Notre Dame Plays Duke tomorrow. Duke will have Gameday on their campus. They are undefeated and ranked this late in the season for a long time. They have an excellent coach and a mature team. I expect Duke to be fired up and execute well early on. The questions for ND is will the defensive players, who actually played a lot against Ohio State, be physically (tired from too many plays vs Ohio St. ) and emotionally(from the outcome) be ready to play this game and match Duke's intensity.. And will the defensive rotational players, who did not play much versus Ohio State, be ready to contribute after sitting too much. And will the offensive line, maybe with multiple backs at times, take control of the game. We need efficient offense, like last week, but also one that scores touchdowns at the end of drives.

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Notre Dame men's basketball hosted 2025 center target Christian Gurdak on an unofficial visit last Saturday for the football game against Ohio State. Gurdak, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound center out of Washington (D.C.) Gonzaga and picked up his offer in June.

Inside ND Sports caught up with Gurdak on Thursday to discuss his visit, time with head coach Micah Shrewsberry and what Notre Dame impressed him the most by.

Gurdak toured campus, watched practice for over an hour and played open gym with current players and other visiting recruits.

"It was great," Gurdak said. "I mean, they really showed great hospitality. The coaching staff was awesome. They have great facilities. The campus was a total vibe to be at. It was pretty cool."

Saturday marked Gurdak's first time speaking face-to-face with coach Shrewsberry since he visited Penn State last year. Shrewsberry watched him play throughout the spring and summer but was not able to speak directly with him at tournaments.

Gurdak told me he was impressed with how smoothly the visit went and believes the Irish will compete in Shrewsberry's first season despite the outside noise. He said the coaching staff told him their goal is to win national championships and build a roster capable of achieving that.

"I think a lot of people are thinking they're not going to be super good but I think they're gonna have a pretty good year just because they have some good guys on the team but that coaching staff and coach Shrews, they're really good and they proved it at Penn State," Gurdak said. "They sent three guys pro and I wouldn't count him out. He knows how to run a team so don't be surprised if they make the tournament [and] do pretty well."

Gurdak played on the grassroots basketball circuit with 2024 power forward commit Garrett Sundra.

Gurdak isn't currently rated or ranked by Rivals but reports four offers from Notre Dame, Iowa, Maryland and Penn State. He visited Maryland in July and expects to return to Notre Dame for an official visit next year.

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Notre Dame 2025 safety target Ivan Taylor told Inside ND Sports on Friday that he plans on visiting campus for Notre Dame's game against Pittsburgh on Oct. 28.

The Irish last hosted Taylor in July for their Grill & Chill recruiting event, where he spoke highly about the coaching staff after the trip.

Taylor, a four-star according to Rivals, is listed as a cornerback but is being recruited as a safety by head coach Marcus Freeman and defensive backs coach/safeties Chris O'Leary.

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound recruit attends Winter Garden (Fla.) West Orange and is ranked as the No. 135 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class. He has 17 tackles and one pass deflection in five games played this season.

Taylor reports 14 total offers including Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Penn State and Tennessee. Taylor is an NFL legacy and son of former defensive back Ike Taylor.

Notre Dame also expects to host 2025 wide receiver target Derek Meadows and 2025 cornerback target Cree Thomas for the Pittsburgh game. We will continue updating the running visitors list thread as more visitors confirm their plans for the remaining home games.

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Eric and Tyler's colleague covering Michigan State has been hitting the legal Michigan weed a bit too much.

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Notre Dame welcomed 2026 offensive tackle prospect Ekene Ogboko to campus last Saturday with his brother, Georgia 2024 defensive tackle commit Nnamdi Ogboko.

Ekene is rated as a four-star prospect by Rivals. In the Rivals100 for the 2026 recruiting class, Ekene slots in at No. 42 overall. He attends Garner (N.C.) South and said in May, “It is surreal that we could play together in college."

Inside ND Sports had the opportunity to speak with Ekene on Thursday evening to talk about his visit and interest in Notre Dame.

