JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Dec. 10, 2025

Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Dec. 10, 2025

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Eric Hansen

1:03

I hope to talk to a source later in the week about portal targets, and I think colleague Mike Singer might have something on that sooner. I will say they are guarded about specifics, but not as much about positions. Interior D-line makes sense, maybe tight end, maybe boundary receiver. Kicker/punter makes sense to compete with Erik Schmidt. Maybe a nickel if they like Dallas Golden as a regular cornerback. And then replacing someone if there's a surprise somewhere. As far as Miami, I believe the Miami game will be played at Notre Dame Stadium on Nov. 7, 2026.

12:58

Scott!!! Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!! That elicited a belly laugh so hard, I think I pulled something, but I will survived it!!! Wow. If you ever get tired of doing whatever you do in South Carolina, come join our Blue & Gold team. That was outstanding. Now I know you had some questions sprinkled in there, so let me get to those. There are always some portal surprises and there are some NFL decisions to be made beyond Love and Price, but you could have as many as 7 on offense and 11 on defense technically IF Burnham comes back and you count him as a starter (he was at the end of the year), and if Onye gets a sixth year (and you're not counting Rubio). But I don't think it will be all 11. But lots of talent coming back on this team. (more)

Scott, Greenville, SC

12:51

ERIC!!! Not losing sleep over not getting in the CFP. I was worried about that a couple weeks ago, but I have to laugh at the nonsensical response from the Committee chair. Made no sense. What I'm really interested in is, how many starters are coming back next year; what position will ND look at in the portal; and can ND play Miami in November? They got us in late August so its only fair that we get them when weather works to our advantage. I expect whenever that game is played, the stadium is going to be LOUD! Can we invite the ACC chair to the game as well? Do I sound bitter? Maybe, but I fully expect to see Bama, Miami, and the other two teams that got in over ND to lose during the 1st week of the playoffs. Not sure of the names, but I think I'll watch the Westminster Dog Show reruns. I wonder if ESPN pulls for any dogs? I think there is a poodle named Bama and a Shitzu named Miami that got in due to some late politicking. I heard Herby and Fowler are doing the show. Not bitter.

Eric Hansen

12:50

Tom, thank you. I have not gone down the road of verifying that kind of info yet, but there's value in that eventually. Not to pile on to what was a flawed process. But to fix it, we do need to know the extent of how broken things are. And that's a key component of it. Certainly something that will get my attention in terms of looking into.

Guest

12:48

Tom from Parker Colorado. Hi Eric, thanks for all you do! Happy Holidays to you and yours!! ND AD said they felt confident they were in the CFP, was that based solely on the weekly ratings? Read something last week, think on B&G, that conferences have the opportunity to talk with the CFP committee weekly after ratings are announced. The point of the article was ND was hearing good things about their standing/performance in that platform as well. Think Powlus represented ND after the Stanford game. Curious if ND was being played there as well? Thanks.

Eric Hansen

12:48

MikeD. Thank you!! There are numbers and a lot of talent in the wide receiver group. I think the slot receiver and outside field receiver position are loaded. The question is what to make of the boundary, where you lose Fields and have Micah Gilbert, Cam Williams and Jerome Bettis Jr., coming back. I would imagine Devin Fitzgerald eventually profiles in that spot, but he's 185 pounds currently. So I think ND has to at least browse and see if there's someone comparable to Malachi Fields out there. If not, then they believe Gilbert and Cam will rise to the occasion. So browse, but not necessarily commit to it unless it's too good to pass up.

MikeD from Rochester NY

12:43

Hi, Eric, what a crazy/shocking week for ND football!!!!! With Fields and Pauling gone, do you think they go to portal again? Or are they confident in the young talent they have at those two positions? How about nickel back? Wish we’d had Devonta Smith healthy all season; did Golden and Hobbs show enough during the season to be ready to step in? BTW your ballot was way more well-reasoned and balanced than the one the committee pulled out of that place where the sun doesn’t shine!

Eric Hansen

12:39

Jonathan!!!!! Thanks, and I think you connected the dots well. As I mentioned in the column, the SEC would have been interested in at least having a conversation ahead of the ND-ACC union that rolled out in 2014. That sentiment was expressed to then-AD Jack Swarbrick after the fact. I don't think anything is in the works, but I think those conversations could ignite whenever it might be appropriate, formally or informally. There are legal entanglements, and I think Pete Bevacqua just wants to let the temperature come down and give this some time to give appropriate thought to. So, not an inevitability but I wouldn't dismiss it as idle chatter. And it should be explored.

Jonathan in Addison, TX

12:31

Eric!!! Appreciated your coverage of the Bevacqua presser. My takeaways from your article: (1) Pete will do all within his power to make sure this debacle doesn’t happen again. (2) Now is not the time for Pete to talk to the ACC. (3) He’s talking with the SEC instead. Do you think these statements add up to what they imply? If so, what you think ND and the SEC can do to make sure it doesn’t happen again? Do you think such things are in the works already? I know you don’t like to speculate. But Pete and your article seemed to lay these dots out for connecting.

Eric Hansen

12:31

Well-played, Jack. CFP selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek's comments both the Tuesday of the penultimate rankings and on Sunday lacked both logic and integrity.

