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1) When Notre Dame played Wisconsin five years ago, they got sucked into a gross Big Ten West brawl that took some time to break out of and eventually won 41-13. On Sunday night, Notre Dame played Wisconsin and got sucked into a gross Big Ten West brawl that took some time to break out of and eventually won 41-13. Take away the greatest punt in the history of the world and a blown coverage and the Badgers do not reach the end zone.
I went into this game thinking it would be highly unlikely the offense would hum because it was replacing perhaps the best running back tandem in the history of the school, a third-round wide receiver, a third-round tight end and both tackles, and that was before Matty Augustine’s injury seemed to throw a wrench into right guard. This was also coming against a team that was within three points at the half of the national champ last season and upgraded at quarterback. It is boastful to come here and say “That game went about exactly like I thought it would” but it mostly did.
The numbers weren’t flashy but really nice game for C.J. Carr, who kept his cool when things weren’t running super smoothly and never put the ball in danger while navigating adeptly pre-snap. We expected the first half of the season could be “Defense holds up their end, Carr and Mike Denbrock work to figure things out” and that was certainly the case to begin. Let’s talk about the rest.
2) Not much to complain about as far as the defense, which allowed a single touchdown on a short field with a blown coverage. After Colton Joseph was such an electric runner last season, they made sure he never got loose on the ground (long run of the day: five yards*) (long run for a Badger back: eight yards) and turned him into a pocket passer. Pro Football Focus only has Joseph down for one turnover-worthy play but boy was it one, breaking the game open with the mistake that eventually came courtesy of an awesome D.J. McKinney pick six (and that mistake might have been more on the receiver than Joseph and PFF might be rating a different throw).
* Joseph had a double-digit yardage run in every game last season. He hit a long of 78 against Indiana, 26 against Virginia Tech and 17 against James Madison.
It’s so fun to have Leonard Moore and Adon Shuler on your team. It was impossible to tell who anyone was in the stands due to the numbers being illegible and the PA announcer often being lacking in detail/audio quality but you could always tell when they were making a play because most people don’t move and hit like that. Boubacar Traore’s one-arm tackle was awesome. Big game for Drayk Bowen, who led the team in tackles and stops (what PFF rates as causing a “failure” by the offense). It was good to see Francis Brewu (bunch of pressures including a sack) and Tionne Gray ramping up over the course of the game.
Nice day for Bryce Young, who was tied for second on the team with three pressures and moved real fast for a man that large. Tough day for Jayden Sanders, who had a couple missed tackles in addition to giving up the touchdown. Feels like when we get past Rice to more traditional offenses that snap split is going to tilt more and more toward McKinney but Sanders had a couple pass breakups as well so not writing him off. Christian Gray Nickel Experience seemed mostly solid in the first stop of the tour.
Less fun: Both Brauntae Johnson and Jason Onye in boots by the final whistle. Hopefully they are back sooner rather than later. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa also missed the game but having him healthy for the second half of the season and hopefully what lies beyond is important, and Bowen, Jaiden Ausberry and Jaylen Sneed were more than capable of handling things in his absence. Notable: No Madden Faraimo snaps on defense.
3) The offense was about as clunky as I expected in the first half save for not anticipating the offensive line looking that ragged, which led to playing the first thirty minutes inside of about ten yards out of fear Carr wouldn’t have time to let things develop downfield without getting maimed. In these situations, you can also see a lack of fear in the Wisconsin offense/full faith in the Notre Dame defense lend to a more conservative game plan until things eventually broke open (which they did).
Sullivan Absher went in for Styles Prescord at the half and voila, all three second half possessions (that was it, with the pick six giving the ball right back to Wisconsin) ended in touchdowns and Aneyas Williams managed to start doing some damage on the ground after not seeing things well to start. The long run of the day was 16 yards, which is a little lower than we were used to the last few seasons. Will Black and Guerby Lambert’s tackle debuts started real real slow but this is not a project we’re judging based on the first 30 minutes. Great debut for Anthonie Knapp at guard. As I said in the season preview, I thought there was a chance we’d see Denbrock pivot to playing more two tight end sets and it was nice to see the Flanaigai so involved and effective after the break.