On his visit:

“It was a tough game for Notre Dame," Ekene said. "They played good down to literally the last second. Lost the game because they had 10 men on the field but throughout the whole game it was good. The visit, once we got there, it was good. Good food, got to talk to the coaches and just in general, had a great time."

On the atmosphere:

“The energy in there was definitely like something I’ve never seen," Ekene said. "I'm pretty sure they made history. I think the tickets sold off for like the second highest-paid football games ever so the fans were definitely out there. It was a great atmosphere. I’m just glad to get the opportunity."

On picking up communication with Notre Dame in the next year:

“I’m very excited to build our relationship because that’s gonna also help with a lot of opportunities that I want in my life," Ekene said. "I just want to keep talking to them, make great relationships and hope it turns out great."

Ekene measures in at 6-foot-6, 290-pounds and reports a 3.9 GPA. During his visit, Ekene met head coach Marcus Freeman and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph and said the interactions were positive.

He holds 15 total offers including Duke, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, NC State, Rutgers and Virginia Tech.

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Eric Hansen and Tyler James make prop bets and predictions ahead of Saturday's road game for No. 11 Notre Dame (4-1) at No. 17 Duke (4-0) in Durham, N.C. (7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC).

Subscribers can submit their votes prop bet predictions all season long for a chance at a free year-long subscription. Voting for ND-Duke is open here.

On this week's list:

• Which team will score first?
• Over/Under 145.5 rushing yards for Duke
• Will Notre Dame commit a turnover?
• Over/Under 55.0% completion rate for Duke QB Riley Leonard
• More rushing yards: ND RB Jeremiyah Love or Leonard

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Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden met with the media Tuesday night after Irish football practice. Here's everything he had to say. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may be edited for clarity and brevity.

AL GOLDEN

Duke quarterback Riley Leonard. Does he remind you of anybody? And what is the challenge in defending him?

“Great question. He reminds me of a bunch of different guys. He distributes the ball really well, so he gets the ball out of his hands quickly. In a lot of ways it's a throwback to the horizontal pass game. It reminds me of the old BYU quarterbacks — Ty Detmer and guys like that. I'm dating myself. But that’s what he reminds me of.

“He sees the field really well, gets the ball out. You could see, in addition to that, they had a vertical component, whether it was UConn or Clemson or whatever. There's a vertical component to it that he does a great job with. And then, obviously, he makes plays on the move, whether that's running the ball or passing the ball, but very, very impressed with him. Very impressed with the offensive scheme.”

Without giving away trade secrets, what's the best way to kind of mitigate what he does?

“It's tough. There's no doubt about it. It's challenging. We have to just mix things up on them and play really good, sound football and not beat ourselves. But there's a reason why they're winning the way they're winning. And I understand that they're playing good special teams and good defense, from the staff. But in terms of what we're focused on, kid’s doing a great job. Really is. And again, the two running backs, 7 [Jordan Waters] and 9 [Jaquez Moore], they're doing a heck of a job. They’ve got nice receivers. Tight ends are doing a good job. And I think the scheme, they're not beating themselves. They're protecting the football, and they're executing.”

And after a loss like Saturday’s and with a big game like this coming up, the mindset of the players is so important. What have you seen from your defensive players in that regard?

“I would just say that's like when we call it synergy or symbiosis. Like, what drove me to get out of bed Sunday and go to work? What drove me to stay late last night? What drove me to get in early today? It’s those kids and the way they just responded. So, they know. Look, you can't can't BS the kids. And they turn on the film, and they see the threat that Duke is. So, for them to go out like they did today and respond and put that behind them shows maturity, shows leadership, shows toughness. And we're going to need all of that come Saturday night.”

You went to a shorter rotation with a lot of positions on defense against Ohio State. I'm wondering how you feel like that worked out and will that continue?

“We needed to rotate more. Sometimes that happens. You guys might know the numbers better than me, because I was fixing this or fixing that. I wasn't looking, like you guys might be able to look after this conversation, but I think I think our numbers were low in the first half. I think our numbers were low. And then [it] got longer in the second half and then, obviously, the two-minute drill added a bunch of plays at the end. So, there's no question that we need to rotate more.”