Jack Hopkins Auburn, AL

12:29

Why has zero ND spokespersons, including Pete, not ask the question - if the head of the playoff committee asked the members to rewatch the ND v Miami game this past weekend, why didn't he ask those same members to rewatch the Alabama v F$U game?

Eric Hansen

12:28

Now where ND fell short was identifying the growing pains on defense and with the offensive line earlier and fixing them to a large extend in training camp. So that August evaluative process needs to be revamped, and I don't think Marcus Freeman would argue that. Still, were talking two losses by a total of 4 points to two teams in the playoff field.

12:27

Hey Matt. I actually did ask Marcus Freeman this question back in September, and I think there are some inherent reasons for it that can't be fixed and some that could have. Having a starting QB with 4 college snaps under his belt could only be fixed if you were going to go with more experience, either Steve Angeli or a transfer portal QB, and then do you get CJ Carr to stay? There's also a baked-in set of growing pains with a new defensive coordinator. (more)

Matt Plymouth MN

12:20

A request...please ask Marcus Freeman what went wrong in having the team ready to play for the first couple of games this season? Do you have any insight on this in the meantime?

Eric Hansen

12:20

"Everybody has eyes on Marcus,” Bevacqua said. “College has eyes on Marcus. NFL has eyes on Marcus. I bet Hollywood has eyes on Marcus. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in the next Leo DiCaprio movies with Martin Scorsese.
“Marcus is Marcus. All the credit to him, he deserves it. He is the absolute best coach in the country for Notre Dame, full stop. One of the greatest college coaches in the country. People forget how young he is. So, I get it. I get it. That’s a compliment to him and his success and the way he represents himself and the way he prepares and who he is and how he talks.
“It’s one of my main obligations and responsibilities to this university: to make sure Marcus wakes up every day knowing that he is supported and valued by Notre Dame. And I can say with 100% certainty he feels that way."

12:19

As far as Marcus getting interest from the NFL and elsewhere, as long as he's successful, that's never going to stop. And I think Pete Bevacqua framed it well in the press conference Tuesday. You can find the full quote in my column, but here's a little bit of it:

12:16

People have already taken their side on whether they thought Notre Dame got the shaft or they want to portray the Irish as a bunch of spoiled brats. And no one is budging. At least no one with the power to change anything. So, at the appropriate time, Marcus will speak and I imagine it will be pretty measured at first and powerful eventually. But you have to think about what the end game is here. (more)

12:14

Bishop, I do think you are overthinking it, but given what's happened in the past week of so, I don't blame you for trusting that the sky isn't still falling. So, I love the question. And if this sounds like I'm admonishing you, I am not. Let's put the NFL stuff aside for a second and just focus on Marcus Freeman not speaking to the media at this point. You have to look at what would that accomplish? He doesn't want to be a victim. He'd rather be a catalyst for change. Positive change. And to come up with the solutions that will better the College Football Playoff system and Notre Dame's place in it is going to take some time and careful thought. (more)

Bishop

12:09

From south bend, is it strange we haven’t heard from coach freeman? Is he contemplating other offers from the NFL? Just seems odd to me we haven’t seen or heard from the head coach of the most talked about team in college football right now. Maybe just overthinking it. Thanks for all your insight. Go Irish ☘️

Eric Hansen

OK off we go ...

12:06

None of them apply to today. BUT no 17-part questions. I will allow mini-manifestos, as long as they are entertaining.

Here are the rules ... typically.

12:05

PLEASE include you NAME and HOMETOWN along with your question(s). If you want top use restraint with your exclamation points this week, I get it.

As far as this week's chat ...

12:04

Finally, we're going to continue these weekly chats through December as long as there's interest and new to discuss, which I anticipate there will be.

► The Inside ND Sports Podcast has been rebranded as the Third & Gold Podcast. Going forward the pod will be available on all the podcast places you found us before as well as our YouTube Channel. On our most recent episode, we caught up with OG recruiting analyst Tom Lemming of the Prep Football Report to talk about Notre Dame’s just-signed No. 2 recruiting class, a look at the 2027 class being built and much more. The next episode will drop later this week.

12:03

► If you missed the last episode of our aspiring-to-be-viral Notre Dame Football YouTube show, Football Never Sleeps, what are you doing with your life? Seriously, the show keeps its shelf life long after the live presentation, so you can catch up now or later on our YouTube channel. We’ll be back next week and every week, Monday at 7 p.m. ET, for another presentation of Football Never Sleeps with Tyler James co-hosting with me. And check out some great shows on the Blue & Gold YouTube channel as well, including the Notre Dame Football Show, live on Tuesday nights.

12:02

► On July 1, Tyler James and I made the move to the On3 network and blueandgold.com and joined some amazing teammates. It’s proven to be a great move for us and, I believe, for our subscribers as well. And if you’re a potential first-time subscriber, you can take a short test drive for $1. With that, you get all of our premium content, plus all the value you get from a national team of writers and content creators, as well as access to every team site in the On3 network. Check it out at: https://www.on3.com/teams/notre-dame-fighting-irish/join/.

12:01

First, some quick programming notes:

12:00

Welcome to Notre Dame Football Live Chat, and perhaps a most "egregious" version.

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