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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-3) will host the Syracuse Orange (6-1) on Saturday, as Notre Dame seeks to defeat the 16th-ranked team in college football. It will not be easy, but Syracuse provides an opportunity for Coach Freeman and this football team to build confidence for the second half of the season. The schedule does not get any easier from here on out, with teams like Clemson, USC, Boston College, and Navy left on the schedule. Despite playing without a few key contributors last week against UNLV, Coach Freeman gave an update on Jack Kizer, Brandon Joseph, and Jaden Mickey at his press conference on Thursday… "All of them are expected to play. They've all been practicing and expected to play." This is good news for a team that has had several players injured this season. Now more than ever, this Irish football team needs leaders to step up and play at a higher level for Notre Dame to come out victorious. If Notre Dame hopes to finish the season on a high note and earn a ticket to a bowl game, it begins on Saturday against the Orange. Game Details Date: Saturday, October 29 Time: 12:00 PM ET Where to Watch: ABC Breaking Down Syracuse Head coach, Dino Babers, enters his seventh season for the SyracuseOrange with an overall 35-44 record. Babers came to Syracuse after coaching Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green, while also spending several seasons as an assistant at Baylor and UCLA. Even though many in the media thought this may be Baber's last season at Syracuse, the Orange are off to one of their best starts in years. Even though Baber’s built his reputation on high-powered offenses, the 2022 Orange are built around their defense. They rank first or near the top in every defensive statistic in the ACC, including points per game, yards per game, and pass yards. In other words, this is an impressive defense that comes ready to play every Saturday. Stacking Up Notre Dame vs Syracuse 3 Offensive Players to Know Garrett Shrader— QB #6 2022 Stats: 1601 passing yards, 13 touchdowns; 371 rushing yards, 6 touchdowns Sean Tucker— RB #34 2022 Stats: 698 rushing yards, 6 touchdowns; 216 receiving yards, 2 touchdowns Oronde Gadsden II— WR #19 2022 Stats: 593 receiving yards, 5 touchdowns 3 Defensive Players to Know Garrett Williams— CB #8 2022 Stats: 32 tackles, 3 passed defended, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 2 interceptions Mikel Jones— LB #3 2022 Stats: 52 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble Caleb Okechukwu — DL #93 2022 Stats: 21 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 interception, 1 touchdown 📷 credit: @cusefootball on Instagram Keys to Victory 1. Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees Needs to Call a Better Game Despite scoring more points last week, the Irish offense did not impress very many people. Tommy Rees must call a better game this Saturday to defeat the Syracuse Orange. The offense needs to put players in better positions to be successful, become less predictable, and be much more dynamic. 2. Shut Down Syracuse Quarterback Garrett Shrader Shrader is the type of dual-threat quarterback that has given the Notre Dame defense a lot of problems the last couple of seasons. Foskey, Mills, Cross, Rubio, Smith, the Ademilolas, and others must keep constant pressure on Shrader to throw him off his typical game. If not, this will be a long day for Notre Dame. Coach Freeman had this to say about Shrader at his Thursday press conference… “You're just going to have to limit their big plays. He's going to get yards and yards running the ball. He's going to make some throws. To eliminate the big plays and be physical with him and make physical tackles on him. He's a talented football player you can't just say we have to stop him running because he can throw the ball well. You can't just play 8-man drops because they can run the ball with Tucker. It's a really good offense. That's going to present a huge challenge for our defense.” 3. Wide Receivers Need to Step Up At times, Notre Dame appears to forget they have wide receivers playing in the football game. Outside of Michael Mayer, fans would be hard-pressed to name one wide receiver that has played good football this year. That needs to change this week against Syracuse, and it needs to change quickly. Coach Freeman said this on Thursday about his wide receivers… “They’ve had a really good week. I challenged them Monday and Tuesday, we have to continue to gain confidence in practice in terms of how to expand our passing game. That’s the wideouts, the quarterback, the offensive line, and everybody. They’ve had a really good week. I look forward to seeing what they do on Saturday.” Final Take Despite Notre Dame being the more talented team on Saturday, Syracuse presents a huge challenge for the Fighting Irish. Syracuse plays good defense, has an improved offense, and is coached by someone with a lot of experience. This has not been a remedy for the success at Notre Dame this year. Despite all of this, Irish fans are hopeful that Coach Freeman and his staff can take the necessary steps to become a better football team this week. If Notre Dame is going to win on Saturday, it needs Drew Pyne and a plethora of wide receivers to step up and lead this team to victory. Let us hope that the Irish come ready to dominate Syracuse on Saturday afternoon and come away victorious. Go Irish! 📷 credit: @ndfootball on Instagram Follow “God Country Irish” on Instagram Follow “God Country Irish” on Twitter Contact God Country Irish

Despite winning by a large margin on Saturday, Notre Dame continues to find itself needing to improve in many areas of the game. For the first time all season, the Irish dominated the first half of Saturday’s game against UNLV, scoring 23 points in large part because of two blocked punts by Isaiah Foskey. Special Teams Coordinator Brian Mason has turned a poor special teams unit under former coach Brian Kelly, into one of the biggest strengths of this football team. Notre Dame leaned heavily on the running game for the remainder of the game, winning 44-21. Coach Freeman had this to say at his press conference on Monday… “It's obviously a better feeling being up here after a win. Going back and evaluating the game, I was really pleased with the big picture of the game. There are so many plays in the game we have to be better at and we have to be more consistent in what we're doing. But the big emphasis this week was starting with a sense of urgency and I think we did that. We were able to jump out to a pretty good lead. The challenge for our group is to come out in the second half with the same consistency and urgency that we had in the first half.” Notre Dame needs to figure out a way to play with the same emotion, attitude, and competitive spirit for an entire game if it hopes to have success against upcoming opponents. Syracuse, Clemson, USC, and Boston College will present many challenges for this football team to overcome. Playing more consistent football on defense and being more creative on offense will help this football team take the steps they need to be successful. Players of the Game Logan Diggs 130 rushing yards Joe Alt Isaiah Foskey 5 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, 1 quarterback hurry, 2 blocked