JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Sept. 16, 2026

Notre Dame Football Live Chat | Sept. 16, 2026

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Roger from Peoria

12:24

Eric: Even though I am 1/2 Italian I cannot do la chiacchierare with you as others d0. Whilst, my other 1/2 German does not enable me to schnacken with you either, I will stay with plain ol' English. There appears to be some angst among Irish fans over the running game, and in particular Aneyas Williams. Focus to this point on his 2026 low average yards per carry and questioning if he can break runs. Certainly not a Love or Price, but I believe his 2025 average per carry was over 9 yards. I am excited about the entire RB room, but am not ready to give up on Aneyas, What say you? Thank you for the chats and understanding that sometimes chatters, like offensive linemen, have false starts. Argh!! and GO IRISH!!

Eric Hansen

12:23

I am not advocating for it, just explaning it. There are two big advantages. It's easy to run RPOs out of that formation. And for some backs and QBs it gives them better vision to see creases in the defense and let the blocks set up. But again, under center is going to be an option that makes sense to use at some points in the season, maybe not a 52-0 game, though. ... And thanks for your private message. It's much appreciated.

12:21

Hi Mr. King of Rochester, NY!!!!! Let me kind of back into your question. Just because you haven't seen the amount of under-center snaps you were hoping for doesn't mean Notre Dame doesn't keep it in the playbook and won't use it. I think they will and I think it will be effective, and it won't just be in short yardage. But your broader question is why ever run in short yardage out of the gun, right? (more)

Jim from Rochester, NY

12:17

Hi Mr. King of the ND reporters hill!!! I was very happy to hear that Carr was going to be taking some snaps from under center this year. I was hoping that would mean some short yardage quarterback sneaks. It appears I was overly optimistic about that. Except for when Mitchell Evans was the tight end and would take some direct snaps on short yardage, ND seems to be stubbornly against that possibility. Instead of a very high percentage play, they prefer to have the ball snapped 5 yards in the backfield to gain a couple of inches. Could you help me to make sense of that please??????

Eric Hansen

12:17

Hi David. There's a lot to like in the running back room. despite the slow start for the running game. But the more I see of Jonaz Walton, the more I think he might have the highest ceiling of those five. But for the other four, I think their best is yet to come. Not down on them.

David - NY

12:15

Eric! Appreciate the chats. What a great game for ND. Seeing the young guys get real reps and produce was awesome. My take. Walton is the answer at RB. He looks to have a different gear. What do you think?

Eric Hansen

12:15

On offense, tight end Ian Premer is going to be a star, and sooner than later. I really like RB Jonaz Walton. I did not pick a QB because that's a tight battle ... and ND could go the portal route in 2027 for a one-year starter to give those freshmen time to mature more.

12:14

Manny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love this question, and it's harder to answer in his day and age of unrestricted player movement. But Marcus Freeman has done such a good job of retaining key players, we're going to assume my answers to this question will stay at Notre Dame. Now this isn't necessarily based on their performance vs. Rice, but also the buzz I've been hearing about in practice and a clear path to opportunity in 2027. So I'll give you two on each side of the ball. On defense, I'm going to go with safety Joey O'Brien and defensive end Rodney Dunham, the latter who is already in the playing rotation as a freshman. The Irish could lose all three of their top safeties to the NFL, though they all have at least one year of college eligbility of they wanted to exercise that. (more)

Manny from San Pedro

12:09

Eric!!!!!!!! 2-0!!!! This defense is as good as advertised. Of all the bench players who got in the game. Who do you think has the biggest chance to make real impact in 27

Eric Hansen

Off we go ...

No drinking, no bare feet and no gambling are all rescinded for thsi week.

Here are the standard rules:

12:08

12:07

PLEASE include your NAME and HOMETOWN along with your question(s). "Guest" does not count as a name, unless it's on your birth certificate.

As far as this week's chat ...

► Finally at WSBT Sports Radio 960, I’m part of the Notre Dame Football pregame shows with Tim Grauel, Jim Irizarry and Blue & Gold teammate Jack Soble. The GameDay show kicks off with 3 1/2 hours of news, analysis and special guests live on Saturday ahead of the ND-Michigan State game. We’ll start our coverage — live from The Linebacker Lounge, near campus — at 3 p.m. ET. You can listen locally at WSBT-AM 960, Sunny 101.5 FM, and 106.1 FM in Southwest Michigan. And it will be live streaming on wsbtradio.com.

► The Third & Gold Podcast is available at all the places where you find podcasts, as well as our YouTube Channel. The next episode drops late Thursday afternoon. On our most recent episode, former Notre Dame All-American, national college football analyst and film breakdown junkie Landon Tengwall joined us as our special guest.

12:06

► 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 new home on the Blue & Gold YouTube channel. The last three shows have been our most-watched episodes ever. We’ll be back next Monday at 7 ET for another presentation of Football Never Sleeps. Check out some other great shows and content on the Blue & Gold YouTube channel as well, including the live Notre Dame Football Show, on Tuesday nights at 8 ET.

https://www.on3.com/teams/notre-dame-fighting-irish/join/?utm_source=p...

► Thanks to the hundreds of you who signed up as first-time subscribers for blueandgold.com during our recent promotion. We finished with the fifth-most new sign-ups among all sites in the On3 Network. For those who missed it, you can take a test drive for a week for just $1. If you like us, you can roll that into a 50% off special for your first year. Check it out at:

12:05

First, some quick programming notes:

12:04

Welcome to #NotreDame Football Live Chat, Michigan State Week edition!

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