Breaking down all 10 of Notre Dame's third-down plays against USC, which resulted in just three first downs. Nine of them were passing plays.

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I had the chance to speak to Notre Dame men’s basketball 2026 forward target T.J. Crumble after his weekend visit and offer.

Per Rivals, Crumble is a five-star prospect and ranked as the No. 11 overall player in the 2026 recruiting class.

The Cleveland (Ohio) Richmond Heights recruit said he received the news while meeting with head coach Micah Shrewsberry and associate head coach Kyle Getter in Shrewsberry’s office.

"It felt good because not only am I getting noticed for my athletic ability, [but] I have a 4.4 GPA so it feels good to get recognized for my academic ability as well," Crumble told Inside ND Sports.

Crumble toured campus, watched practice and received a personalized slideshow presentation from the staff on how they’d develop him. Crumble is listed as a power forward by Rivals but said he plays both forward spots for his team.

According to Crumble, Shrewsberry’s NBA background stood out but so did the coaching staff’s personalities off the court.

"I also love how they see themselves developing me as a player and putting me in a good position to be successful after the ball stops bouncing," Crumble said.

Crumble has 17 offers including Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio State. He visited Illinois earlier this month before his Notre Dame trip.

Expect Crumble’s recruitment to pick up next spring and summer during the grassroots basketball circuit.

Link to full story:


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The Walter Camp Football Foundation has named Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts as its Defensive Player of the Week. The Football Writers Association of America also named Watts the Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week.

Watts was a deserving winner with his two interceptions, one fumble returned for a touchdown, one forced fumble, seven tackles and one pass breakup against USC.

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Notre Dame hosted 2025 cornerback target Dallas Golden on a visit this past Saturday. Golden visited for the Blue-Gold Game in April and spoke highly about that experience after with Inside ND Sports.

The four-star cornerback didn’t visit Notre Dame over the summer, but he returned on Saturday and interest has picked up on both sides.

Now that Golden seems firmly on Notre Dame’s board for the 2025 recruiting class, I spoke with Rivals National Recruiting Analyst @John Garcia Jr. to discuss Golden and his skillset.

"Dallas Golden is one of the premiere two-way prospects in the state of Florida's class of 2025," Garcia said. "While he is truly dynamic and a Saturday candidate at either running back or wide receiver, he is most natural working in the secondary with his combination of instincts and athleticism."

At 6-foot-1, 175-pounds, Golden does it all for Berkeley Prep playing running back, wide receiver, cornerback and safety.

However, Irish cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens sees Golden playing cornerback at the next level. He has three interceptions and three pass deflections on the season. He held Clemson 2024 four-star wide receiver Terrance Moore to 51 yards and zero touchdowns last month.

"He has worked successfully at both safety and corner, with true twitch when breaking on the ball from either spot," Garcia said. "The receiver skills translate at the catch point and the playmaker can do true damage after a turnover, too."

Notre Dame faces stiff competition for Golden who has 33 total offers including Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia and Miami (Fla.). The Irish getting him on a visit could pay dividends when his recruitment enters its final stages.

Link to full story: https://notredame.rivals.com/news/a...g-nd-2025-cb-target-dallas-golden-after-visit

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The Irish offensive line is one of 23 in the 130-team FBS to be so designated. I included most of the release, so you can see who else is in contention, when they'll narrow down the field, the criteria used and who's on the selection committee.

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NEW YORK (Oct. 17, 2023) — The Joe Moore Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit in College Football today revealed the members of its 2023 Midseason Honor Roll, announced The Foundation for Teamwork, which has presented the unique award since 2015.
Earning a spot on this year’s midseason honor roll are the offensive lines of No. 22 Air Force, Clemson, No. 16 Duke, Florida, No. 4 Florida State, No. 1 Georgia, Kansas State, Kentucky, No. 21 Louisville, No. 19 LSU, Miami, No. 2 Michigan, No. 20 Missouri, No. 15 Notre Dame, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 9 Oregon, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 8 Texas, UCF, No. 5 Washington, and Wyoming.
This year’s honor roll members represent eight conferences and two independents (in alphabetical order): ACC (5), BIG TEN (3), BIG-12 (3), MWC (2), PAC-12 (3), SEC (6), and Notre Dame. For games played through Oct. 16, teams on this year’s honor roll had a combined record of 122-26 and includes sixteen ranked teams, eight of which are in the Top Ten of the AP Poll.
These units have gained the attention of the Joe Moore Award voting committee as it moves closer to announcing the selection of semifinalists on Nov. 14 and finalists on Dec. 5. Selection of the 2023 Joe Moore Award winner will be made public after a surprise visit to the winning university’s campus in late December.
“The offensive line units on the 2023 Midseason Honor Roll have caught the attention of the committee through the October 14 weekend, by demonstrating some or all of the award criteria in a recognizable way,” said Cole Cubelic, chairman of the Joe Moore Award voting committee. “The bar will raise significantly from here, and the consistency required to earn further recognition will be how the elite units eventually separate themselves.”
“It’s been fun to watch these units come together and begin to elevate their play as the year has progressed,” said Lance Zierlein, JMA voting committee member and NFL Draft analyst. “Our experience has shown that the cream begins to rise to the top from here on out, so we’ll keep a closer eye on all units to see how they finish down the stretch, especially in November. As always, having some depth and staying healthy will be critical.”