punts Clarence Lewis 5 tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 2 fumble recoveries Areas of Concern Red Zone Defense Coach Freeman had this to say about his red zone defense on Monday… “It's frustrating because it isn't like we do a whole bunch of different things in the red zone. As you look at the UNLV game, a couple of self-inflicted wounds in terms of mistakes that we shouldn't make. I would hope it's not confusing, but you got to look at yourself as a coach and look at the players and say, Okay, where's the miscommunication coming from? This is what we want you to do and you're not doing it. Is it a teaching error, or an understanding of the execution error? We got to make sure that we know exactly what we want to do. If they beat us doing what we want to do then take your hat off to them. But we can't have unforced errors in the red zone, especially with the simplicity that we pride ourselves in and what we do in the red zone." Estime Fumbles Coach Freeman had this to say about Audric on Monday… “He's tough on himself, as we are on him. He has high expectations for himself. He understands the reality of how important it is to make sure we have that ball when we have the chance to have it in our hands. He understands the importance of that. But at the same time, we got to find ways to make sure that doesn't happen." Quarterback Struggles Coach Freeman had this to say about Drew Pyne’s recent struggles… “I think some can be decision-making. Every pass play has a progression and sometimes you come off your progression too fast. There are very few times I see him going incorrectly through his progression, but sometimes he comes off the progression or he stays on a progression too long. Another part of that is we got to help him. We got to protect him. We got to make sure that if he throws a catchable ball, we got to catch it. All those things are going to help him have confidence. We got to call plays that help him have easy completions and success like we started the game off with. Drew Pyne is a warrior and he's done a really good job. He takes a lot of heat and he gets a lot of praise. That comes with the position." Final Take With Syracuse, Clemson, Navy, Boston College, and USC still on the schedule, the Irish need to find answers to these questions sooner rather than later. If Coach Freeman can see progress in these areas, then this football team will make the kind of strides to be more competitive down the stretch. When asked about his goals this week, Coach Freeman said this… “Urgency. As I told them, it's not urgency to start the game now but it's urgency throughout the entirety of a game. A sign of a dominant football team is a team where no matter what the series is, or what the score is, you're able to be effective in what you're doing. We have to continue to be a mature football team and progress towards improvement and being a dominant football team. That comes from the top down in making sure that every critical thing we looked at last week, the sense of urgency we had, we got to increase that, we got to enhance that. That starts with me. That's my message to the team this week.” Go Irish! 📷 credit: @ndfootball on Instagram Follow “God Country Irish” on Instagram Follow “God Country Irish” on Twitter Contact God Country Irish

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-3) will host the UNLV Rebels (4-3) on Saturday, as Notre Dame seeks to make amends for their embarrassing performance against Stanford last Saturday. UNLV presents an opportunity for Marcus Freeman and this Notre Dame football team to correct their mistakes and prove that this team can face and overcome adversity. After losing a plethora of players, captains, and leaders on this team, it is time to see if this team is ready to go to battle on the football field with the Rebels on Saturday. If not, it may be time for some coaching changes, but if they are willing to make the necessary changes then it should give Irish fans something to look forward to for the rest of the season. Coach Freeman had this to say at his press conference on Thursday… "One, it's a mentality. That's what I just told the team and the staff. We're not judged off mentality, but you have gotta have the right mindset because that will dictate your actions and how you start the game. We got to come out of the locker room ready to go with the right mentality. We can't be soft. We got to challenge our opponents. Both sides of the ball have to come out with no mental errors and really focus on challenging the opponent on both sides of the ball." Game Details Date: Saturday, October 22 Time: 2:30 PM ET Where to Watch: Peacock Breaking Down UNLV The Rebels are led by head coach Marcus Arroyo, who owns a 6-19 overall record after three years at UNLV. Despite a losing record, Arroyo appears to be turning the UNLV program around with better recruiting and taking advantage of the transfer portal. The Rebels currently rank second (2-2) in the Mountain West Conference, behind San Jose State. Despite their record, this is a team that can score a lot of points if the defense does not come prepared to play good football. On two occasions this season, the Rebels have scored over 50 points, which is something Notre Dame has not done in several years. Coach Freeman had this to say about UNLV… “It's a talented football team that started off the season 4-1 and we know is going to present a challenge to our team. That's what I told our players. We have to respect our opponent and you don't have to watch too much of their film to gain respect for the job that coach Arroyo has done with that program and what they're going to bring here to South Bend." Stacking Up Notre Dame vs UNLV 3 Offensive Players to Know Doug Brumfield— QB #2 2022 Stats: 1231 passing yards, 8 touchdowns; 137 rushing yards, 5 touchdowns Aidan Robbins — RB #9 2022 Stats: 591 rushing yards, 8 touchdowns; 78 receiving yards, 1 touchdown Ricky White— WR #11 2022 Stats: 444 receiving yards, 4 touchdowns 3 Defensive Players to Know Austin Ajiake— LB #27 2022 Stats: 72 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions Jerrae Williams — DB #23 2022 Stats: 33 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass defended, 2 interceptions Darius Johnson — DL #8 2022 Stats: 29 tackles, 2 sacks 📷 credit: @unlvfootball on Instagram Keys to Victory 1. Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees Needs to Call a Better Game I wrote about this earlier in the week, but Tommy Rees must call a better game this Saturday. UNLV presents the perfect opportunity to establish your identity, build confidence in your players, and run more tempo offense. If Rees can not do this against UNLV, then Irish fans must question whether or not he should be the offensive coordinator at the University of Notre Dame. 2. Drew Pyne Needs to Play Better Despite most of the blame being rightly placed on Tommy Rees, Pyne must do a better job at the quarterback position this Saturday. Pyne has to be more accurate, stop locking in on Michael Mayer, and spread the ball around to his playmakers. If Drew can do this, Irish fans will see an offense that is much improved against the Rebels. 