There weren’t many explosive plays at all, but some pop in the passing game came courtesy of Nolan James, Jr., who lived up to all the offseason hype from his coaches. (He had the Badgers in hell turning a dump off into a big play and zipped on the game’s final score.) (James only had 16 snaps on the game, so he really made the most of it.) Is it tenable for the second leading receiver to be a running back if Notre Dame wants to win a national championship? It is not, but knowing both Williams and James can contribute in the same game (187 yards from scrimmage between them) is nice.
Jordan Faison had the one drop and the one misfire from Carr on the play that could have earned him his first 100-yard receiving game but he was clearly so important to this whole operation not going off the rails in the early going. When we did the depth chart power rankings podcast I asked Greg and MB if they could pick one player to have a line of five targets and four catches for 60ish yards and a touchdown in this game, who would they choose. A popular answer was Micah Gilbert, who had four targets, three catches and 34 yards in a whole bunch of snaps, so sorta kinda? Need more from Jaden Greathouse and Mylan Graham (one catch for six yards, one pass interference drawn plus a nice gain negated by a bogus holding, respectively).
We’ll see where Wisconsin ends up, but it’s very possible this was the third or at worst fourth best defense the Irish will play all regular season. Throw in the first-game feeling out process for a bunch of new pieces and I think this performance will age just fine.
4) What a perfect day and night for football. I didn’t get to explore all that much of Green Bay but the Titletown area was really cool with a band playing, a big hill and an entire football field to mess around on during the pregame. Big thumbs up to Hinterlands Brewery. It’s also crazy you just walk across the street and there are a bunch of houses.
Lambeau was massive — they love an atrium, that’s for sure — but everything moved smoothly for the most part. I slipped out to use the restroom after the coward/sage second down run at the end of the first half and thank God I did because when I exited the line was about as long as I’ve ever seen at a stadium.
I would say the crowd breakdown was somewhere in the 55-60% Irish range. I know it came across as louder for Wisconsin at times on the broadcast but that was more the result of a segment of the Notre Dame faithful expecting a romp from the start being quieted and the Badger fans getting a great effort in the first half affecting the volume versus actual number of people in stands. Not sure what level of cultural appropriation it is to play “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” before kickoff in Green Bay.
No more blue outs, please. It doesn’t pop. It should be mandated Notre Dame fan policy to wear green to road and neutral site games.
The in-game experience was interesting, because it was sort of a Notre Dame home game but not really, with plenty of Badger acknowledgements. Throwing 1812 Overture up against Jump Around was such a mismatch, one thing is so cool and fun and also an Irish group and the other was not that. Big win for the Badgers there. They didn’t play any Dolly, which is borderline unforgivable, but there were some good sing-alongs to “Build Me Up Buttercup” and “Country Roads.” There was an elaborate parody of the “That ‘70s Show” opening credits at the final two-minute warning that I felt was not appreciated due to the number of Wisconsin fans who had already headed to the exits.
I get it was early, I get Marcus Freeman wanted to see what he had with Spencer Porath and I get it went in, but we are monitoring kicking 50+ yard field goals on fourth and four. Seeing Jasper Scaife was not quite a religious experience but he was solid even if his protection was not. I can’t believe I got to see the greatest punt in history in person, courtesy of Sean West.
Couple atrocious Wisconsin punts: Calling timeout just to kick from the Irish 36 in the second quarter, then surrender punting from midfield with eight minutes to go. You play to win the game.
5) Winning Is Hard Round Up: Usually we start this with a ranked matchup but when Week One kicks off with a Big Ten team hosting UMass as a four-touchdown favorite and getting run out of their own building before the world’s saddest fireworks display, we shouldn’t miss the opportunity to shout out Rutgers. Everyone please join me in a prayer circle for Scarlet Knights Head Coach Brian Kelly, it’s very important.
