JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat Oct. 15, 2025

Notre Dame Football Live Chat Oct. 15, 2025

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Eric Hansen

12:04

If USC is committing to getting the ball out quick, the oversimplified answer to a question that calls or an elongated one is try to make those short throws difficult, with your coverages, with disguising your looks, with really good tackling. USC is one of the most penalized teams, so when they get behind the chains, you really have to take advantage of that. ... I asked Marcus Freeman about Leonard Moore re Lemon on Monday. And of course, he's not going to spell it out for USC. My sense is Moore does not start out on Lemon. But I wouldn't be surprised if those two did go head to head intermittently. The Thursday health update re nickel DeVonta Smith is worth tracking.

11:57

Hi Marie. The buzz usually starts building on campus about Thursday. And I am sure it'll be a fun vibe. I don't know that Notre Dame has to put up a lot of points early and get into a track meet, but they do have to play with the lead or within one score. To do that, they're going to have to be strong on BOTH sides of the ball and not turn the ball over. We're deep enough into the season now, where team's weaknesses on film are more apparent, and that should help the offense. I think there's confidence on the coaching staff's part they can find the cracks in the USC defense. (more)

Marie from Atlanta

11:53

Hi Eric, I hope you’re enjoying all the excitement on campus for the big game this weekend. It seems like it will be very important for the offense to get off to a good start on Saturday night, I feel like if they can get ahead of USC early that might help deflate USC a little bit. The last two games the offense has started slowly. What do you think the offense needs to do to be sure to get off to a fast start? I was able to watch a lot of the USC Michigan game, one of the things USC did a lot was have Maiava get the ball out quickly much like Carson Beck did in the Miami game. We saw how poorly the defense responded to that during the Miami game, what adjustments do you think the defense needs to make to handle this better this time around? Finally, what do you think We’ll see more of, Leonard Moore on Lemon or bracketing of Lemon? As always, thanks for hosting the chats and all the excellent insights.

Eric Hansen

11:53

Hi Andy!! Doing and feeling well. Thank you. I hope to have an update on that situation yet this week. No promises. But here's what I think. I think it will continue on, just not annually and not always on the football calendar where we're used to seeing it. That's a hunch and not a scoop, to be transparent. The Montana-MacAfee combo is a REALLY high bar. MacAfee to me is No. 1 on the list of some really great tight ends who have worn the gold helmet. Anyone in that particular discussion needs to have a national title on their résumé.

Andy from Wilmette via South Bend

11:48

Good day Eric!!!...Doing well? Feeling well? Boo!! to games on Peacock. They don't make it easy to watch. OK, it's USC week!!! Questions 1: Will ND stop playing USC? What a shame - so many memorable games. My first USC game was in 1977, #5 USC vs #11 ND. ND went through warm ups in the blue jerseys, went into the locker room and came out of the tunnel following a Trojan Horse, wearing the Green Machine Jersey’s. (At the pep rally the night before, Digger said "if Willie Fry wants us to wear green, we wear green"). First ever Green Jersey game. Noon that day, 12 year old me was raking leaves with my dad when he got a call from his boss saying he had 2 tix on the 50 for a 1pm kickoff. We jumped in the car and drove to the stadium just in time for warmups. Montana to McAfee cleaned their clock that day, 49-19. So much scoring...what a game!!! Question 2: Do you think CJ Carr (aka “Jet”) and Eli Raridon can be as dynamic as those 2 were? Go Irish Beat Trojans!

Eric Hansen

11:46

Jim, thank you for the kind words and for you confidence that I can predict the second-least predictable thing that I've experience in my life. 1. Least predictable -- teenagers. 2. Least predictable South Bend weather. Especially THAT time of year, it could be 55 one day and 35 the next. Here's my thinking. You're likely going to be outside for a long time, whether you tailgate or not. If you are cold, you are going to be miserable. You can always take the parka off or unzip it. And if you get up here and need a lighter jacket, I'd be happy to lend you one out of my closet. I keep extras.

Guest

11:39

Jim in Anthony TX. Eric, I really enjoy these chats for all the insights on the FB team. Thanks to my daughter, '94 will be coming up from far West Texas for the Navy game and then the WBB game on Sunday. I'm a little long in the tooth now, (saw Otto Graham play a series in what was probably the last College All-star game), so my question has nothing to do with FB or BB, but the weather. Given your many years of experience covering Indiana sports in all types of weather, do you think I'll need to pack the parka or just roll the dice? Thanks a million and pls keep the chats going!

Eric Hansen

11:38

Also what kind of muddles the picture is the committee members aren't the same as they were five years ago or 10 years ago. And the directive and objectives change too. So, we'll get you back up to speed. ... You made the right move on honoring your mom and going with her to the party. We need to take advantage of every opportunity to make memories with them while we can. ... But I have an idea. Maybe intermittently during the party you could become so overcome with emotion that the priest is leaving that you need to excuse yourself? Then head outside for a few minutes and watch on your phone?