And does having somebody like Riley Leonard also go into the thoughts of deepening the rotations, since he runs around so much?

“He's fast. He's elusive. He can keep his eyes down the field. That's a strong combination. I know why they're high on him.”

Gabe Rubio seemed like he gave you some good snaps in his first game back?

“Needed that desperately. Needed that toughness. The fourth-and-one stop, he and Rylie [Mills], JJB, all those guys, we needed that desperately.”

You mentioned your reasons for getting up on Sunday. What from the game made it hard to sleep Saturday night?

“Every day is a battle during the season to get ready for Saturday. And if you waste time, if you feel sorry for yourself, if you're trying to commiserate with other people, you're not moving forward. And you have to move forward. Like I just said downstairs [to the electronic media], I don't think there's a coordinator in the country that has been in that position that wouldn't say, ‘Ah, I wish I would have called this instead of that, because they threw the ball here or they completed that ball.’ So, there are always calls that I can look back and say, ‘I would do it differently.’ But the bottom line is execution. So, whatever we call, we need to execute. We need to coach it better. And we need to finish. We really do. We need to finish, and it's not just one play or one series of plays. We need to do a better job.”

This is almost an operational question more than personnel, but with Thomas Harper playing so well and Jack Kiser playing so well, how do you get them both in the field?

“We talked about that. We have to mix Harp in a little bit more at safety, and Jack's numbers are going to go up. Jack's played well the last two games, and he probably got shortchanged. I don't know the numbers from the other day.”

Ten snaps.

“So, not enough, so we need to get his numbers up.”

It's a challenge, right, because he's a rover. You want to play nickel?

“Yeah. I mean, it's always a challenge, but yes, we need to rotate more as a defense.”

With one of those nickel situations, specifically on the last two defensive plays of the game at the goal line, you guys came out and nickel. What was the reasoning behind that? And what happened there?

“So I chose nickel, because, without saying too much, I wanted a specific look. And obviously I guessed right on [second] down [the first of the two goal-line plays]. But I really thought that this call would be the call that would handle all the options that they could have. Move the pocket. Some kind of read-option or zone-read component, so that’s the choice I made there.”

And then coach Freeman talked a little bit about the third-and-19, and the decision to play quarters. What was the reasoning for that?

“I just thought we would get a good vision and break, and obviously we’ve got to coach it better. But what I didn't want to do [was what we did on] the previous fourth down, the previous longer third down. [We] went cover-1 both times, and they beat us. And what I didn't want to do is throw a jump ball in the back of the end zone. That would have been one that I would have lamented. Could we call other things there? For sure, but we need to execute that call, break on the ball, get the ball on the ground.”

Tricky situation, because it's not third-and-goal. It’s third-and-19, so there’s that range there?

“We were thinking three plays at that point. If we stop that play — anything in that defense [alignment] should be caught in front of [the first-down marker]. And then we're dealing with one play.”

END

Heard nothing about this until after the game. Maybe an interview would be warranted if you can get it?

Mitchell Evans barely leaves for the field for Notre Dame's offense. His breakout receiving performance against Ohio State felt like only a matter of time.

Especially at the end, when they needed another big, strong body, why didn't he play? Is he hurt?

The T-Formation on offense.

I featured Cam on From the Film Room today. Kid looks college ready right now and is an absolute unit. His development over the past year is eye opening. I've known him since his freshman year and his upside was always evident... but he is way ahead of schedule (in terms of development) than I could have predicted. He has a chance to be a game changer for the Irish.


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Here's a link to the complete schedule:

You addressed a podcast question on the reason for Ryan Day’s postgame rant (Is that just who he is or was he defending himself to his critical fan base?) And did he know about the 10 defenders on the field in calling the last play?
As I think about Day’s behavior:
1. The rage he displayed was both immediate postgame and in his presser. One would think that as his team won when they had no right to and got outplayed all night that the classy thing to do (especially with some time elapsing before his presser) was to tip his cap to NDs play and complement his teams play. He did only a fraction of that by continuing to behave like a steroid induced rage against an 86 year old revered hall of fame coach who nailed exactly the problem with Day’s team. I guess it was too much to face the reality that OSU was outplayed almost all night and against the litany of Michigan and Georgia teams among others.
As to whether he knew about the 10 ND defenders, I believe Day actually cited that he changed the play because he thought NDs defensive line was soft. In retrospect I have to tip my cap to OSUs recognition if they knew, but it makes Day’s bizarre behavior all the more disturbing.
Any thoughts?

