A few quick waves of stats and content to throw at you for now ... With a 159.5 pass-efficiency rating, Sam Hartman ranks 17th overall in that stat category and No. 1 among the QBs available in last offseason's transfer portal cycle,

Notre Dame has ascended to the top spot in pass-efficiency defense (94.91) and has faced Nos. 2 and 3 on Saturdays -- 2. Ohio State and 3. Clemson -- this season.

The Irish continue to ascend — in a good way — in sacks allowed. They're in a six-way tie for the 13th fewest (1.17 per game) with Michigan, Miami (Fla.), Colorado State, SMU and Rutgers.

Audric Estimé wakes up 10th in the nation in rushing yards per game (111.8), 12th in yards per carry (6.39) and third in rushing TDs (18). The only two Notre Dame players ever with more rushing TDs that Estimé's four against Stanford in a game are Art Smith against Loyola of Chicago in 1911 with 7 and Bill Downs with 6 in 1905 against DePauw.

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Now updated with story:

No. 2 seed Notre Dame (12-2-5) hosts unseeded Indiana (15-4-4) on Saturday in an NCAA quarterfinal matchup. The Irish played Western Michigan to a 0-0 tie on Sunday (in the snow) at home, then advanced by virtue of penalty kicks. Here's the story for Notre Dame sports info:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The overall No. 2 seed Fighting Irish men’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals with a gritty performance in penalties by a mark of 4-2 to get past Western Michigan in front of a packed Alumni Stadium.

Notre Dame played with 10-men for the final 84 minutes of play after KK Baffour was sent off with a red card in the 26th minute of play. The Irish defense held the nation’s sixth-ranked scoring attack scoreless despite being down a man.

The Irish jumped out in front of the penalty shootout, as Bryan Dowd made a huge diving save followed by a make from Matthew Roou. The next Western Michigan taker put his effort off the post and then Paddy Burns sent the keeper the wrong way to put Notre Dame up 2-0 after two rounds.

Both Western Michigan and Eno Nto of Notre Dame converted during the third round to move the score to 3-1. The next Bronco penalty taker scored, giving Daniel Russo the chance to send the Irish to the quarterfinals. The senior clinically dispatched his shot inside the right post to keep the Irish alive in the tourney.

Dowd was sensational on the evening, making seven saves and posting a clean sheet.

Notre Dame will play Indiana at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 2 at Alumni Stadium. The winner will advance to the NCAA College Cup to play the semifinal round on Dec. 8 at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. Buy tickets for Saturday’s match here.

NOTRE DAME 0, WESTERN MICHIGAN O (ND 4-2 PKs): Box Score

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The kid was going into class with a higher ranked QB at Colorado. Wonder if there would be interest from ND's staff. Northwestern, Purdue, and Wake offered the kid so I doubt grades would be an issue. He plays for a school that received a cease and desist from ND for the likeness of the mascot.

He mentions the business school at CU being one of his reasons for his verbal and ND has a top 20 business school in the country so maybe this is a solid depth option? CMF said he wanted another scholarship QB perhaps he was mincing words not sounding like he necessarily wanted someone who'd bury Angeli on the depth chart but if you take his comment at face value another 3* recruit would check that box while they try to develop Angeli.

His numbers aren't great nor is the team record, but Cathedral plays the big boys and only lost to CG by 7 and played brownsburg and ben davis tough

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@Eric Hansen and I will go live on YouTube at 7 p.m. EST for the next edition of "Football Never Sleeps." Through the bowl game, we will plan to be live every week.

We'll discuss head coach Marcus Freeman's Monday press conference, what's next on his agenda heading into December, Notre Dame's potential bowl matchups and answer questions from viewers.

Football Never Sleeps is sponsored by Legacy Heating & Air.

We hope you join us live with questions or submit some ahead of time. Hit the bell to set a reminder to get notified when we go live.

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If you'd like to submit questions, make sure you click through so you're watching on YouTube's site or in the YouTube app if you're on mobile. You can do so by clicking the headline at the top of the embedded video above. So where it says "Football Never Sleeps: ..." Or there should be spot that says "Watch on YouTube" in the bottom left.

Then to submit questions, there's a chat box to the right of the video on desktop or below the video on mobile.

Click here to subscribe to Inside ND Sports on YouTube.

I'm opening up this thread before I get ready to head to Stanford later today.

We will use this game thread as the primary home for game commentary from now until after the game. We have some rules we'll ask you to follow, which will be included below.

If you're not following the rules and do not respond well to reminders, we'll remove you're posting privileges for the rest of the day. We have too much to do today to argue about it during the game. This doesn't happen often as we're pretty lenient in the game thread, but please keep that in mind.

@HotCarNut has disciplinary powers as a moderator. You can argue with him about the game, but do not argue with him about the rules.

Our game thread rules:

1. Use this thread until the end of the game for ongoing game commentary. We'd like to keep the conversation in one place. If something from the game merits a separate conversation of substance, go ahead and start another thread for that topic. When in doubt, post in the game thread.

2. Criticism of decision-making by coaches and players is allowed. But please avoid making it personal. Don't be malicious. Remember, that person's mother could be reading your post. If you cross the line, you'll lose posting privileges for the day.

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All kinds of topics covered, including the future of the coaching staff, Hartman's bowl status, the prospect of a bowl vs. Brian Kelly and more.

All these Jesuit schools kicking our but in bball. Go figure

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Bennie-Powell had 48 tackles (34 solo) including two for loss this season for West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West. Also finished with three interceptions (one pick-6), three passes defended and one forced fumble.

Plans to enroll at Notre Dame in the summer.

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We expect to meet with head coach Marcus Freeman over zoom at his annual weekly press conference on Monday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Inside ND Sports will be in attendance. I'll bring live updates from the press conference below in this thread. It is expected to last approximately 20 minutes.

There is no YouTube stream available.

Tigers lead 24-20 with 10:15 left in the fourth quarter a week after getting embarassed by New Mexico State.

Gotta love college football.

It did not take hardly 24 hours before Mississippi States quarterback and ND are talked about in the same sentence.

I fear that with the major conferences getting bigger, having more better matches, having more exciting conference championships, and having larger fan bases,
most top recruits will want to be part of that action. The teams in the conference championships end their regular season with a huge game and ND ends with Stanford.
With rare exceptions, even ending the season with USC typically does not generate as much interest as the major conference championships do.
.

They may seem different, but they have one thing in common: Challenges from "the other side of the ball."

Day and Riley know offense and need a great DC. Freeman knows defense and needs a great OC.

Day recognized his challenge and made a great move bringing in the DC from Oklahoma State. It was a great move because Mike Gundy had
made it clear that his DC had made him change how he recruited. Day hired Knowles and together they changed recruiting and the culture at OSU. Day met the challenge and fixed his defense vastly improving his team.

Riley has had horrible defenses since his days at OU and has not been able to fix it. During that time he has wasted four great QBs.

The question is, Who will Freeman emulate? Day who fixed his defense or Riley who couldn't or wouldn't. Freeman has got to hire a great OC, but just as important, he must listen to him. IMO, he tied Rees's hands with his Jim Tressel approach to big games: Stop the run, play great defense, control the clock, and let the O do enough. He has got to let the new OC impact the culture of his football team.

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Wow. Congrats mike

Irish move up a spot in the Coaches poll ... technically 17th in the FWAA-NFF Super 16 ... I voted Notre Dame 16th on my ballot.

The AP poll is out now and ND moves up there as well.

To think, ND could have beaten both teams