ND took their fleet footed mobile QB on the road to try and grind out a win against a better team in a hostile environment then came home and lost a game to a Mac football team.

Riley Leonard is better than Buchner, sure.

The best QB on this team has been a 2nd teamer for the last two seasons.

Why take transfer QBs when your guy is just as good if not better?

Who do you think will win the game?

Notre Dame football announced that graduate senior offensive tackle Tosh Baker will not be available for today's Northern Illinois game. He's dealing with a shoulder injury.

That means freshman Guerby Lambert is likely the backup tackle on both the left and right sides today. Maybe we'll see junior Ty Chan at right tackle if the Irish go with a full backup line late in the game.

Notre Dame's starters will remain freshman Anthonie Knapp at left tackle and junior Aamil Wagner at right tackle.

@Ryan OBleness likes Notre Dame for 2026 OL Tyler Merrill.


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S Brandon Logan with an interception.

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I took a stab at ranking the starting quarterbacks Notre Dame will face this season. Let me hear your lists!

Yahoo Sports draft analyst Nate Tice shares some clips of Riley Leonard against A&M that impressed him.

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@Adam Gorney joined the Notre Dame train for LB Madden Faraimo.


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Autograph announced this week that its app has officially moved beyond the beta stage.

I've told you about Autograph before. It's a free app where you get rewarded to consuming content about your favorite team, and our Notre Dame content is featured in it. Download the app today with referral code INDS

https://link.ag.fan/INDS

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@Eric Hansen and I make prop bets and predictions ahead of No. 5 Notre Dame's home opener against Northern Illinois on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT on NBC.

Inside ND Sports subscribers can submit their Place Your Bets votes on The Insider Lounge for a chance at a free year-long subscription. Voting for the Northern Illinois game is open here.

• Who will have Notre Dame’s longest rush of the game?

• Over/Under 15.5 completions for ND QB Riley Leonard

• Will Northern Illinois throw an interception?

• Over/Under 60.5 rushing yards for NIU RB Antario Brown

• Will ND QB Steve Angeli take a snap before the third quarter ends?

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Update: Visitors preview has been posted.


Previously ...

I'll have a full visitors preview on the site Friday, but I wanted to share the names of the expected visitors for Saturday's Notre Dame home opener against Northern Illinois. I'll update with more prospects later today.

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Good for him.

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Former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis Sr. (2005-09) discusses the keys to keeping players locked in for a home opener, evaluating quarterbacks on potential, the value of seeing a transfer quarterback handle a new situation, if he would have enjoyed coaching in the current college football climate, how he watches a game, his connection to defensive coordinator Al Golden, his relationship with head coach Marcus Freeman, how much ND's offensive line can improve, his weight loss journey, his continued ties to South Bend and more.

Then @Eric Hansen and I answer questions from Twitter and The Insider Lounge (25:39).

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From Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports:

The NCAA’s landmark settlement in the House, Hubbard and Carter antitrust cases is on hold and in danger of not moving forward.

In a two-hour virtual hearing on Thursday, a judge ordered the parties to “go back to the drawing board” regarding language in the settlement that limits third-party pay to athletes, most notably from boosters and booster-led collectives.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken, of the Northern District of California, questioned a portion of the settlement that specifically prohibits school boosters from compensating athletes through endorsement deals — a clause in the document that, the judge believes, would be difficult to enforce and may reduce current payments that athletes are receiving.

The plaintiff attorneys in the case, Jeff Kessler and Steve Berman, and the defendants, the NCAA and power conferences, will now attempt to reach an agreement over amending the language — something that the NCAA and power leagues seem resistant to do. They are expected to report back to her in three weeks.
Full story here:

Go back and rewatch the game. It will make you feel much better about the season.

For as many opportunities as ND took advantage of to win it late they missed a lot of opportunities early to bust that wide open and essentially hand off the fate of the game to our secondary by taking A&Ms run home out.

ND handed A&M their touchdown drive on a silver platter.

ND also overcame some behind the chain scenarios with tough running.

Denbrock didn't take the leash of Riley's deep ball.

Easily correctable pass pro mess ups on the inside and some of the TFLs were due to A&M
Playing downhill and tight with their safety so I put some of that on Denbrock and sure he'll open it up as everyone gets comfortable in the new system.

Yes they got man handled a few times on both sides but it definitely went both ways.

Your resident paranoid Pete.

Go Irish

If you're watching Chiefs-Ravens tonight, the refs are really emphasizing illegal formation penalties on offensive tackles lining up too far behind the line of scrimmage. They're killing Baltimore and former Notre Dame OT Ronnie Stanley with it.

I don't mind the NFL trying to clean that up, but it doesn't seem like Kansas City is getting judged as harshly.

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Starting a new thread for the new year where we'll share the NIL ongoings announced by Notre Dame football players.

Here's the 2023 thread if you'd like to revisit.

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Looking at the good and bad from Notre Dame's offensive line debut.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will be joining reporters on Zoom shortly for his weekly Thursday press conference. I'll share pertinent updates in this thread.