3. The Defense Needs to Force Turnovers Despite several forced fumbles on Saturday, Notre Dame’s defense continues to not come up with the ball. This is a puzzling situation because the Irish media team released practice footage of the defense practicing these situations, but it has yet to translate on the field. That must come to an end on Saturday as they take advantage of an inaccurate quarterback for UNLV, and force turnovers. Final Take Despite Notre Dame being heavily favored in this matchup, Irish fans should not take anything for granted right now. With the way Notre Dame has been playing, UNLV has enough skilled players to come to South Bend and come away with a victory. If Notre Dame can figure out what they are doing on offense, see Drew Pyne play better at the quarterback position, and see turnovers coming from the defense, then the Irish should be victorious. Let us hope that Marcus Freeman has truly been evaluating everything and fans will start seeing the results of that on Saturday. Coach Freeman had this message for his team on Thursday… “Stay together, trust each other, and do not listen to anything anybody has to say positively or negatively about you outside of these walls. Be honest with yourself, coach each other up, coaches coach the players, coaches help each other, and let's use this as a time to really evaluate what we're doing and make sure, not hope and pray and not keep our fingers crossed, but make sure that we're better and we perform better on Saturday when it matters the most." Go Irish! Follow “God Country Irish” on Instagram Follow “God Country Irish” on Twitter Contact God Country Irish

Written by Nick Kremer, Editor for the Irish Tribune Recovering from Vegas can be a challenge at times, but nobody thought the hangover would result in a loss. Notre Dame took on Stanford Saturday night at home under the lights. What was setup to be a big night for the Irish quickly turned to disaster as Stanford beat Notre Dame 16-14. ☘️ Photo from uhnd.com Stock Down 📉 Offense Stanford rolled into South Bend with 11 straight losses to FBS opponents, and their defense came into the game ranked as one of the worst in the country. The Irish offense started the game with a penalty, and that was a sign of things to come for this game. Notre Dame has shown the last couple of weeks that a dominant running game is their identity. With three very capable running backs, the running game was not as effective as it should have been. The Notre Dame offense has shown that they do better when they are running gap-scheme, down-hill plays. This has always been a strength for Heistand coached Olines. For some reason, we did not see as big of an emphasis on this style of running game against Stanford. Rees, instead, opted to go with more slow-developing, zone scheme running plays. This is a Stanford team that gave up more than 200 yards rushing per game. The fact that the running game was not emphasized correctly, and more often in this game, is a huge concern. For a team that claims to start up-front, the play calling did not reflect that attitude in this game. Notre Dame struggled on 3rd down in this game converting only 3 of 12, which is not a ratio that can produce a winning product. On top of that, the Irish struggled to take care of the football with 2 lost fumbles. Additionally, the Notre Dame offense struggled in the red-zone; this is a formula for losing to a bad team at home. The Irish offense has to figure some things out, and figure them out fast. Energy/Fight The most disappointing part of the Freeman Era up to this point has been the lack of energy and fight from this team. Because Marcus Freeman is a young, energetic player’s coach, I truly thought we would see a boost in the demeanor of this team. Even when things are going well for this team, they do not seem to get very excited. Football is an emotional game. Get excited when something good happens, and get pissed off when times are tough. The body language of the team is a huge concern of mine. The leadership of this team needs to step up. The coaches are responsible for ensuring the team is getting the proper preparation and putting their players in a position to win, but the players are the ones that have to execute those plays on the field. There should be a certain amount of pride that comes with playing for The University of Notre Dame, and even more so playing at home for the Irish. If you are going to lose at home, at least do it showing a little bit of fight. ☘️ Photo from NBC Sports Stock Up 📈 Special Teams It’s never a good sign when one of the only positives is Special Teams play. Regardless, this unit continues to be a strength of this team. The Irish were finally able to get home and block a punt, which unfortunately did not lead to points. Additionally, Jon Sot has been phenomenal all year and continues that play with his punting duties. Jordan Botehlo is a monster and a tone-setter on special teams; hopefully we can see him get some action on defense some time soon. DL The defensive line as a whole played solid, but there were some players that really impressed me in this game. Nana Osafa-Mensah had the best game of his career at Notre Dame. Nana finished with 3 total tackles, 2 solo, and 1 tackle for loss, but his impact was felt all game long. Howard Cross continues to be the heart and soul of this defensive line. He finished with only 1 tackle, but his play in the middle of the defensive line has been exceptional. We have to hope that his lingering injuries heal up quickly for this unit to continue to play well. Chris Smith, the transfer from Harvard, has not been talked about enough. He won’t show up big on the stat sheet, but his ability to eat up double teams and disrupt the run game has been great. Running Backs Audric Estime ran for 57 yards and a touchdown on 8 carries. Logan Diggs ran for 57 yards on 9 carries, and Chris Tyree ran for 25 yards on 8 carries. I am still struggling to understand why Audric Estime did not get more action in the first half of this game. Going forward, I hope that Estime is the lead back with Tyree and Diggs filling in as needed. Tobias Merriweather Tobias Merriweather made his debut for the Irish with his first reception going for 41 yards and a TD. Notre Dame nation has been waiting to see the touted Freshman get some reps, and he did not disappoint. Going forward, I will be very disappointed if the Irish don’t find a bigger role for him in this offense. Photo from Sports Illustrated All in all, this Notre Dame team has a lot to get figured out. For those that are calling for coaches to be fired, it’s time to calm down and let things play out. Marcus Freeman will be just fine, but it will take time. As fans of this great university, we have to be patient and support a coach that WILL get it figured out. The ride won’t be without some bumps, but the destination will be worth the tribulation of the trip. ☘️

