Here's the Irish Access video from Fighting Irish Media on Notre Dame's victory over Stanford:

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Will Howard, what are you doing?!

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Marcus Freeman wasn't sure if Joshua Burnham was going to be able to play based on how he looked during practice at times. But the junior defensive end played a key role in ND's dominant defensive performance.

“I remember asking him, ‘Are you going to be able to go?’" Freeman shared after the game. "He said, ‘Coach, there's no way I'm not going to be able to play.’ He really did some good things and made a huge interception. But just take your hat off to him because some people maybe wouldn't have played with the pain that he goes through, but he's a tough individual. I'm glad we have him out there.”

@Eric Hansen and I discuss the biggest takeaways from No. 11 Notre Dame's 49-7 win over Stanford.

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JOSHUA BURNHAM

Coach was just talking about how much pain you were in during the week. When were you really sure you were going to play? How much pain did you have to play through?

“Coming off an ankle injury has been pretty painful the whole week. I don’t really necessarily know a certain day. I’ve been ready. Waiting for the opportunity to come back, and today was the day.”

What are the challenges of going back and forth between the field end and vyper end positions?

“It’s definitely a challenge switching to and from. Thankfully, I was there [at vyper] before. The coaching staff being able to help and sit down after practice and everything, being able to get in the playbook and just ask questions and have the best resources around, it’s been super helpful.”

Can you take me through the read on the play where you recovered the fumble? What was going through your head as that play developed?

“I saw the tackle go down, so I knew I had to (indiscernible) and feather. It just so happened I was at the right place at the right time. I threw my hand out, was able to tip it and came down with it.”

Is there any nervousness coming back from the injury?

“It was more excitement for sure. I was out for a couple weeks. The feeling of not being able to get out there and contribute, help the team and then finally being able to go out there and play with your boys, it was awesome.”

Where are you right now? 80%? 90%? How would you put it?

“We’re 100%. We’re good to go.”

How important was it for you to get back out there today after being out?

“It was big. Definitely a big mental game just being able to get back out there right where I left off. I felt comfortable, felt confident. I was able to go out and execute. We have a good group of guys around us, a good group of coaches. We were able to get it done.”

How big are those fourth-down stops? Are those big moments in a ball game?

“Absolutely. The momentum changed and everything being able to get the ball back to our offense. It just builds confidence both ways on both sides of the ball.”

How do you juggle wanting to be out on the field to play while you see some of the other defensive ends going down with injuries but knowing you have to take care of your body?

“It’s definitely tough. The past couple weeks in practice and everything we were kind of dealing with that. Wanting to get back out there but not necessarily at that full level. But the recovery, the treatment, the training staff and coaches, they’re a huge help every step of the way.”

Why is USC distancing themselves from his recruitment?

Let's get the prediction thread rolling for Saturday's game.

In our Place Your Bets video, we made the following predictions:

@Eric Hansen: Notre Dame 38, Stanford 10
Me: Notre Dame 42, Stanford 13

What say you?

Transcript provided by ASAPSports. This has not yet been cleaned for errors.

Opening statement:

MARCUS FREEMAN: It's a rivalry game, so you have to prepare for your opponent's best. You have to be at your best when you want to win a rivalry game. It's so important.

Our guys were prepared. Coaches did a great job getting them prepared, and they went out there and they executed. I was really proud of the way we responded after that first series. Terrible first series on all three phases.

To come out and have a holding where -- we're moving the ball. We have a holding penalty, a bad punt, and they go down and score. I said, Okay, let's see how this group responds.

From the second series on, man, they played lights-out. Really did a great job taking care of the ball. Defensively really stepping up and making good plays in the pass game, the run game, and special teams-wise. Obviously wasn't many opportunities special times-wise, but they capitalized off the opportunities we had.

So really proud of this group. Enjoy tonight. Enjoy earning that Legends Trophy, which is a reflection, as I told them, of team glory. That's what that trophy represents is a bunch of people committing to something bigger than themselves. Proud of them for that.

We'll get back to work on Sunday and start preparing for our next opponent. With that, I'll open it up to questions.

Q. I think you guys finished 9-of-14 on third and fourth downs, held them maybe to 5-of-16. Specifically offensively almost 500 yards of offense. How much more was today reflective of what you have been expecting, and how do you make sure you harness it and build on it moving forward?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, I thought their performance on both sides of the ball, especially offense. What I challenged them to be, I wanted it to be unrecognizable. I wanted you all to watch and say, Man, that's an offense that we haven't seen.

