Noah Clark, a 2026 defensive tackle from Durham (N.C.) Jordan, reported a Notre Dame offer on Wednesday.

The four-star recruit has reported 32 offers, including Georgia, Florida, LSU, Miami and Texas. He recorded 75 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss and four sacks in his junior season. Rivals ranks him as the No. 16 defensive tackle in the 2026 class.

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So when UGA beats Texas, and if we don't jump PSU(or they beat Oregon)

7th seeds seems like a good possibility...

For 5th seed we need Texas to beat UGA and Oregon to beat PSU (by a good margin)

Sorry I know it’s not ND related. The clock management by the bears was atrocious. Let the coach search begin

A topic I discussed with buddies this evening. Most of them Buckeye fans, a few other Domers, and a few Skunkbears.

Collectively, it seemed most thought the automatic bids for the the top four conference champions was looking worse as the season progressed.

You could have teams that aren’t ranked in next weeks top 10 get a top four seed. ISU, UNLV, ASU, Clemson, etc. That seems like a disastrous finality for the CFB Playoff. My buddies are mostly B1G fans and they felt the same way. Not that any of us has an ounce of sway on the topic but all but one thought it should just be the top four teams ranked in order.

There seems to be a lot of fan dissatisfaction on social media over this right now too. I was curious how everyone here feels on this issue.

Additionally , we wondered if we’ll see an end to conference championship games. It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of benefit for most teams to make it into one minus a team like Clemson who has no shot at a playoff unless they win the ACC title match.

UGA/UT will both be in regardless, Oregon/PSU same thing. Urban Meyer was questioning how it benefits any teams due to the exposure of more injuries going into a condensed playoff time frame. He said “you had 35-40 days before your playoff game last year, now it’s half that even if you get a bye.”

RILEY LEONARD

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The answer is no. If they had to play Oregon or Ohio State this year with close scores I’d say they can match up on all 3 phases. ND has been on a tear because of a killer D and Denbrock realizing RL is not the sling it all over the field kinda dude.

1st half will be close and 2nd half ND will lean on the SC linemen.

Same goes for Coach Freeman, but Deion has millions and has nothing he needs to prove.

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@Eric Hansen and I will be live on YouTube at 7 p.m. EST for the next weekly edition of "Football Never Sleeps."

We'll discuss what's next for the Notre Dame football team following its 49-35 victory at USC, with the final College Football Playoff rankings and seedings less than a week away, We'll also break down possible CFP matchups, discuss personnel matters, and reveal the latest on the recruiting front, with signing day coming up on Wednesday. And we'll answer questions live from viewers.

We hope you join us live with questions or submit some ahead of time. Hit the bell to set a reminder to get notified when we go live.

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If you'd like to submit questions, make sure you click through so you're watching on YouTube's site or in the YouTube app if you're on mobile. You can do so by clicking the headline at the top of the embedded video above. So where it says "Football Never Sleeps: ..." Or there should be spot that says "Watch on YouTube" in the bottom left.