In an embarrassing loss to Stanford last Saturday night, Notre Dame failed to execute one offense once again. After starting the game with a false start on captain Jarrett Patterson, little did Irish fans know that this would set the tone for the rest of the night. At best, the offense looked out of sync, too predictable, and poorly coached, and players lacked the competitive spirit to win that football game. Coach Freeman had this to say at his press conference on Monday… “It's been a long 48 hours of trying to figure out what the heck happened on Saturday and why we didn't execute the way we have been previously, and what we have to do to fix it. And to do a better job in order to give us a chance to perform better when it matters on Saturdays in the game. I think we've had some really productive meetings and had good practice yesterday. The spirits of the kids in this program are unwavering. That's the thing that everybody has to understand. As disappointed as we all are on Saturday, the fight and excitement to get a chance to play another game here in five days and to play for this university will never change. We look forward to another opportunity on Saturday. We look forward to getting back on the practice field tomorrow and getting back to work and preparing for a tough test at UNLV. We know it will be a challenge and we have to be ready to go Saturday afternoon.” At the end of the day, something has to change it must change quickly. Outside of the North Carolina game, the Notre Dame offense has not been very good this season. Quarterback Drew Pyne did not have his best game and the play calling from offensive coordinator Tommy Rees was one of the least creative games Irish fans have seen in years. On top of that, statements like this concern many Irish fans… “You go to Stanford and you don't execute the way you want to. I don't question who we are on offense. I have the utmost confidence in coach Rees and our offensive staff and what we are doing. We just have to execute better. That to me is the challenge of saying that it's not the play calls or what we are doing, but why we aren't executing and what we have to do to execute." Does Marcus Freeman understand that this is about more than execution? Does he understand that the quarterback problem, offensive philosophy problem, and a plethora of other issues all point back to one coach on his staff? Time will tell if Coach Freeman is just showing respect to his staff or not, but a coach with as much experience as he has knows, deep down, that something has to change on this football team. He has done a good job at elevating recruiting, but now it’s time to elevate his standard for his coaches and the product they put out on the field on Saturdays. Coach Freeman added this at the press conference on Monday… “You're going to have to be able to really stand your ground during these tough times. Our program is different this year than it was in the past. To really establish something that's special, you're going to have to go through some challenges and difficult times. I've been through them. I've been to new places. I've been in new situations where you have to hit tough times. Again, nobody wants to go through them, but I know we're going to be better because of it. As I told the team, you have to understand you can't always win it easy. Nobody wants to lose a game, but this is going to build this program and our foundation to where it needs to be. They're encouraged. We're going to be okay. We know that. We have a good football team. The culture of this program is we're going to have to embrace these tough times and these growing pains of getting this program to where we want it to be." Final Take Irish fans hope these lackluster performances are behind this football team, but they can not overlook UNLV. UNLV is not a great football team, but with the way Notre Dame is playing right now, it is hard to overlook any team. If Coach Freeman is going to right the ship, then it begins with a better week of preparation, execution, and putting the fight back in the Fighting Irish. When asked about his goals this week, Coach Freeman said this… “To beat UNLV. We're not talking about a bowl game. We're worried about this next opportunity that we have on Saturday. We can't worry about six games from now. We have to worry about taking care of what's right in front of us. That goes into the messaging for this week. But the minute you start daydreaming and drift into, 'Okay, if we win six in a row, okay, we're gonna go to a bowl game and what bowl game we're gonna play,' you're losing the attention that it takes to have success versus a team like UNLV. One, we can't disrespect that team, because they're a good football team. Two, you're doing a disservice to the seniors and the guys in this room right now.” Go Irish! Follow “God Country Irish” on Instagram Follow “God Country Irish” on Twitter Contact God Country Irish

Irish fans were left dumbfounded as they watched Notre Dame lose its third game of the season to Stanford last Saturday. Outside of the North Carolina game, Notre Dame’s offense has been abysmal so far this season. According to ncaa.com, Notre Dame ranks 80th in total offense, while teams like Central Michigan, Buffalo, Troy, Ball St., and UAB rank ahead of them. On top of that, they rank outside the top 100 when it comes to scoring offense and passing offense, but their rushing offense ranks 51. Needless to say, this is not what Irish fans expected entering the 2022 college football season. Coach Freeman had this to say after last Saturday’s game… “On offense, we've got to do a better job executing. We did a better job in the second half. I'm sure somebody's going to ask me what happened. But we've got to look at ourselves as coaches first and say, ‘okay, why didn't we execute the way we were supposed to, the way we wanted to, right?’ And then we've got to make sure we go and evaluate and find ways to make sure this doesn't happen.” If Coach Freeman is serious about looking at his coaches, then he must take a long and hard look at his offensive coordinator, Tommy Rees. Outside of the North Carolina game, Rees has been a huge disappointment this season in putting together a championship-caliber offense. Excuses are plenty, but the issue appears to go much deeper than that. Let’s take a look at a few problems… 1. Poor Game Planning Outside of the North Carolina game, the game plans on offense this year have been mediocre at best. At times, any casual fan recognizes that there appears to be no rhythm to the offense or any strategy to what this team is trying to accomplish. Through 6 games, no one can tell what the identity of this offense is, despite having plenty of playmakers. 2. Too Predictable Coach Rees appears to telegraph what he is doing on offense much too often. Whether it be obvious formations, or continuing to frequently run on second down, this is a problem that defensive coordinators can adjust for in-game. Outside of Merriweather getting two attempts to catch a ball on Saturday night, the younger receivers are brought into the game to primarily run block. Defensive coordinators know that they do not need to take those receivers seriously and it causes more pressure on the intended receivers. 3. Unable to Maximize Players’ Strength’s/Weaknesses Through the first two games, it was clear that Coach Rees did not know how to use Tyler Buchner effectively. Fans still do not know what type of offense this team was trying to run with Buchner in the game. This was a poor job of maximizing Buchner’s abilities as well as this offense's potential. There are numerous other examples of this as well: Jayden Thomas running a sweep that someone with speed (Braden Lenzy or Chris Tyree) should be running. Lorenzo Styles running fade routes when he does not do well at those. Chris Tyree running up the middle like Estime instead of creating more space for him to effectively use his speed. Throwing fade routes to shorter receivers instead of utilizing your younger, but taller receivers. Playing two tight-end sets, but only targeting one of them. The list goes on and on, but it’s clear that Rees is either not a good evaluator of talent, or he is unwilling to put his players in the best position to be successful 4. Poor Quarterback Development Despite being this team’s quarterback coach for several years now, Rees has yet to develop a quality quarterback. Ian Book, Phil Jurkovec, Jack Coan, Tyler Buchner, and Drew Pyne have all regressed during their time at Notre Dame. Despite having a good game here or there, overall Rees has been unable to maximize each quarterback's strengths while at Notre Dame. 5. Extremely Uncreative After having an entire week to scheme opening drives, Notre Dame continues to not be good at them. This is a problem that plagued Brian Kelly and continues to be a problem for Marcus Freeman. Time will tell if Freeman can change this, but history tells an interesting story… Despite Zaire’s limited data, he, Kizer, and Wimbush were the only quarterbacks to be somewhat successful on opening drives. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but this period coincides with Rees not being part of the program and a few very dynamic quarterbacks. Through 6 games, Notre Dame has only scored 6 points in the first quarter this season. Final Take Irish fans are well aware of the fact that Rees was hired before Marcus Freeman, but it may be time to evaluate whether or not he can effectively coordinate a college offense. At this point, Notre Dame fans are quickly losing hope that Rees can accomplish this task and it may take a hard decision by Coach Freeman to correct this program. No matter your opinion of Tommy Rees, this may be one of the most pivotal coaching decisions in Marcus Freeman’s career at Notre Dame. Whatever the answer may be, Freeman must find answers and re-establish a winning culture at Notre Dame once again. Go Irish! Follow “God Country Irish” on Instagram Follow “God Country Irish” on Twitter Contact God Country Irish

Written by Liam Gaudet, Senior Editor Photo By Fox News I am officially at my wits end with the offensive production at the hands of Tommy Rees. Although there are many issues with this team right now, no other is greater than the lack of results being produced by the supposed offensive guru. After two solid weeks of production, the offense took all of the built up momentum and threw it directly into the trash can. Poor play? Yes. Poor scheming? You bet. Lets unmask the ugly truth and get to the root of the problem together. Here's a statistic that's awfully puzzling. Notre Dame's offensive line outweighs Stanford's defensive line by an average factor of 1.2. That means the average Notre Dame offensive lineman weighs about 315 pounds, while in comparison, the average weight of a Stanford defensive lineman is 260 pounds. Nevermind the supposed talent gap which heavily favors Notre Dame, you would figure that statistic alone should give Notre Dame a substantial advantage in the trenches. In theory, this would be absolutely correct. In practice, however, Notre Dame was flat out humiliated up front once again, with a pitiful first half performance which saw the offense muster barely 100 total yards and zero points. So with all the up-front advantages pointed toward Notre Dame, how is it possible that they couldn't move the ball on the ground? Maybe it's because this offense is so predictable, a monkey could decipher the play calls coming on first and second down. Tommy Rees believes in beating a dead horse to establish a running game that is clearly dead in the water. The pre-snap motions weren't fooling anybody, let alone the Stanford defense. 90% of the time on first down, it was a run up the middle for minimal gain, if any at all. Instead of realizing that this clearly wasn't working, Rees continually decided to try and establish this despite it failing time and time again. So the first issue without a shadow of a doubt was the sheer lack of creativity and willingness to change and adapt to what was going on. If you're so insistent on playing smash-mouth football, maybe you would consider using your smash-mouth, hard running back for the majority of those runs to give you a physical advantage and wear down the opposing defense? No, because that would make too much sense. Audric Estime saw only two carries in the first half, with one of them being a hard fought run on a fourth down. Instead, Rees opted to use Chris Tyree, a speed back, for the majority of inside run attempts. That makes absolutely no sense. If you want to run an offensive scheme from 1920, at least have the right personnel in the game to give it a fighting chance. Speaking of having the right personnel, Tobias Merriweather earned himself some playing time this week, and took full advantage by getting open deep twice in the second half. The first time, Pyne overthrew an easy touchdown, and the second, Merriweather hauled in his first career catch and subsequent touchdown of his Notre Dame career. It has been blatantly obvious that he is a dynamic playmaker, but the staff opted to give him zero snaps, let alone targets after his touchdown in the third quarter. Why? Only Tommy Rees has the answer to that question, though I have little to no faith that it was the right decision. In no world does Merriweather deserve less playing time than Braden Lenzy or Matt Salerno. No slight to any of the student athletes, but they just aren't cutting it, plain and simple. It's a travesty to the brand that Rees hasn't been able to recognize this, despite outcry from the fanbase for weeks on end. On the off chance that we do decide to adapt to the modern, fancy idea of throwing a forward pass, it too, is entirely too predictable. Any opposing coach for the rest of the season knows that if you cover Michael Mayer, the Notre Dame passing attack is irrelevant. Time and time again, after being forced into third and long situations thanks to the telegraphed first and second down runs, Michael Mayer is targeted on third and long to no avail in double coverage. Some of the blame goes to Drew Pyne here, but Rees is the one calling plays where Mayer is the primary target. Don't you think the other team will catch on at some point? If the fanbase can see it, there's no way professional football coaches making millions of dollars won't. Why is it so hard to scheme plays with the receivers being the primary targets? Why can't we adapt to what isn't working? My faith in the play calling was hanging by a thread heading into this week, but now it's unsalvageable. I wince every time the ball is snapped because my fear of predicting the play is often correct. My hopes had risen only to be sent plummeting back to reality last night. As far as I'm concerned, Tommy Rees is now calling plays to save his job. Forget leaving for the NFL, how about you breathe some life back into an offense that is too predictable, out of date, and can't score on one of the worst ranked defenses in the country. Even if we have a bounce back game against UNLV, it won't be because of adaptation. Rees has had years to evolve into a new scheme and has proven that he's stuck in his ways. I fear more losses are on the horizon unless a drastic change is made on that side of the football.

Per: NBCSports Written by IrishTrending   We are five weeks into the Freeman Era, and Notre Dame fans and college football fans in general are beginning to believe Marcus Freeman is catching on to being a head football coach after a tumultuous start. Here is an overview of every game so far this season, and where Marcus Freeman currently stands in regards to his coaching stature.   Oklahoma State:  Marcus Freeman started off his career at Notre Dame in a New Year's Six bowl against a very good Oklahoma State team. In that game, Notre Dame took an early lead and looked to have this game under control. However, in the second half, it was all Oklahoma State, Marcus Freeman looked very lost at times, even though it was expected. This was still a sour loss after the big blown lead.    Ohio State:  Marcus Freeman had a full off season to really get things going his way in preparation for a top-five matchup against Ohio State. This game would be Freeman’s second top 10 opponent of his career, and it being in Columbus didn’t help. Just like the game before Notre Dame started off better than the opponent, leading at half and playing elite defense. Unfortunately, once the second half came, Notre Dame was stagnant offensively and the defense got tired. Failing to do anything in the second half led to a lot of fans thinking Freeman falters in second halves of games. Even though Notre Dame lost, it was still a great game against arguably the best team in the country.    Marshall: The following week Notre Dame hosts Marshall in a game the vast majority thought would be all Notre Dame. The spread was a huge favorite toward Notre Dame, and Notre Dame clearly had the talent advantage. Early on, however, we realized Notre Dame is not nearly as good as we would’ve hoped. Notre Dame was out coached, out executed, and flat out embarrassed at home against a motivated but inferior Marshall team. The loss of Tyler Buchner late didn’t help much and seeing that the offense was the main problem was pretty easy. This led to even more questions from Notre Dame fans regarding if Freeman is really the guy to get it done at Notre Dame, and what to think about OC Tommy Rees.    California: Freeman gets another opportunity in a home game against a team that is not nearly as talented as Notre Dame. Notre Dame, just like the week prior, came out flat on both sides of the ball. Mainly offensively, which may be due to Drew Pyne’s first career start. Notre Dame fans were in disbelief at how this team was performing, and were hoping to get out with a win. Cal took the game to the last play and definitely could have won. Even though it was another ugly game, it would go down as the first win in the Freeman era.   North Carolina: Notre Dame would then go on the road to take on a skillful North Carolina team with a high powered offense, led by a young star in Drake Maye. Even though North Carolina was at home, Notre Dame took care of them having a huge day offensively, largely in the run game. Freeman looked a lot more aware of what he was doing and the execution was a lot better.    BYU:  Notre Dame would then go on a bye week before a neutral site matchup against a ranked BYU team. Similar to games prior, Notre Dame came out strong and went a little flat in the second half, but this was a bit different. It was more the execution and not the scheming or playing calling. The second half flatline let BYU make it a little more competitive of a game. Notre Dame struggled to score in plus territory, and the defense let up another big play on a blown coverage, similar to the two from the North Carolina game. This would go down as Freeman’s first ranked win.   My Overall Thoughts: Watching Freeman on the sidelines, he seems a lot more confident and in tune with the game over the weeks and since the Cal game, which is great to see. Notre Dame hosts Stanford this evening in a game many think (including myself) should be a big blowout. Freeman will be put to the test again to see how he coaches a game pretty similar to the Marshall game. Freeman seems to be taking big strides through the year, and I ultimately think he is really starting to get a grip on things. This Stanford game could be a big indicator of that. Keep an eye on in-game adjustments, and how Freeman looks on the sidelines throughout the game.

Notre Dame vs. Stanford Rivalry History Written by Drew Eger Notre Dame and Stanford have been a consistent rivalry for the last 24 years, only missing 2020 because of COVID. The Irish lead the all-time series 22-13. Notre Dame has dominated the last 3 years winning by scores of 38-17, 45-24, and 45-14. Stanford had Notre Dame’s number before that, winning 7 out of the last 9 match-ups from 2009-2017. Now, let’s take a look back at some of the most notable match-ups in this rivalry’s history. 1925 - Notre Dame 27, Stanford 10 - In the first match-up of this rivalry, Notre Dame and Stanford met in the Rose Bowl. In this game, Stanford turned the ball over 8 different times and Notre Dame capitalized on those mistakes. This game also marked the end for the Irish’s Four Horsemen: Jim Crowley, Elmer Layden, Don Miller, and Harry Stuhldreher. 1990 - #1 Notre Dame 31, Stanford 36 - Stanford took down #1 Notre Dame in Notre Dame Stadium two years after the Irish got their 11th National Championship. Notre Dame looked like they were on their way to another national championship, but Stanford spoiled that hope by going into South Bend and upsetting the first ranked Irish. 2003 - Notre Dame 57, Stanford 7 - This game was the largest margin of victory for Notre Dame in the rivalry’s history. Notre Dame started the game off hot in Palo Alto with a 34-0 lead going into halftime. Stanford scored their only touchdown of the game early into the 3rd quarter. Notre Dame had their highest scoring quarter in the 3rd putting up 23. 2012 - #7 Notre Dame 20, #17 Stanford 13 - This game is known as the best game in the rivalry. A game that went into overtime at Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish made the famous goal line stand in overtime stopping Stephon Taylor 4 times on the goal line. Manti Te'o helped lead the stop at the goal line and helped lead the Irish to the national championship. 2018 - #8 Notre Dame 38, #7 Stanford 17 - The highest ranked match-up in this rivalry featured a one sided game in South Bend. One of the only games played where both teams were ranked, the Irish dominated for all 4 quarters. Ian Book threw for 278 yards and 4 touchdowns in Notre Dame’s 21-point win. For the 36th time, Notre Dame (3-2) and Stanford (1-4) will meet in South Bend, IN at Notre Dame Stadium. They will face off at 7:30 PM EST under the lights on NBC. The Irish have won 3 straight games and look to win the 4th in a row Saturday night. The Irish are 17-point favorites and look to continue their offensive domination they have displayed the past 2 games. If you like reading these, check out other articles on the Irish Tribune. Go Irish, Beat Stanford The Irish Tribune Photo from USA Today

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-2) will host the Stanford Cardinals (1-4) on Saturday, as Notre Dame seeks to continue their winning streak. Despite winning the last three games against Stanford, this is a rivalry game for both programs. Notre Dame won last year’s game 45-14, behind an impressive performance from Jack Coan and Kyren Williams. Those players are no longer with the program, so Notre Dame looks for Drew Pyne to lead this team to victory once more. Coach Freeman had this to say on Thursday… “Drew has never lacked confidence. Now that you're adding the execution with it, that confidence can be infectious to the whole team. You know what, it's even more infectious when things go bad and things aren't going your way. The confident quarterback that everyone believes in is now the one saying everything is going to be OK. When you do have success, he's the one saying pile it on and this is the way we play. It's really good to see. You now have some of the execution and production to go along with the confidence Drew Pyne has always had. That's what you want out of your quarterback." Series History 1925- Notre Dame 27-10 1942- Notre Dame 27-0 1963- Stanford 24-14 1964- Notre Dame 28-6 1988- Notre Dame 42-14 1989- Notre Dame 27-17 1990- Stanford 36-31 1991- Notre Dame 42-26 1992- Stanford 33-16 1993- Notre Dame 48-20 1994- Notre Dame 34-15 1997- Stanford 33-15 1998- Notre Dame 35-17 1999- Stanford 40-37 2000- Notre Dame 20-14 2001- Stanford 17-13 2002- Notre Dame 31-7 2003- Notre Dame 57-7 2004- Notre Dame 23-15 2005- Notre Dame 38-31 2006- Notre Dame 31-10 2007- Notre Dame 21-14 2008- Notre Dame 28-21 2009- Stanford 45-38 2010- Stanford 37-14 2011- Stanford 28-14 2012- Notre Dame 20-13 2013- Stanford 27-20 2014- Notre Dame 17-14 2015- Stanford 38-36 2016- Stanford 17-10 2017- Stanford 38-20 2018- Notre Dame 38-17 2019- Notre Dame 45-24 2021- Notre Dame 45-14 Notre Dame 22 ~ Stanford 13 Game Details Date: Saturday, October 15 Time: 7:30 PM ET Where to Watch: NBC/Peacock Breaking Down Stanford The Cardinals are led by head coach David Shaw, who owns a 94-49 overall record, and is 5-5 versus the Irish. After dominating his opponents the first couple of seasons of his tenure, David Shaw’s football program has struggled in recent seasons to maintain that level of success. Despite this recent down-turn in the program, Stanford has a history of producing NFL talent: Ed McCaffrey (Broncos), John Lynch (Buccaneers and Broncos), John Elway (Broncos), Andrew Luck (Colts), Richard Sherman (Seahawks), Christian McCaffrey (Panthers), and David DeCastro (Steelers). Needless to say, the Cardinals should not be overlooked going into this game on Saturday, but it is a game the Irish should win. Stacking Up Notre Dame vs North Carolina 3 Offensive Players to Know Tanner McKee— QB #18 2022 Stats: 1249 passing yards, 10 touchdowns; -56 rushing yards; 1 touchdown Benjamin Yurosek — TE #84 2022 Stats: 134 receiving yards Michael Wilson— WR #4 2022 Stats: 352 receiving yards, 4 touchdowns; 40 rushing yards 3 Defensive Players to Know Levani Damuni— LB #3 2022 Stats: 34 tackles, 2 passes defended Patrick Fields — S #24 2022 Stats: 27 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 passes defended Kyu Blu Kelly — CB #17 2022 Stats: 12 tackles, 1 passes defended 📷 credit: @stanfordfball on Instagram Final Take If Notre Dame is going to beat Stanford this Saturday, they must score often, pressure the quarterback, and take away the 50-50 balls thrown to the Cardinal's tall receivers. This will be a difficult task, especially as the Irish lost Bo Bauer for the season during practice this week. Coach Freeman had this to say… “Bo will be out for the year. Sustained a knee injury in practice on Tuesday, which is devastating just because he’s a captain and he provides so much more than just production. Just the energy, the ability to motivate our players, it’ll be a tremendous loss for us.” Coach Freeman mentioned a few names that might fill the hole left by Bauer… “I would think for sure you will see more Prince Kollie, who played really well last game. Junior, I think we'll see more of Junior too. I think we'll see him play in a couple of different packages and increase his role. As far as Jaylen, it's still to be determined. He's continued to get better. I don't see him being a part of the defensive package for this game, but he's going to have the opportunity as the year goes on to try to play some more.” Irish fans wish Bo a speedy recovery and good luck as he now prepares for next year’s NFL draft. Despite this loss, it is time for new leaders to step up and provide the emotional fire that fans loved about Bo. If the Irish can overcome yet another lost captain on Saturday, they should be able to come out victoriously. Go Irish! Follow “God Country Irish” on Instagram Follow “God Country Irish” on Twitter Contact God Country Irish

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels last Saturday with a dominating performance. After giving up a touchdown to North Carolina on the opening drive, Notre Dame’s defense responded by forcing three straight punts. The Irish offense found its groove during the second quarter and put up points on the following six drives. They later added three more scores to win the game 45-32. Coach Marcus Freeman had this to say following the game… “Well, obviously, extremely happy for our group of guys and our coaching staff to go out and play the entirety of a game and they played really, really well. We played really well. And the beauty of it is there's always room to get better. We can go and we can learn from a lot of situations that happened in the game. They're playing better, they're practicing better. And that's the challenge. Continue to get better. And it was good to see the performance today.” Even though North Carolina’s defense was not very good, Irish fans should walk away from this game encouraged by the identity this offense is starting to show on Saturdays. Quarterback Drew Pyne appears to have found his role in this offense and was the clear leader of this team last Saturday. This football team has to feel good about a 2-2 record going into the bye week. Players of the Game Michael Mayer Michael Mayer is Drew Pyne’s favorite target as he caught seven passes for eighty-eight yards and a touchdown. After failing to score in the first quarter, Mayer provided the spark that this team needed to get this offense going. Coach Freeman had this to say about his All-American tight end… “He's