Our players have seen it. It's just them at their best on every play. That was what a reflection of what you guys saw. That's what you saw today. I thought it was really good, man. They did a really good job... run game, pass game, making good decisions and taking care of the football.

Q. Then maybe when did you know you wouldn't have Jason Onye, and when did you know you would have Gabe Rubio, and what did you think about his play today?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I knew we wouldn't have Jason yesterday. He was out for personal reasons. Then we knew all week we were expecting Gabe to play. I haven't watched it, but I'm just glad he's out there and, you know, he's going to help this football program.

Q. You had nine different guys catch passes from Riley including Pat Coogan. Is this what you envisioned from the passing game? Is this what you envisioned from the passing game going forward, and how do you evaluate Riley's performance?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I think every game is different, and you just have to take advantage of what is in front of you.

There might be a game where somebody catches ten passes, and there might be a game that, as it was tonight, where you have nine different guys catch the ball, including an O-lineman.

What we focus on is, what can we do to have success? That's just not one thing. That's not running the ball, passing the ball, throwing it to one person, or passing it nine people. It's what can we do to help this team win? We'll see what next week presents.

Q. Mitch Jeter didn't play most of that game. Did he suffer an injury? What's his status?

MARCUS FREEMAN: He's had a tight groin, but I think on that kickoff, I don't know if he -- it didn't feel great, so they told me we were going to hold him, and that's all I know right now.

Q. Defensively you had a lot of pressure up front today. What was going so right up front?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I challenged those two seniors, Rylie and Howard. I wanted them to be great because they're great football players, and those two specifically stood out to me just on the field.

I'm sure I'll go back and watch film. They dominated the game. Those two big guys, we needed them to be dominant, and he this played dominant. That helps everybody around them.

So really proud of those two guys.

Q. Then Jadarian Price started the game kind of getting a lot of carries. Jeremiyah Love worked his way in. How do you balance those two in the back field?

MARCUS FREEMAN: It's a reflection of Coach McCullough and the way he leads that room, the unselfishness that they have, selfless. They just capitalize off of opportunities presented in front of them.

As I told the group, there's no guarantees in life. I don't know what next week will entail, but you continue to trust your coaches, trust each other, trust what we're doing, and good things are going to happen.

Those guys are selfless. They're playmakers. They do a lot when we get the ball in our hands, and we have to continue to find ways to do that.

Q. You spoke to the success of the passing offense, but I'm curious when you thought about the intent and Mike Denbrock. There was a big emphasis to throw early and often, and Riley really seemed to settle in because of that. Just the game plan to have it that way.

MARCUS FREEMAN: They're one of the top defenses in the country at stopping the run. That's something that you look at the last two years, they've done a really good job at stopping the run. Their defense is built to stop the run.

We felt like to have some success we're going to have to stretch the field 53 and a third, do some things vertically that try to take advantage of that they do defensively. It was an aggressive game plan that really just attacked what we thought we could exploit because that's their defense. I don't know what next week will present.

We thought that was going to be something that we could be able to do, and we had a line of success doing it.

Q. Three fourth down stops for your side. How big were those? Especially you get the ball at midfield after a couple of them, and then the offense takes advantage of that.

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, it was huge. It was huge. They were one for four, and we were three for three on fourth down. You have to have confidence on both sides of the ball to make those calls.

Offensively right before half it's fourth and one. Made the decision. Let's run it; let's go for it. Also had a lot of confidence in our defense. You know, I think defense played big. They played and did a really good job in really difficult situations at times. Offense did a great job converting on fourth down.

Q. If you wanted the offense to be unrecognizable to us, I'm sure you saw bits of this in practice sort of building to this. Could you give us some insight of what you have seen from Louisville to today that made you feel like something like this could come?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, just the consistency. I think we're practicing with more consistency. The execution in practice has been really at a high level. I just challenge them. If we execute in the game the way you guys have been doing it in practice, you know, we'll recognize it, but a lot of people won't.

I think that's what you saw today is that it's still a reflection of preparation. I'm going to say after wins and losses that we're preparing at a higher level. The execution is at a higher level. I think that's helping us out a lot, a lot of confidence, a lot of success.