Honor Roll Criteria and Selection Process
The Joe Moore Award voting committee judges solely on six criteria: toughness, effort, teamwork, consistency, technique and finishing.
Evaluations for the midseason honor roll were made solely through weekly review of actual game film and offensive line coach-provided cut-ups.
Voting Committee
The Joe Moore Award voting committee comprises 10 individuals who are highly knowledgeable about offensive line play, including former linemen, coaches, talent evaluators and media analysts. This group conducts in-depth analysis by reviewing game tape every week of the season to assess both the fundamentals and subtleties of overall offensive line performance.
The 2023 voting committee includes Chairman Cole Cubelic (Auburn, SEC Network); Charles Arbuckle (UCLA, Indianapolis Colts); Randy Cross (UCLA, San Francisco 49ers); Gerry DiNardo (Notre Dame, head coach at LSU); Mike Golic, Jr. (Notre Dame, ESPN); Duke Manyweather (Humboldt State, player and coach); Geoff Schwartz (Oregon, Carolina Panthers); Phil Steele (publisher of Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, ESPN); Aaron Taylor (Notre Dame, Green Bay Packers); and Lance Zierlein (NFL draft analyst, NFL.com).
Past Award Recipients
Past recipients of the Joe Moore Award include the offensive lines of the University of Alabama (2015), the University of Iowa (2016). the University of Notre Dame (2017), the University of Oklahoma (2018), LSU (2019), the University of Alabama (2020 – first repeat winner), and the University of Michigan (2021 and 2022 – first back to back winner)
About the Joe Moore Award
The Joe Moore Award is named after Joe Moore, widely regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in college football history, most notably for his work at Notre Dame and the University of Pittsburgh. Over 18 seasons, Coach Moore sent 52 players on to the NFL, including Bill Fralic, Mark May, Russ Grimm, Jimbo Covert and others.
The Joe Moore Award trophy, crafted by legendary sports sculptor Jerry McKenna, is the largest trophy in college football, standing at a height of 6 feet and weighing in at 800 pounds. The perpetual trophy is made available for display by the winning university until the conclusion of the following college football season.

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You can submit questions early or live ... please include your name and hometown in that forum for your questions. Here's a shortcut to the question portal ... https://live.jotcast.com/chat/notre-dame-football-live-chat-oct-18-2023-16697.html

Freeman has a bunch of headcoaching traits and is worth giving more time. But he wasn't ready to hire the kind of OC he needed and must fix that mistake soon, maybe right now. Either change the structure in the O room giving more to the QB coach (and Hartman) or bring in someone from the outside and pay them like an OC. Jack may need to step up and lead the change. Parker was a huge mistake, a BVG level mistake.

On some internet piece, Driskell had good things to say about the game but he also said the game wasn't "sexy."
I think that some of us had an orgasm when Watts had those two INTs and when the kick was returned 99 yards !
Especially, us old dudes.

Release:

ATLANTA (Oct. 16, 2023) - Officials from the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl today announced that for the second time this season, Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman has been selected as The Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week Presented by PNC Bank.

The Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week award honors a football coach who led his team to a significant victory during the previous week, while also embodying the award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity.

Freeman led the Irish to a dominating 48-20 victory over No. 10 Southern California in South Bend on Saturday. The win marked Notre Dame’s most lopsided victory against a top-10 opponent since beating USC by the same margin in 1995. The Irish defense carried the team, forcing five turnovers in the game which led directly to 21 points. Notre Dame intercepted Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams three times and had six sacks, holding the Trojans to their lowest offensive output of the season. Junior safety Xavier Watts led the way intercepting two passes and returning a fumble for a touchdown. Quarterback Sam Hartman finished 13-of-20 passing for 126 yards and two touchdowns, while Audric Estime led the rushing attack with 22 carries for 95 yards and two scores.

Earlier this year, Freeman was also named The Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week after Notre Dame’s impressive 42-3 win over Navy to open the season at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland.

“It speaks volume to the type of coaching job Marcus Freeman has already done this season to have now received this honor twice,” said Jim Terry, chairman of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation. “This was a Bobby Dodd-style win in every way, with success in offense, defense and special teams play.”