11:33

Shane, yes busy, but a fun busy. As far as what the committee REALLY considers, I think there's a gulf between what they do look at and what the public thinks they look at. So, ahead of the first ratings release, I plan to go over all of that in my weekly Behind The Ballot column. But the criteria is way more comprehensive than people think. And how you do offensive and/or defensively against you opponent vs. how they normally perform is a key metric. But no one is going to be impressed if you have your No. 1 offense in against the No. 4 defense in a 70-0 win over Northern Idaho Tech, for instance.

Shane from White Deer, Tx

11:25

Hey Eric, I bet USC week is keeping you busy, thanks for taking time to do these chats. Are style points back in vogue now? There was a time I thought that teams were sorta of supposed to let off the gas as it were. Also, do you think the offense scoring more points, or the defense allowing fewer points impresses the committee more? On a personal note, I have to take my mom to our priest’s going away party Saturday evening. The last USC game I missed was the Bush Push game. I hope I’m not jinxing this team. Full disclosure, I was skipping the party until my mom wanted to go. She’s 85, couldn’t say no. Go Irish!!

Eric Hansen

Thanks again for meeting up with us.

11:24

Where you can get some advanced metrics is Pro Football Focus and the film grades, Not only do they give you kind of general grades, they'll give you situational ones. And since it's subjective, they can give it more of a gymnastics degree of difficulty look to theirs.

11:22

Hi Jeff. It was great to meet up with you and Helen .. .and even Tyler James LOL. Seriously, that was great. And thanks for acting as my agent today! Your question is interesting, but I can only answer the pass-efficiency formula part, because that's the one I use. I don't pay attention to the QBR. In the pass-efficiency rating, the four main elements are yards per attempt, completion rate, interception rate and TD pass frequency. And as simple as that sounds, it holds up really well. (more)

Jeff from Phoenix

Eric! Another thanks for you and Tyler taking the time to meet up last week. To my fellow chatters, as smart as he is on all things ND football he is an even more genuine and gracious guy to have a beer with and chat up in person. And now a question, does either the QBR rating or the pass efficiency rating take into account the difficulty of the pass attempts that Carr is making? To make an analogy, in a gymnast performance the final score is a combination of the routine difficulty and the execution. So many of his throws seem to be into tight coverage, something not seen in many years. Or am I overstating his passing talent? Thanks-

11:17

Eric Hansen

11:17

Hi Mike. I just Googled Camore, because I had never heard of it. If it's the town in Canada, wow. Breathtaking. ... and great question. How we in the media write about the portal rules can get confusing, and they change every year, it seems. So here's the bottom line for what applies now: There's a 15-day window for players to leave in light of a head coaching change. Here's now it works. it STARTS five days after the NEW coach is announced/hired, not five days after the old coach is ousted. So, those players won't be hitting the portal now or anytime soon.

Mike from Canmore

11:13

When can current Penn State players enter the portal? If immediate, do you think Notre Dame will legitimately pursue any of them? I thought its been reported on this site that there were / are changes to the rules that allow players to enter the portal when there's change in the head coach of their program.

Eric Hansen

11:13

David! I have to tell you. Your Twitter-verse and mine are on two different planets apparently. I have no idea what you're talking about. Zero. Maybe I am misunderstanding the question. But we've had scads of stories at blueandgold.com about what went wrong and what's gone right since in real time. I hope you'll find that helpful. If you want to take another stab at the question, maybe it'll get through my thick skull. But you might as well have asked it in Mandarin, because I don't think what you're assuming ever happened. Sorry.

David - NY

11:10

Eric! Thanks as always for the chats. I’m loving the progress the team is making and the defense in particular. With all the twitter-verse commentary that the reason the D struggled in the first two games was because significant changes were made post camp during Miami game prep, I just can’t make sense of what drove that. And now that we have settled back in on D the first few games just feel like even more of a head-scratcher. Do we know what drove the changes toward the end of preseason practice?

Eric Hansen

11:09

As far as Peacock and Canada, I'm sorry that happened. There is a workaround, but I can't remember what it is. I usually get asked about it a lot. This is the first year I did not. You are welcome to drive down and watch it at my house. I got Peacock for free and didn't even know it as a perk for something else I signed up for.

