I was shocked that the hit on Ford didn’t get a penalty or even a review.
I was furious that Carter’s was called and then he was ejected.
Not that it mattered but we always seem to not get those calls for us and always against us.
Thoughts?

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I recently chatted with Notre Dame 2025 defensive end target Austin Alexander. He visited the Irish on Saturday after picking up an offer last week. Alexander attends Union (Ky.) Cooper and has visited Notre Dame several times during his recruitment and earlier in his life, as his father, Durran, graduated from Notre Dame in 1998 and was a member of the University of Notre Dame Marching Band.

The 6-foot-2, 238-pound defender is rated as a three-star recruit and ranked as the No. 23 weakside defensive end in the 2025 recruiting class.

Here are some takeaways from my conversation with Alexander.

The Irish clicked all the right buttons for Alexander from their coaches and relationships to actual play on the field. Alexander said Notre Dame, Clemson and Kentucky have separated themselves in his recruitment.

"The coaches I rock with for sure, Coach Wash has an excellent drive and an excellent way he goes about game planning," Alexander told Inside ND Sports. "The relationships were there, [director of recruiting] Chad [Bowden] does an excellent job having the best recruiting guys. So he and his guys are just great to talk to and get to know."

Alexander had an opportunity to mesh with a few current commits before the game. He said the whole group spoke about Notre Dame's culture and how it's different because of the high level of football and education.

Alexander reports 17 total offers and could return for the Ohio State game on Sept. 23. Look for him to also take visits to Clemson, Kentucky, Purdue and North Carolina.

Before he makes a decision in January or June 2024, Alexander is going to weigh his options, take more visits and see how teams perform throughout the season.

"I was excited to keep the relationship going and watch and see what Notre Dame does," Alexander said. "They have big expectations and I want to see if they really are going to live up to it."

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I know they are self hacks, but I just looked through their site to see how they were diminishing what ND has done the last two weeks, or to see how maybe they were covering ND vs HBCU game, and there was not article or reference to ND at all. On there game dy summary, they had an article on nearly every other game, and of course killed the Dion thing with multiple article and ops - but nothing on ND. Only reference is in the scores section they link to the AP recap. I know I'm preaching tot he choir here, but their anti ND bias seems to be getting worse.

I deleted the tread

Looking ahead, I see we open around a 6.5 point favorite…

I like the NC State running back, he is physical. Armstrong their qb played the role of a poor man’s Tebow at Uconn… He is a crafty runner and converts key plays. With that said they never looked to pass the ball down field against Uconn and looked shaky passsing in general.

Uconn was able to find creases running the ball against them, with a qb that was not a passing threat.


Conclusion: NC State is at home and Doreen will have a few trick plays, but in the end I don’t see Armstrong running effectively in the box against us. Despite us playing 2 weak opponents, we had 2 weeks against running QBs. ND on offense should be systemically be able to break them down running and Hartman finding the open receivers. I think the line is low, NC State fans seem to be hoping for the best, but even they see a lot of holes on their team now.

Final: ND 31
NC State 17
It’s good to be back, life got busy the last few weeks.

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I caught up with Notre Dame 2025 defensive end prospect Cal Thrush on Sunday. He was one of the visitors at Notre Dame on Saturday and is a prospect the Irish are monitoring in the 2025 recruiting class.

We've seen defensive line coach Al Washington hand out offers to 2025 in-state Indianapolis (Ind.) Warren Central defensive end Damien Shanklin and Union (Ky.) Cooper defensive end Austin Alexander recently so the board could be expanding as the coaches and recruiting staff continue evaluations this fall.

Thrush attends Columbus (Ohio) Upper Arlington, which is only 11 minutes away from Washington's old high school, Columbus (Ohio) Bishop Watterson. Thrush's Ohio ties also helped him click with head coach Marcus Freeman when the two met earlier on Saturday afternoon.

"It was cool to make connections with them," Thrush told Inside ND Sports. "It was a super great experience. I'm just looking forward to continuing to grow with them."

From seeing the academic side of the university to watching the student section erupt inside Notre Dame Stadium, Thrush felt the environment was electric.