Q. We've asked you about Bryce Young a lot. He continues to flash in there. What did you sort of sense from him today or see from him today? Where can the second half of the season go for him?

MARCUS FREEMAN: He's a really talented football player. I have to remind myself and the coaches that he's young because at times we can just put so much on his plate in terms of defense, the early downs, third downs, special teams. I had a meeting with our coaching staff. Like, where can we take some stuff off his plate?

Man, he is really performing at a high level. He prepares the right way. He's in there when he has free time. He wants to be the best. Man, he's a special, special individual.

Q. It looked like the three touchdown passes from Riley were RPO plays. Is that a reflection of him seeing the field better and his willingness to pull and throw in those situations?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, that was just a reflection of, yeah, I think what their defense kind of gave us and also what we felt like Riley could execute well. It's both.

You have to look at where you think you can have success, but also look at what do you think your guys can do well? I think that's a reflection of both of them. Really good decision-making, and put the ball exactly where it needed to be, and had some great catches.

(more)

You can watch along here as Marcus Freeman speaks to reporters following the game.

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We're also scheduled to talk to Riley Leonard, Pat Coogan, Joshua Burnham and Howard Cross III.

I'll have a full visitors preview on the site Friday, but it might be a little later than normal.

Updated with visitors preview:


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Wow. How good are they. Pretty impressive numbers

We haven't received the official availability report yet, but I wanted to start this thread early to share that DE Joshua Burnham (ankle) and DT Gabriel Rubio (foot) are both going through early warmups without pads on like the rest of the defensive line.

Burnham was listed as probable earlier this week. Rubio was listed as questionable.

Hi guys, Ben Parker from the Stanford site swinging by with some pre-game reading. I did a write up on the best individual performances at Notre Dame Stadium between Stanford and Notre Dame this century. Check that out here.

2008-Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen: A major reason why Toby Gerhart wasn’t able to guide Stanford to win at Notre Dame Stadium in 2008 is the performance of Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who went 29-40 for 347 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions for a passer rating of 170.1. Clausen had a 48 yard touchdown pass, a 21 yard touchdown pass, and a 16 yard touchdown pass. He was on fire all night long and did a great job of making life tough on the Cardinal defense.

Jimmy is the best ND passer I ever saw (I'm 82).

I mentioned this earlier in our expected visitors thread, but I wanted to create a thread of its own in case folks missed it.

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First up at 10 a.m. -noon ET is Tim Grauel and Jim Irizarry on GameDay, broadcasting under the WSBT tent next to the Bru Burger in Eddy Street Commons.

Scheduled guests include: Former Fighting Irish All-American and NFL Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Theismann, former two-time Notre Dame National Championship cornerback Luther Bradley, executive director of the Knute Rockne Memorial Society Jim Lefebvre and the grandchildren of Harry Stuhldreher, 1924 National Championship QB and one of the famous Four Horsemen.

Then from Noon to 2:30 ET, it's Darin Pritchett, Tyler Horka and Eric Hansen on Gameday SportsBeat. All can be listened on 96.1 FM locally or from anywhere at wsbtradio.com or on the free WSBT Radio app.

This article jumps out at me because it is written by Ross Dellenger. Dellenger has been spot on with his realignment stories and is not one of those guys who throws stuff against the wall to see if it sticks. From the article:

Spearheaded by former Disney executives-turned-investment professionals, Project Rudy is a super league-esque concept — separate and more simplified than the one made public last week — that incorporates football programs of the four power conferences in a 70-team structure. The model preserves the four power conferences, expands the postseason, overhauls scheduling, tiers revenue distribution and, most importantly, infuses as much as $9 billion of private capital cash into the system.
I also note that, according to the article - the architects of Project Rudy successfully recruited to join their team one of the most respected people within the college space: former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick. It is a stunning move for someone who just six months ago sat on the College Football Playoff governing committee as one of the most powerful decision-makers in the industry.

I have serious doubts that this idea will have any legs. The key is the BIG10/SEC, and the article notes that the BIG10/SEC are having joint meetings this week. I think that the BIG10/SEC are well aware that they are the powers in charge of college football. I don't think that they have any desire to share their riches with teams in a 70 school Super League.

Including Madden Faraimo:

A look right here at some massive games:

@Eric Hansen and I make prop bets and predictions ahead of a home game for No. 11 Notre Dame (4-1) vs. Stanford (2-3) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT on NBC.

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