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While I certainly will be interested in every game that has an impact on who we play in the first round, the most intriguing situation for me is SMU. Currently ranked 8th at 11-1 and the ACC regular season champ (if there is such a thing), SMU stands to lose the most this weekend in my opinion. As discussed in other threads, if Clemson wins the ACC CG, does that mean SMU gets bumped down and potentially out of the CFP. Everyone has tried to interpret Warde Manuel's comments over the last month, as they are often a bit ambiguous, to figure out how this is going to go. For instance, three weeks ago he said that teams would not be "punished" for playing in their CCG in response to a question from Reece Davis. That seemed to address teams playing a 13th game (sort of - depending on how you interpret "punished"). Then yesterday he made the following comment when being asked about teams not playing this coming weekend: “Those teams that are not playing cannot be adjusted where they are compared to other teams that are not playing.” Presumably this means Miami cannot jump Alabama and the committee will not "reconsider" Miami's ranking as Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioner, has called for. Phillip's statement after the rankings were released yesterday was, the ACC is "incredibly shocked and disappointed" that Miami fell six spots to No. 12 and that Miami "absolutely deserves better from the committee... As we look ahead to the final rankings we hope the committee will reconsider and put a deserving Miami in the field." So it looks like Warde Manuel is telling the ACC and Miami they are screwed. But then Manuel was asked whether a team playing in a CCG could drop below teams not playing, specifically he was asked, if SMU could fall below Alabama, and he responded, "Potentially, yes." Not sure how this jives with his statement about not punishing teams playing a 13th game, but it seems to me, if I was the ACC, I would hold an emergency meeting of presidents and ADs, modify their championship game rules, and allow a team to opt out of the conference championship game without penalty. This would allow SMU to keep their #8 ranking and would pit Clemson and Miami as the 2 and 3 seeds in the ACC against one another for the ACC championship and a first round bye in the CFP. ACC gets two teams in guaranteed, Miami controls their destiny and ACC tells the committee to pound sand. If SMU wants to roll the dice and play in the CG anyway - so be it.

The drama would be too good.

6’5” 300 LBs from Michigan.

The committee has set the precedent that it likely won’t penalize teams for losing in their conference championships.

I think this makes it incredibly difficult for ND to get a #5 seed. With the P4 conferences moving away from divisions, the top 2 teams will play for the championship.

ND would almost have to go undefeated to get the #5 seed.

Notre Dame men's basketball will look to end its four-game losing streak tonight.

The Irish (4-4) will play at Georgia (7-1) in the ACC/SEC Challenge, but they will continue to do so without injured guard Markus Burton, who is out indefinitely.

Georgia has four starters averaging at least 10 points per game: forward Asa Newell (15.4), guard Silas Demary Jr. (14.0), guard Tyrin Lawrence (12.0), and guard Blue Cain (10.4). Guard Dakota Leffew is also scoring 13.0 points per game off the bench.

Newell, a 6-11, 220-pound freshman, was a five-star recruit on Rivals. He's also averaging 6.1 rebounds and has totaled 11 blocks and 11 steals to date.

Notre Dame has switched up its starting lineup by replacing Logan Imes with Julian Roper II. The other four remain the same: guards Braeden Shrewsberry and Matt Allocco and forwards Tae Davis and Kebba Njie. Imes started the two games Notre Dame played after Burton's injury.

Notre Dame season stats:



Tip: 7 p.m. EST
Watch: ESPNU
Listen: Notre Dame Radio Network
Follow: Live stats

My notebook on Indiana includes head coach Curt Cignetti moving past his argument that the Hoosiers should host a playoff game, IU's familiarity with Notre Dame, its struggle with crowd noise at Ohio State, Cignetti's playoff coaching experience, IU's statistically dominant defense and more.

"Our odds of winning the next four games are probably significantly higher than they were of making the college football playoffs in the first place," Cignetti said.

Notre Dame just released on update on guard Markus Burton's knee injury.

From Fighting Irish Media:

LAS VEGAS - On Tuesday, November 26, in the Players Era Tournament game against Rutgers, All-ACC guard Markus Burton suffered a non-season-ending knee injury that will hold him out of competition on a week-to-week basis.

“I couldn’t be more proud of how my teammates competed following my injury, and I know they will pick me up and continue to play well. I look forward to supporting them in any way possible,” Burton said. “As in everything I do in basketball, I will attack my rehab and give it my best to get back on the floor at full strength as soon as possible.”

“I would like to thank the South Bend & Notre Dame community for the outpouring of support. All the prayers coming my way have been inspiring, and it shows how special my entire hometown community is.”

“We are thankful that Markus will be back this season at full strength,” Glenn and Stacey Murphy Head Men’s Basketball Coach Micah Shrewsberry added. “I have the full faith in our athletic trainer, Nixon Dorvilien, and our entire medical staff to put Markus in the best position to return to the court when it is the right time.”

My story: