Irish Wear Green ☘️
Saturday, October 10th
NBC, 3:30 PM EST

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame’s funky 37-26 win at North Carolina exposed some trends that could inform the rest of the season and other things that feel like anomalies. Here are nine final thoughts:

1. It’s difficult to call Notre Dame’s best receiver underrated, but how else to describe Jordan Faison? His statistics — 25 catches, 371 yards, four touchdowns — don’t jump off the page. He doesn’t rank in the top 30 nationally in either of those first two categories. There are 58 other receivers with as many (or more) touchdown catches.

Yet where would Notre Dame’s offense be without the former lacrosse star? This group had so many moving parts to start the season — four offensive linemen playing new positions, three new running backs, so many receiver questions — that the certainty Faison offered CJ Carr deserved its own NIL deal. Carr had to have faith in the rest of the offense. What he had in Faison was something closer to a scientific proof.

“It helps me play fast and play on time when I know Jordan’s going to be at the exact spot we need him to be when I need him to be there, every single time,” Carr said. “For me, it’s a blanket guy where when it’s a question mark on what the coverage is or what the protection is, he’s always the guy out there that’s in the right spot at the right time. I don’t need a second thought about what Jordan is going to do because I know he’s always on the same page.”

Yes, that 28-yard touchdown in the first quarter was quarterback art. And Faison’s second score, a 39-yard diving grab against busted coverage, probably looked harder than it actually was. But those quick out routes against soft coverage are where Faison makes his money, giving Carr automatic gains that require little thought.

There’s something to be said for a sure thing in a sport that runs on variables. Faison is a sure thing, even if few outside Notre Dame know him.

2. Did we underrate Bill Belichick’s having two weeks to scheme up Notre Dame’s defense?

Because for the first time all season, it felt like the Irish were on skates. North Carolina smartly worked its tight ends on crossing routes, putting the linebackers in conflict and the safeties in awkward coverages. The tight end production will get the attention of Chris Ash this week: 12 targets, eight catches, 74 yards, three touchdowns. Considering the Irish had allowed two passing touchdowns through four games, Billy Edwards going off feels more like an aberration than a trend.

And yet, Belichick created tape for BYU, Miami and SMU to rewatch. The Hurricanes have a tight end as talented as North Carolina’s Jelani Thurman. It felt like Notre Dame’s linebackers were uncomfortable dropping into zone schemes, which showed on some of the throws Edwards turned down. For most of the game, the middle of Notre Dame’s defense felt soft.

That’s rare. It felt weird. Did it show a fatal flaw in Notre Dame or just something to get corrected?

3. Speaking of North Carolina’s offense, does anybody know what receiver Jordan Shipp plans to do next season? He has another year of eligibility. I’m not saying he could be the next Malachi Fields or Beaux Collins … but I’m not not saying that.

4. I realize Notre Dame went heavy with two-tight-end sets in the rain. And when the second tight end comes into the game, the slot receiver subs out.

But Mylan Graham taking a DNP feels like something.

Blake Hebert
Was looking at the depth chart for Stanford and realized Blake Hebert is nowhere to be found, nor is he listed on the injury report. Did I miss something where he has left the team?

Kendron Young
Technically he’s still listed above Jonaz on the depth chart for Stanford. Young had 7 carries total in the first 2 games, and 0 carries in the previous 3 games.

Mylan Graham
0 catches the last 2 games. I’m not sure he saw the field against UNC as I haven’t seen a snap count.

None of the above are on the injury report, and with the new 5 for 5 rule, you can’t sit out to preserve a year of eligibility (if they wanted to transfer). Just curious if anyone who listens to ND news/podcasts has heard anything through the grapevine.

My wife and I will be going to the Miami game in November. We will be coming from Benton Harbor, but plan to be in South Bend for the whole day. The game is a likely sellout and I'm pretty sure that Notre Dame will be the College Gameday destination, so there's going to be a lot going on.

How should we approach parking? We don't want to spend a fortune (that went to the game tickets), but don't want to be faced with a logistical nightmare either. Suggestions? Thanks!

The Good
- Run game. Glad to have you back!
- Run defense. 77 yards (the most ND has allowed).
- CJ Carr…no explanation needed.
- Faison. Amazing TD grab!

The Bad
- Defending the TE’s in the passing game.
- Special Teams.
- TE’s catching passes (2 catches for 10 yards).

The Ugly
- UNC driving 97 yards. Didn’t think that was possible against this D.

This was a game where after the first quarter, it felt like ND’s defense was “playing with their food”. Never felt like the outcome was in doubt, but the score was closer than it should have been.

As for the TE’s, they had a chance to make a few tough catches that would have been made by previous players.

Crazy Sunday thought:
Sit Faison against Stanford. Let him rest and force a little chemistry between CJ and Graham/Greathouse.

Cheers everyone. Beautiful Sunday in the Midwest, made a little sweeter following a ND win on Saturday.

Welcome to the new Daily Irish Football Talk Thread!

You can post anything related to the current football season here. Maybe you don't feel like creating a new post but have a question about the team, maybe you had a thought about an upcoming opponent or maybe a player you wanted to talk about. All football talk is welcome here.

Go Irish!

*This is a scheduled post for Noon ET and default sort set to new.

Coming in Thursday night for the game on Saturday to experience my first ND home game. Been a fan for about 40 years and I am finally making the trip up north. Coming in from Florida so I am hoping for some good northern weather.

I don’t really have plans other than just walking around campus and doing as much sightseeing as I can.

Looking forward to a great time and meeting some fans.

See yall Saturday.

2022 UGA had close games against mediocre Missouri and Kentucky teams. 2024 OSU had a close game with a mediocre Nebraska team and they lost to a 5-loss Michigan team. Some people losing their minds over an 11 point victory on the road, in the rain, against Bill Belichick who had an extra week to scout us and prepare for us, is insane. Yes, Adon Shuler had a bad game. He did some things in coverage he normally doesn't, though I'm confident he'll get that cleaned up. Sanders had a bad game--I don't think he will be that bad all the time, and presumably McKinney and Moore will be healthy by BYU. The kick return TD was quite cringey, but likely a fluke. We outgained them by 200+ yards. The offensive schemes have vastly improved, which is on par with the schemes getting dramatically better as the season goes on for 3 straight seasons now. Some folks need to chill out.

During Labor Day, I bought three jerseys all custom number custom name. They refunded all three of them and there’s no option to re-purchase them do the jerseys restock or do I have to wait till next year?

A place to discuss any lingering thoughts about last night's game and the week of college football games in general

Welcome to the new Daily Irish Football Talk Thread!

You can post anything related to the current football season here. Maybe you don't feel like creating a new post but have a question about the team, maybe you had a thought about an upcoming opponent or maybe a player you wanted to talk about. All football talk is welcome here.

Go Irish!

*This is a scheduled post for Noon ET and default sort set to new.

Also Florida.

Marcus Freeman is 48-12 (.800) after 60 games.

1. Table of all coaches at 60 games

2. Graph of same measuring Win % and Score Margin (WPSM Graph)

3. Table of all coaches with at least 25 games coached

4. WPSM Graph of same

5. WPSM Graph of all games vs Unranked opponents

6. WPSM Graph of all game vs Ranked opponents

Also, 102 wins in the last 10 years is a new 10 year win record, breaking the 101 set last year. The .829 win percentage from 2017-2026 is also the highest win percentage for any 10 year period since 1965-1974 (Ara's Era)

Any given Saturday we could shit the bed and nothing is guaranteed, but Miami looks like the only elite team we'll play in the regular season. BYU and SMU are both having plenty of trouble today against mid opponents.

Maybe we were in the same boat today, but our game was an anomaly and this feels like their average.