I asked Conor O'Neill of Devils Illustrated the following questions:

• What are the weaknesses in Riley Leonard’s game? Is there a good way to stop him?
• Which offensive weapons should Notre Dame be most concerned about?
• Can Duke’s run defense have success against Notre Dame?
• How much has the win over Clemson influenced Duke’s confidence in its ability to do the same against Notre Dame?
• Will enough Cameron Crazies be making their way to Wallace Wade Stadium to make it a tough place to play on Saturday night?

He answered those and I dove deep on the Duke roster with numbers and PFF grades.

Just did a story on 2026 CB Chaston Smith out of the Knoxville (Tenn.) area, he told me Notre Dame is communicating with him and he's planning to visit for a game next month

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Notre Dame men's basketball hosted 2025 shooting guard target Braylon Mulliins on an unofficial visit Saturday for the Ohio State game. Mullins received his offer from head coach Micah Shresberry in August and has previous ties to assistant coach Ryan Owens and director of recruiting Brian Snow.

Inside ND Sports spoke with Mullins on Wednesday evening to learn about his visit, what the message was from the Irish coaching staff and how much Notre Dame will be seriously considered in his recruitment.

Mullins, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound shooting guard, attends Greenfield (Ind) Central. He holds 15 total offers including Cincinnati, Indiana, Iowa and Virginia Tech. Shrewsberry watched him workout at school last week.

On his visit:

"I definitely had a good time," Mullins said. "The coaches presented everything well to me. The slideshow, coach Shrews was talking about their culture, their program and how they play basketball. Then the workouts they had a great workout and then I got to play pickup with some of the guys. It was definitely a great experience."

On what separates Notre Dame right now:

"It's different because he runs stuff through the NBA," Mullins said. "A lot of colleges are like going into that. I feel like he has the knowledge for that. He has all that down and it's great to watch that in practice. That shows that they're good at it already."

In October, Mullins will visit Cincinnati, Purdue and Indiana. Mullins is not currently rated or ranked by Rivals. I believe the Irish have solidified themselves as one of the top contenders for Mullins but Indiana will be tough to beat.

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Taylor really enjoyed his game experience over the weekend. I think Notre Dame and Georgia are two of the main contenders here...

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Thanks to all who submitted questions for me and @Eric Hansen on our latest podcast. These are the questions we answered with timestamps.

27:30 • @ldlgoirish: Hello Tyler and Eric. Did you and Eric realize that per PFF ND outperformed Ohio State in every aspect of offense and defense? (specialty teams not up when I looked) ND Overall was 77.9 rating to OSU 63.3 rating. Greatest difference of a category was ND score of 64.3 in pass blocking and OSU score of 30.3. Turnovers were zero. Penalties were fairly equal. I was at the game and saw IMO an ND team that did outperform OSU. But they lost. Why in your opinions?

30:46 • @CharlesWWolfe: Is there any indication that Ohio State realized ND only had 10 men on the field? Also, did Ryan Day give that pro wrestling style post-game interview to ingratiate himself to a critical fan base, or is that just who he is?

35:22 • @ldlgoirish: Another PFF question. We know per Eric's stats he shares that ND is low in sacks. However, in PFF they are ranked 18 nationally in pass rush which includes sacks, hits and hurries. I was at the game. They should have had 2 INT's. Conversely their coverage rank per PFF is 55 nationally. I was at the game and either by design or performance the center of the field was comparatively open compared to the edges. IMO in that OSU game ND's CB's coverage performed much better than their slot coverage, safety coverage and linebacker coverage. I saw Bertrand get beat on the penalty (a hard play for a LB) and I thought Harper was torched in this game. Was it scheme? Was it execution? Do you agree maybe the pass rush is not as bad as we all thought? Maybe our coverage down the middle is not as strong as needed?

