Colin Theisen netted a hat trick, but No. 20 Notre Dame lost 5-3 to Wisconsin, 5-3 on Saturday night inside Compton Family Ice Arena after falling 2-0 on Friday.

The hat trick was the first of Theisen’s collegiate career and included a pair of goals just 1:40 apart in the second period. Alex Steeves earned an assist on all three of Theisen’s markers to match his career-high with three points. Spencer Stastney, Michael Graham and Matt Hellickson also picked up assists.

Wisconsin netminder Robbie Beydoun made 29 saves to earn the victory. Dylan St. Cyr stopped 17 shots before Ryan Bischel made three saves in relief. Notre Dame went 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

The Badgers built a 2-0 lead before the two quick tallies by Thiesen. But Wisconsin still took a 3-2 lead into the third and final period.

Just 1:40 later, Theisen one-timed a feed from Steeves at the top of the right circle to even the score at 2-2. The Irish tied it once again at 7:57 of the third period when Theisen buried a rebound off of a point-blank chance by Steeves.

But Dylan Holloway gave Wisconsin the lead again just past the midway point of the period before Donovan’s second with 7:45 remaining accounted for the 5-3 final.

The Irish will have next weekend off before playing at Michigan on Friday and Saturday Nov. 27-28 at the Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Friday’s game will be on Big Ten Plus (streaming), while broadcast and/or streaming details for Saturday’s game will be announced at a later date.

Good for some laughs

Here’s the WSJ’s write up on the epic battle between Michigan and Wisconsin.

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Can’t get enough of this stuff. Just the best.

Good show he did. Seemed a bit annoyed that the team wasn’t more aggressive and that somebody needed to make a play. Also said that Notre Dame isn’t the most electrifying atmosphere even when it’s at full capacity. Is it me or was he taking a shot at coaches and players? I was one of the fans he must of felt sorry for but that was a horrible game. I know I ll get called a pansy and might even get canceled but that was bad. I think Kelly even made a statement that Bauer needed to control his intensity and thought that was kind of weird when he said that. Maybe the intensity displayed by Bauer was forcing him to make bad reads, I don’t know just sounded weird.

Dang, where has he came from!!! Qb to receiver and all the sudden a deep threat!’ I love it!!

It's a bye week. Comps are always fun, and they seem like very similar players.

Worst spots in the history of college football?

In the second half, with Oregon State down 24-21, Oregon State drove inside the 10 yard line. On third and short, they ran the ball, got the first down...like clearly over the line, and the refs marked it inches short. Oregon State went for it on fourth and inches, clearly got 1-2 full yards, and they marked it short again, no review, turnover on downs.

Pac-12 refs are already in mid-season form.

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Undefeated Notre Dame wins
1-3 Michigan gets smoked
1-3 Michigan State gets shutout by I Freaking U
2-6 FSU gets beat by NC State

I saw this on the college football subreddit and thought you all might enjoy it as I did. Just a great post from the comment section:

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The Irish Coaching Staff has done a wonderful job developing the talent they have . Fundamentally the team is excellent. No major weaknesses on offense, defense, or special teams. Ian Book's development at QB, the toughness of the running backs, the offensive lines push and pass blocking, and the improvement of the tight ends and wide outs show great coaching. All three levels of the defense are playing excellent football and our special teams are consistently good. That said, enough of the criticism of Ian Book. He is a Winner ! Also, put to rest the whining about Coach Quinn. The season has a long way to go, but to this point this is a well coached and physically tough Irish team !

Kyler Murray might be the most exciting player in the NFL. Absolute stud!

Whatever the reason, Ian Book is peaking at the right time, and it ought to make you think a little bigger when considering Notre Dame’s ceiling.

ND 15-0
scUM 4-5

That doesn't take away all the pain from that evening but it does bring a smile to my face.

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ND had 49 rushing attempts yesterday and only gave up 1 tfl, which was a sack

This was their second game of the year where they had 40+ rushes and 1 tfl. FSU was the other.

That is great work by the OL and all the skill players.

Rank these possible replacements, trying to factor in: availability, program fit, personality, etc.

This list is just reference for the topic and not in my order. It also assumes there's no divine intervention with guys like Meyer, Saban, Stoops, etc:

Chris Petersen, Bobby Petrino, Tom Herman, David Shaw, Justin Fuente, DJ Durkin, PJ Fleck, Les Miles, Dan Mullen, Kyle Wittingham

This season has been outstanding thus far in several areas...One that get me most excited is the amount of contributors
game in and game out. BY this I mean players who are making plays and getting a taste of success. I can remember 2012
when we played Alabama and were worn down by halftime. We had no depth.

-We now have 3 MLBs fighting for playing time, each making an impact. (Simon coming on, Drew White solid, Bo Bauer...play maker)
-We have JOK killing it and Pryor coming making plays (speed, athletic)
-We have 6-8 DL contributing each game and making plays (rarely in years past have had guys getting game experience in Q1, Q2)
-We have 4-5 TEs playing (Meyer-wow...Tremble-unsung hero)
-3 Rbs who continue to deliver when they get the ball (big question mark ending last year)
-4-5 WRs contributing (Lost Austin and Lenzy for several games)
-OL-has been the best team unit in years...plug and play solid backups as needed (the key is to stay healthy the rest of the way)
-CBs- getting better week to week (probably our weakest position as far as playmakers...4 guys contributing there
-Safety-Kyle and Crawford- dynamic duo

Only area I am really concerned is back-up QB.....we really need to get Clark some actual game time experience, just in case...
He MUST play in the Syracuse game at least in the 2nd half and play all of the 3rd quarter making throws and getting confidence


This overall depth is setting us up to reload year over year like the top 7-8 teams do annually

We are 41-6 in the last four years after going 59-31 in the previous 7 so....

This might be a Lou question, but I’m curious as to when was the last time we wore our home Jersey on a true road game? Bowl games and Shamrock Series not included obviously.

While much of the attention recently has been focused on Ian Book and ND's Offense, I'd like to take a minute and give a big thumbs up to Shaun Crawford. He led the team with 9 tackles yesterday (5 solo), 1 sack and 1.5 TFL. He's been through a tremendous amount of adversity and it's so gratifying to see him play at a high level this year. Shaun, you embody the spirit of Notre Dame. Thank you and keep ballin'!

I often watch the before and after game interviews by the opposing coach. I tend to learn more from them then from our own press conferences. It provides a 360 view.

I like this guy. He seems to be the type that will move up to an elite program or the pros in a few years.

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Irish were lone team in top 5 to play, and the top 8 remain unchanged. Full records and point totals also shown.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-remains-no-2-in-associated-press-poll

So happy for this team. 8-0 is a great accomplishment. Just a little concerned about the defense-31 and 40 points the last two games, with the primary damage coming via the pass. Really worried about the North Carolina game with their good qb if nd cant tighten up the pass defense. Wake forest for that matter too. Anyone see any issues?

You hate to see it and it’s never a good sign when media is saying it: