

This would be a huge get.

Notre Dame is projected to have a big 2024-25 season, but the question is whether 2025-26 and beyond will be special. If the Irish have their way, one addition to their roster will make things a lot easier.

Zakiyah Johnson, a five-star guard from Kentucky, is projected by multiple sites as the best 2025 recruit in her state. She’s been named the Gatorade Kentucky Girls Basketball Player of the Year three years in a row. And she’s listed Notre Dame as one of the six programs to make her final cut:

When asked by On3 what she liked about each program, Johnson said this about the Irish:

“It’s all girl coaches – I like the way they run their program. I’m also really big on fashion, and I think they do a really good job with it. Coach [Niele] Ivey is very sweet, and Coach [Michaela] Mabrey is very sweet. I can kind of connect with them because they’re younger. It’s really just a vibe you have to be there to feel.”

Let’s hope the vibe is strong enough to lead her to South Bend.

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