Freeman is now in his second season full as head coach at Notre Dame, having served as defensive coordinator for the Irish during the 2021 campaign. In his first season at the helm in 2022, he led Notre Dame to a 9-4 mark, including wins over four ranked teams and a Gator Bowl victory over South Carolina. Prior to his arrival in South Bend, Freeman spent the previous four seasons as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, where he was named the 2020 247Sports.com Defensive Coordinator of the Year and a 2020 Broyles Award Finalist. Freeman began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Ohio State and has previous stops as an assistant coach at Purdue University and Kent State University.

Freeman’s players have had continuous success in the classroom during his tenure, recording a 989 Academic Progress Rate and an 89 Graduation Success Rate during the 2022 season.

In the community, coach Freeman and his players team up with the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Michiana every Friday before home games to deliver meals to families with children receiving care at Beacon Children’s Hospital.

“In his short time at Notre Dame, coach Freeman has already proven that he is an outstanding leader of men, both on and off the field,” said Peach Bowl, Inc. CEO & President, Gary Stokan. “It’s remarkable to see what he’s already been able to achieve in only two short seasons of being a head coach at one of the most storied programs in the country. We’re looking forward to seeing what additional milestones he reaches during his time in South Bend.”

The Dodd Trophy Presented by PNC Bank – along with the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week Award – celebrates the head coach of a FBS team who enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity.

A panel consisting of all previous winners, national media, a member of the Dodd family and a College Football Hall of Fame member will identify the final list of potential recipients at the conclusion of the 2023 season. The winner of the 2023 Dodd Trophy Presented by PNC Bank will be announced in Atlanta during the week of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

This guy sucks. I'm sick of all the threads and hype he gets. He can't even catch a ball. So many people here make him out to be Reggie Bush when he's, in reality, a poor man's Armando Allen.

Did Jayden Thomas, Merriweather and Greathouse transfer?

Don't get me wrong, I love Evans and Flores, but zero production from the others is unacceptable.

6:38 to go in the first quarter

USC Ball, 1st and 10 at the ND 33

Williams runs for 11 yards to the ND 44

during the play, Cam Hart held the WR (this was not a foul after the play had ended)

10 yards were tacked on to the 11 yard gain...someone please explain

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Notre Dame men’s basketball offered 2026 power forward T.J. Crumble after his visit this weekend.

Crumble is a five-star according to Rivals and the No. 11 player in the 2026 recruiting class. He attends Cleveland (Ohio) Richmond Heights.

The 6-foot-8, 200-pound recruit has 17 total offers including Illinois, Iowa, LSU, Ohio State, Virginia Tech. He visited Illinois and Michigan State in September.

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@Eric Hansen and I will go live on YouTube at 7 p.m. EDT for the next edition of "Football Never Sleeps." Throughout the season, we will plan to be live every Monday at 7 p.m.

We'll discuss Notre Dame's big win over USC, how the Irish should spend their off week, what ND needs to improve for the rest of the season 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.

It's a dark and dreary Friday in South Bend ahead of Saturday's game against USC.

Let's get some score predictions in here for ND-USC.

@Eric Hansen and I shared our scored predictions in this week's Place Your Bets video.

Eric went with Notre Dame 33, USC 31.
I went USC 35, ND 31.

What say you?

The latest in today's Recruiting Rumor Mill:

A look at the elite LBs:

We can now report that Nebraska TE commit Carter Nelson is visiting Notre Dame for tonight's USC game.

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Details from @Charleston Bowles

A look around the country:

Does anyone know how we rank nationally? Seems like we've been behind the chains after first down calls (which have been mostly interior runs) in the last 4 games. Really wanted to see RPOs and play action on Saturday night as USC loaded the box on first downs.

Here’s what I’m hearing about some of Notre Dame visitors for the USC game. I’m getting it to you as fast as I can type it, so I’m going to keep the thread locked until I finish the multiple posts.

Let’s start with 2024 Nebraska TE commit Carter Nelson. The Irish believe they have a shot now that he got back on campus. But this isn’t a slam dunk that he’s going to flip to Notre Dame. Which is why I opted for Hot rather than Extremely Hot on The Heat Index.

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I’d expect him to get back to Nebraska for another visit soon and really contemplate and compare the two schools. My sense is it’s going to be hard to pull him away from his home state, but the Irish have a glimmer of hope. We’ll see how long that lasts and how meaningful it becomes.

Keeping it at the tight end position, Notre Dame remains in a strong position with 2025 TE James Flanigan. So much so that I’m going to enter an overdue FutureCast for him to end up at Notre Dame. I don’t know if it will happen soon, but I do think he ends up being Irish eventually. @Charleston Bowles caught up with Flanigan earlier today.

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Notre Dame also offered 2025 TE Linkon Cure on his visit this weekend. He’s an intriguing prospect, and one the Irish like quite a bit. His visit went well as Notre Dame starts the lay the groundwork in his recruitment. If Notre Dame doesn’t get Nelson in the 2024 class, the Irish want to add a pair of tight ends in the 2025 class.

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