In regards to the game, Thrush's biggest takeaway was watching the defensive flip a switch after running back Devyn Ford fumbled the ball on kickoff. He said he saw the Irish defense, specifically defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste, hit another gear and play their best football of the day.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound plans to visit other schools this season including Cincinnati. He holds three offers from Ball State, Cincinnati and Kent State. He's also receiving interest from Northwestern, Purdue, Toledo and Wisconsin, the latter of which he camped at this summer. Thrush is currently unrated and unraked according to Rivals and battling back from a hyperextended knee he suffered earlier this season.

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@Eric Hansen and I discuss our biggest takeaways from Notre Dame's 56-3 victory over Tennessee State in Saturday's home opener in Notre Dame Stadium.

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Hi Tyler. Like many, I enjoyed the PFF discussion for Spindler and Coogan. If possible, I'd like to see something similar this week, for both OL and DL players, whichever 2-4 players you wish.

Notre Dame only has tickets available for the Central Michigan and Wake Forest home games remaining.

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I drank a couple too many Guinness in Dublin to remember to get this thread rolling last week. So let's fix that mistake and share our predictions for Notre Dame-Tennessee State in this thread.

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

Eric went with Notre Dame 52, Tennessee State 6. I went ND 56, TSU 0.

What say you?

One of the many good things to come out of the game yesterday is seeing Steve play meaningful minutes and the kid can play, he is much better than I gave him credit for. Kid was reading the D well, making good decisions and passes and we all should feel good who is our backup.

High school football continues on Friday night with most recruits entering their second or third weeks of the season. 2024 wide receiver commit Logan Saldate and 2024 safety commit Kennedy Urlacher took the field on Thursday night while 2024 defensive end commit Loghan Thomas suits up on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET for Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward.

According to MaxPreps, Urlacher recorded one tackle in Chandler (Ariz) High's 45-7 win. Saldate and Palma (Calif.) won on Thursday 42-0. Stats were unavailable at the time of this posting.

Inside ND Sports details where Irish commits, in the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes, will play tonight and how to watch. I will also be paying close attention to targets in the 2025 class and updating the board on their performances throughout the evening.

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It starts tonight at 7 p.m. ET. on ESPNU, where 2024 tight end commit Jack Larsen will be on the national stage for Charlotte (N.C.) Christian (2-0) against Michigan 2024 quarterback commit Jadyn Davis and Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day (2-0).

Larsen has enjoyed a strong start to his senior season with four receiving touchdowns and a few big plays while playing defense. You can watch Larsen speak about the matchup below.

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My five plays:

1. Sam Hartman’s first third-down conversion
2. Jeremiyah Love’s touchdown run
3. Jason Onye’s blocked field goal
4. Ramon Henderson’s interception
5. Audric Estimé’s touchdown run

Find out why here:


What else should have made the list?

For the second straight game, Notre Dame football held its opponent without a touchdown. More on the defensive performance, Jason Onye, the historical significance of playing against Tennessee State and the many firsts of Saturday's win.

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We're back for more Notre Dame football.

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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Probably only one on the board watching but underwhelmed with NCState

Lorenzo Styles has the confidence to pair with his potential. It should lead to big things in Notre Dame's offense as a sophomore.

“Being honest, I always had high expectations of myself,” Styles said. “I always felt like I was a great football player."

Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman is expected to address the media here shortly after the Irish' 56-3 win in their home opener against Tennessee State.

We're also expected to hear from Jason Onye, Clarence Lewis, Sam Hartman and Jadarian Price.

Inside ND Sports will have updates on all five, starting with Freeman who is expected to speak first.

I'll use this thread to update visitors that I'm adding to the running visitors list thread for Notre Dame’s game against Tennessee State on Saturday.

Two names have already been confirmed since last week.

2024 WR commit Logan Saldate (official visit)

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2025 LB prospect Grant Beerman

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As of Thursday morning have also confirmed new 2025 DE target Austin Alexander.

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Halftime. I’d love to watch this game but ND is on.

@Charleston Bowles hands out his game balls.