a beast, man. 87 is a heck of a football player. And you're a fool if you don't find ways to get the ball in his hands, and we found unique ways. I think we ran him on a jet sweep today. And you wouldn't think 87's getting the ball on a jet sweep. It's going to make a DB think twice about coming in there and tackling him. But he's a guy that can do so many different things for you. He sets the standard for how we prepare. He's a captain. He's a leader who raises the play of those guys in his room. That's why what you'll see is you'll see those young guys step up because Michael Mayer is the one making sure that you know everybody's going to perform to a standard. Everybody's got a standard and everybody's going to have to learn. And so, this is good to see his leadership capabilities.” Running Backs Christ Tyree, Audric Estime, and Logan Diggs formed a three-headed running back monster last Saturday against the Tar Heels. Memory suggests that Notre Dame has not had a running back trio this talented since Theo Riddick, Cierre Wood, and Josh Adams played several years ago. All three running backs bring unique skills to the offense and it showed against North Carolina. Even though Michael Mayer provided the spark, Tyree (104 yards), Estime (134 yards), and Diggs (115 yards) fueled the offensive production last Saturday. Both Tyree and Diggs had one touchdown and Estime contributed two more scores on the ground, despite a late-game fumble at the goal line. After the game, Coach Freeman had this to say about the running backs… “I think more so (it was) the rhythm of the game, and it was good to have Logan (Diggs) back. He had a good week of practice, but your ability to use those three in different ways. Listen, when we lost Kevin (Bauman) this week, we knew we were going to have to be kind of strategic in terms of what personnel we were going to use. And to have a guy like Chris Tyree that you can use in the backfield, use in the slot, do some different things with, it really opens up things for our offense. And so, again, they were just going on a roll. You know, credit to coach (Deland) McCullough who's done a great job with that group, the unselfishness of that group, it was really good to see today.” 📷 Credit: @ndfootball on Instagram Final Take The game against North Carolina showed that this team is starting to buy into Marcus Freeman’s vision for this football team. Irish fans must hope that the coaching staff will use this during the bye week to correct areas of concern and continue this winning momentum moving forward. If so, this team has the potential to be a matchup nightmare for the remainder of the college football season. Go Irish! Follow “God Country Irish” on Instagram Contact God Country Irish

Notre Dame is on the brink of its best two-year recruiting stretch since Lou Holtz was coach. It’s not just the top-level talent Marcus Freeman is bringing to Notre Dame, it’s the overall depth of this class that makes it unique. Yes, the Irish staff needs to find a quarterback after missing out on Dante Moore, but this staff is proving they have a knack for identifying talent. The most recent recruits prove this to be the case. Brian Kelly was responsible for sending several Irish players to the NFL, but many fans believe he could have done better on the recruiting trail. Marcus Freeman is proving this to be true with his most recent recruiting success. We remember Charlie Weiss for his top recruiting classes and being able to land top-rated players. Yet, he seemed to not be able to round out his classes with lower-rated recruits that added quality depth. Marcus Freeman appears to be doing both with the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes. Most Recent Commitments Jaiden Ausberry 2023 Linebacker — 6’1, 210 lbs University Lab High School (Baton Rouge, LA) Rivals- 4 star; ESPN- 4 star; 247 Sports- 4 star; On3- 4 star Hudl Film Despite being slightly undersized, Jaiden is the type of linebacker that Marcus Freeman loves. He has a nose for the football, tackles well, and has that “it” factor that you desire in a recruit. After watching the film, his instincts and tackling angles appear to be advanced for his age. He may need a year or two in the strength and conditioning program, but when his time comes, Jaiden is going to shine. Ben Minich 2023 Safety — 5’11, 185 lbs Lakota West High School (West Chester, OH) Rivals- 3 star; ESPN- 4 star; 247 Sports- 4 star; On3- 3 star Hudl Film Ben has a knack for showing up around the football. He lacks the ideal size you would like to see in a current college safety, but he makes up for that with good ball skills and a high football I.Q. He is an ideal special teams player and should have an opportunity to play at some point in his career. He will need a couple of years in the strength and conditioning program to add much-needed muscle, but that should not be a problem under Matt Balis. Dylan Edwards 2023 Athlete — 5’9, 165 lbs Derby High School (Derby, KS) Rivals- 4 star; ESPN- 4 star; 247 Sports- 4 star; On3- 4 star Hudl Film There is only one word that comes to mind when you think about Dylan: Speed. Dylan is a very fast player and that stands out immediately. His change of direction and natural feel for running lanes makes him a threat to score every time he touches the football. He will need to add muscle and weight, but he should be able to make an impact on special teams when he steps on campus. Peter Jones 2024 Offensive Lineman — 6’5, 289 lbs Malvern Preparatory School (Malvern, PA) Rivals- 4 star; ESPN- 4 star; 247 Sports- 4 star; On3- 4 star Hudl Film Peter plays with advanced technique and power. It is not surprising that Harry Hiestand identified and wanted him in this class. Peter projects to play tackle or guard at Notre Dame. He has the frame to add ideal weight and muscle to play the position in college. Peter should be a two to three-year starter at Notre Dame and be a reliable part of the offensive line for CJ Carr. Photo Credit: @ndfootball on Instagram Final Take With the help of his staff, Marcus Freeman has put together a 2023 recruiting class filled with starters, potential starters, and overall quality depth. Even though Peter Jones is the first offensive lineman commit in the 2024 class, Freeman and company are off to a quick start with the number one class in the nation. Again, we have seen great players come through Notre Dame, but with this 2023 and 2024 class, we are beginning to see something truly special. It is yet to be known if Marcus Freeman can lead Notre Dame to a championship, but these recruiting classes are how a team gets there. It is truly a new era under Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame. Go Irish! Follow “God Country Irish” on Instagram Contact God Country Irish