41:36 • Babaganoush - @PLACT_ITFDB: ND had to have 11 to hope to stop that final score but once they got down to the 1YL odds were in OSU’s favor to punch it in. Why not more talk about the ridiculous 3rd & 4th down conversions that took place on that drive? Did they target Thomas Harper on every one of them?

45:24 • Phil - @PhillipEddyJR: I hated the third and 19 play call. But, wont the 10 men on the field situation cast a pall on the season and have even a longer lasting, negative impact on recruiting? Won't our coaches have to answer for this for a long time? This is fodder for our rivals.

49:04 • Babaganoush - @PLACT_ITFDB: What did you make of Marist Liafau’s performance? I noticed he whiffed horribly on a tackle early in the game but never really noticed him after that. Then I read where he recorded zero statistics. Thanks.

51:05 • Marie Biafore - @biafore_marie: Could each of you please give the overall offensive game plan a grade. Although parts of it, I thought were very good dinner we bringing Sam Hartman to try and push the ball down the field. When you watch, top-tier teams win top-tier games, there’s always at least one or 2 explosive plays that makes a difference. It seems like we didn’t try enough of those, how about throwing deep to Tyree? Even if they aren’t successful, the defense at least knows you might try to throw over their head which makes it harder for them. They can’t come crashing down to the line. Please give your thoughts on this. To clarify, isn’t one of the reasons we brought Sam Hartman into the program was to be able to throw the ball down the field?

57:40 • Nathan Reynolds - @Enforcers2117: MF says we’re a team that can run the ball and stop the run.. so the last drive of the game, why DIDN’T we line it up and run 3x and punt.. you run as much time off the clock as possible and you make Ohio St use there remaining Timeouts.. I don’t think they would’ve stopped us..

1:01:08 • @irishnumberone: I would like to ask why Notre Dame does not have a good kicker? I do not understand why we do not talk about that more.

1:03:36 • @sjb75: You're around the football program closer than the average Joe. Coming off a really tough loss last Saturday night..... do you expect Notre Dame to win at Duke, or do you hope Notre Dame wins at Duke?

1:07:02 • frank serra - @frankse44617564: Duke's QB can both run and pass, what is the key to stopping him?

1:10:34 • @MurrayOConnell: Why did the powers that be decide the best way to get the crowd hyped during an LED light show was to rock out to… Belinda Carlisle?! 🤦‍♂️

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It's time for round 5 of Place Your Bets for the 2023 season with Saturday's massive home game vs. Ohio State (7:30 p.m. EDT on NBC).

I detailed the results of the Central Michigan prop bets here and updated the standings for the season.

We're all still chasing @Scottclarisey, who is up to 14. And we have five folks tied for second in the subscriber standings at 12: @CURTVI95, @keegan0615, @Tcnd543, @Bmm2834 and @jbm19.

@Eric Hansen has me beat with his 13 to my 12.

Eric and I will share our predictions for the Ohio State game Friday on YouTube, but you can start submitting your predictions through the Google Form now.


Here are the five prop bets for Notre Dame-Ohio State:

• Over/Under 95.5 rushing yards for ND RB Audric Estimé
• More sacks: Notre Dame or Ohio State?
• Over/Under 85.5 receiving yards for OSU WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
• Which team will have the longest play from scrimmage?
• Over/Under 2.5 passing touchdowns for ND QB Sam Hartman

Remember the top two subscribers in the Place Your Bets standings at the end of the 2023 season will get one year (first place) and six months (second place) of a free subscription.

Get your picks in before voting closes prior to kickoff on Saturday. Make sure you include the same email address with your submission as you did last week. And if you haven't shared the username associated with your entry, please email it to insidendsports@gmail.com.

You can submit questions early or wait and do it live ... here's a shortcut to get to the question queue: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/notre-dame-football-live-chat-sept-27-2023-16558.html

Please include your name and hometown along with your question(s).

One-on-one time with Freeman was meaningful here.

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