That would have only been the first of two four-touchdown Big Ten favorites to lose at home but Michigan was granted an extra second and stole one from Lance Taylor’s Broncos. I think I’ve developed a lot of antibodies to Michigan Cheats and Does Crimes because this bothered me less than others, and it also gave us the visual of “Big House Field Storm Against A MAC Team” and gave the broader world another reason to hate the Wolverines and Big Ten. Greer Martini becoming a trendy coaching candidate would be great.
Oregon was also a big home favorite and spent the day in hell against Boise State before escaping. Are the Ducks worse than we think, Broncos better, both or was this just a random opening college game? We’ll find out. This space has been critical of Clemson for some time but things might have bottomed out in Baton Rouge after they were outgained 507 yards to 73 through three quarters. (Or maybe the Bayou Bengals are just that good?)
Rough start for Eric Morris and Drew Mestemaker at Oklahoma State*, getting handled at Tulsa. Also rough start for Tosh Lupoi at Cal and excellent start for Bob Chesney at UCLA with the latter winning in Berkeley in some Pac-12 After Dark. Baylor was millimeters short of upsetting Auburn. Georgia Tech had a massive crowd against Colorado but the post-Haynes King Era started off with a loss (don’t run on third down to set up long field goals!). Nebraska turned out the jets late to make a tough one with Ohio look easy. Bowling Green lost at home to FCS Tartleton State. Charlotte lost at home to FCS The Citadel as a three-touchdown favorite.
* I love preseason win totals as a sanity check to discourse/vibes. Not that they’re always right, but the way people were talking about Oklahoma State taking a huge leap was interesting compared to their win total of 6.5. Early victory for the bookmakers but plenty of time for North Texas North to get things in order for Big 12 play.
2024 Quarterback Room Diaspora Update: Kenny Minchey was sensational in his Kentucky debut against Youngstown State, going 18 for 27 for 301 yards and four scores (only one run for 17 yards -- keeping a lid on that for Alabama on Saturday, I suspect). Steve Angeli was good in his return from injury against New Hampshire, going 20 of 29 for 263 yards and three touchdowns. He did take three sacks.
Very annoying the awesome Ole Miss-Louisville game was on at the same time as Notre Dame-Wisconsin! Please don’t do that again. Was it more embarrassing for Florida State not to have a functional 21st century stadium or to lose to SMU as a slight home underdog despite being plus-four in turnovers? (Not even the craziest Mustangs thievery of their ACC tenure, as they won in Durham in 2024 despite a minus-six turnover margin.)
6) If Joseph plays like that all season, Wisconsin will comfortably be bowling, which isn’t the highest praise but it could make this win — by four touchdowns, remember — age well. Notre Dame is what we thought was likely for the past six months: Carr and defense good, but if they want to play deep into January they’ll need some playmakers to emerge. A couple green shoots there in addition to Faison — James for sure, Gilbert sorta kinda — but a long way to go. We will give Graham some more time to integrate himself and Quincy Porter, Jr. some more time to recover before we cast judgment on the wide receiver portal approach.
The quick exchange from Freeman and Luke Fickell postgame makes you wonder if Fickell almost views Freeman as Talented Mr. Ripleying what his last five years could have looked like. If Fickell wasn’t loyal to his Bearcats as they headed toward the playoff, there’s a really good chance he’d be Notre Dame’s head coach with a staff of all the guys who helped him be so successful at Cincinnati. A tough sliding doors moment for him, but worked out great for the Irish.
One thing the trip to Lambeau really affirmed as the season begins is that as much as I want Notre Dame to win due to how it affects my mental health a great deal so much of my joy with this sport comes from standing in a random bar and/or parking lot with people I love having a cold one before a game kicks off. That is the really good stuff.
Rice is next. They ran for 465 yards against Houston Christian to start 1-0 but I have a suspicion that Chris Ash’s front might provide a bit more trouble for their option offense. Any offensive breakouts will be marked with an asterisk because the Owls defense is projected to be Quite Poor, but those asterisks can be removed if quality performances are repeated so might as well get them on the board. Win by a bunch, get everybody out of the game healthy and get ready for Sparty. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other.