11:07

Kevin, I missed it? Thank you for the sentiment. I will never pass up a chance to eat turkey, unless that's not what is eaten at Canadian Thanksgiving. Then ribs will suffice. .... Jadarian Price will have his Notre Dame degree and will have one more year of eligibility because of the one he lost to the ruptured Achilles his freshman year. I suppose if there's one running back who might buck the trend ... but I am not sure why. Running back is THE position where tread on the tires matter. Coming out early makes sense and Price is already on the NFL's radar -- big time. Analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has Jeremiyah Love as the No. 1 RB in the 2026 draft and Price No. 3. So, now what do you think? And bringing two RBs in, in the 2026 class also hints what ND thinks he's going to do. (more)

Kevin from Calgary

11:00

Eric, a belated Canadian Thanksgiving! (We celebrate it earlier because winter arrives here a lot sooner). A couple questions for you, first, you made a comment two weeks ago which concerned me. You said in response to someone asking about Love and Price getting all the reps that you wouldn't be surprised to see Aneyas Williams and Nolan James as ND's one-two punch next year. Clearly Love will be entering the draft, but do you think it's also a given Price will too? Would be great to have him for another season. Second, Does ND not care about its Canadian fans? With no Peacock up here and TSN+ not picking up the game I was left to follow the action by waiting for the (tediously) slow online updates of each play, which sometimes showed up five minutes apart. I know there's little you can do, so that was more just me venting. Keep up the great work!

Eric Hansen

10:58

What the sophomore DE does very well is tackle and play the run, and that's where he's showing up on tape. I think the anticipation was his pass rush grade would be off the charts, and it's tepid. So maybe that's creating the perception. Understandably. He's also in a pretty deep rotation with Jordan Botelho and Josh Burnham. All those things factor in, but he is improving, bottom line. Just not loudly.

10:56

HI Dave. I get this question a lot (outside of this chat too), and at first I thought it was the change in uniform numbers, from 30 to 95. But now I realize maybe it's that he is not aligning with some people's preseason expectations? Here are the raw numbers, though, and then I can put this into context. His Pro Football Focus overall season film grade is up 16 points over last year. That's a major leap. He did not have his best game against NC State on Saturday, but still did some things well. (more)

Dave ,Ponte Vedra, FL

10:51

Great watching the young players improve from week to week. On the other hand, Bryce Young has all but disappeared. What’s happened to him?

Eric Hansen

10:51

John, thanks for listening and thanks for the compliments. And if you're going to make steak for me, I'm going to put a For Sale sign in my neighbor's yard. Or show him this note and get him to make me a steak. In any event, we'd love to get Jeff Samardzija on at some point this season. For this week, would you settle for Lou Holtz?

John Elkhorn, Ne.

10:49

Hey Eric - thanks a lot for the podcast with Zibby! Terrific! Living here in Nebraska, I was so glad he came to ND. I’m a follower now of St. Pats football. Would love to live next door to you and Mr. Zbikowski. Steaks on me. Hope you a get the “ shark “ on next. I am fortunate enough to get to one game a year as a 75 year old. Was at Boise State. Great health & happiness for your family.

Eric Hansen

10:48

His confidence in the play/concept and what he's seen on film as a vulnerability in the opposition is the No. 1 reason for Marcus Freeman's confidence. But increasingly the surge of the defense makes that a more comforting gamble to make.

10:47

Manny!!!!!!!!!!!!! Marcus Freeman is as invested of a head coach in special teams as there is in college football. In may, he and Marty Biagi spent a lot of time scheming things for this year, just to get a head start. He's also created a culture where not only do the best players on the team play on special teams, THEY WANT special teams duty. They're not doing so reluctantly. I had a chance to talk with special teams coordinator Marty Biagi last night. (more)

Manny from san pedro

10:45

Eric!!!!!!!! Halloween is a few weeks away but hoping for no tricks Saturday night unless it’s us running trick plays on special teams. What makes Freeman so confident in running these trick plays. Is it scheme or he is that confident that if it fails our defense will set up?

Eric Hansen

10:44

Hi Riu. There is an On3 national pundit who is talking about what coaches Penn State might be interested in, but context is important here. As Austin Powers once said, "I want a toilet seat of solid gold, but it's just not in the cards, is it?" I think that pretty much sums up any thoughts of MUTUAL interest. ... And I think it's adorable you think I'm high enough on the On3 food chain to put a stop to that. But thank you. I'll do my part by laughing with you. ... I'll try to simplify your question by saying, the better Miami, Texas A&M do and the better USC does after this week, the stronger case a 10-2 ND team would have. And you could say that about all the opponents. With very little common data points when comparing teams, something like now Arkansas does against the balance of its SEC schedule creates a perception. As far as other teams and their games, that's migraine-inducing at this point to calculate that.

Rui, Ossining NY

Other than rooting for UMiami and A&M, what other teams do we need to "root" for to make sure that we get into playoffs should we win out?

10:37

On3 is putting out information about Freeman and Penn State interest in pursing him for their vacancy...we dont need this right now...please put a stop to it ASAP lol

Eric Hansen

10:36

Let's get started.

All I ask is No 17-part questions and No manifestos.

You can bend any of them this week, including the dreaded No Bare Feet rule.

10:35

These were once the unbendable rules.