Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Week 2 Preview
By Stiofán Mac Fhilib
After an impressive second-half performance that saw Notre Dame leave Lambeau Field with a spread-covering 41-13 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers, the Irish return home to take on the Rice Owls.
Looking Back at Last Week
In the quintessential game of two halves, Notre Dame laboured at times for the first 30 minutes against Wisconsin, before a much more efficient second-half performance allowed them to head home with a four-TD winning margin.
The first half was not without bright spots for the Irish, the most significant of which was Purdue transfer Spencer Porath’s first Field Goal attempt in an ND uniform. From 52 yards out, he calmly slotted it straight down the middle between the uprights. If you were wondering why grown men were sobbing as they muttered, ‘this is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen’ (I can’t have been the only one, surely?), it was because that was Notre Dame’s first successful FG since the middle of October last year.
And just over a minute later, Green Bay native, sophomore TE James Flanigan, caught his first career TD pass in the stadium where both his father and grandfather played for the Packers.
But there was also plenty to leave Irish fans pulling their hair out. 6’6” Aussie punter Jasper Scaife saw his first-ever punt in college football partially blocked, which allowed the Badgers to open the scoring with a Field Goal. And the revamped Notre Dame Offensive Line, with only one player in the same position as last year, struggled against a Wisconsin front seven that carried on where they left off last season with excellent run defense.
Half-time saw Marcus Freeman replace Styles Prescod with Sullivan Absher at RG, and the overall improvement in the Irish run game was immediately evident. Notre Dame only had three possessions in the final 30 minutes, but took them 70, 75 and 88 yards for a trio of TDs. Colorado transfer DJ McKinney also picked off a Colton Joseph pass, thrown under pressure from the Irish DL, and ran it back 55 yards for the TD that broke the Badgers’ back midway through the third quarter.
Aneyas Williams had a greatly improved second half, finishing with 90 yards on the ground and over 100 total yards. CJ Carr threw for 239 yards at a 66% completion rate, with a pair of TDs and crucially no INTs.
The Notre Dame defense had clearly come prepared to prioritise stopping the run and held the Badgers to 67 yards on 31 carries as a team, and QB Colton Joseph to just three yards, including sacks. His longest run was just five yards – an excellent night’s work against a player who had a 78-yard TD against Indiana last season.
The Week Ahead
Rice Owls (Notre Dame Stadium); 3.30pm EST; 8.30pm IST/BST
The Owls will make the long trip up from Houston to face Notre Dame for only the sixth time in their history. Their last encounter was a 48-17 defeat in 2014 when they managed to score one point more than they had in the first four games combined.
Interestingly, they met in 1973 and 1988. Irish fans will understand the significance of those particular seasons. However, to extend the series lead to 6-0, Marcus Freeman will have to do something he has never done: lead his team to victory in Notre Dame Stadium against an FBS opponent in his second game of the season.
The ghosts of Marshall and Northern Illinois might cause some to feel a little nervous, but as 44.5-point favourites against a hugely overmatched opponent, it ought to need a meteor strike to stop the Irish from prevailing on Saturday.
The Owls went 5-8 (2-6 in the American Conference) in 2025 in Head Coach Scott Abell’s first season, and as with so many schools at the G6 level, they ‘enjoyed’ huge roster turnover in the Winter. Last week they hosted cross-town rivals, Houston Christian, and amassed over 450 yards on the ground en route to a 31-3 win.
Their most noted player is Quarterback, Jacurri Brown, who spent two years at Miami, then another pair at UCF before heading to southeast Texas. With fewer than 1,000 passing yards in his career to date, a 6-9 TD-INT ratio, but a 6.0 ypc career average, he is well-suited to Abell’s gun-option offense.
Unfortunately for the Owls, their opponents are perhaps better prepared than most to deal with it thanks to their annual encounter with Navy’s option. The Irish defense was excellent against Wisconsin’s run game and mobile QB, and they will need to maintain similar discipline against an Owls team that, like the Midshipmen, likes to go for it on fourth down much more often than most.
Rice gave up almost 250 yards to their FCS opponents in week 1, 150 of them on the ground. They have a dangerous Edge in Tony Anwanyu, who was third-team All-American conference a year ago, but very little around him in support. After some of the misfires last week, on paper it is a very favourable bounce back opposition for the Irish offense.
The Owls’ kicker is 10-11 from inside 50 yards last year, and he may be Rice’s best hope of registering points this weekend.
Game Prediction
NOTRE DAME 52-6 RICE
An overmatched Rice will struggle and fail to keep the game as close as Wisconsin did, for a half, a week ago. CJ Carr will enjoy more success with his deep balls, and the Irish second- and third-string players will enjoy their second-half snaps, as Freeman finally beats an FBS team in his second game of the season.
Where to Watch
Sky Sports NFL (Channel 412 on Sky) coverage starts at 8.30pm IST/BST
NBC (in the USA)
Playoff Picture
For the second consecutive week, there is only one all-Top 25 matchup, but what a game it is! #1 Ohio State travels to the Lone Star State to take on #4 Texas in a game where I expect the winner will be ranked #1. Elsewhere, it looks like another week where most of the top teams will extend their early unbeaten runs, ahead of the meat of the imminent conference schedule.
STIOFÁN MAC FHILIB
COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANALYST
A VERY LONG-DISTANCE SUBWAY ALUMNUS OF NOTRE DAME, COUNTY ANTRIM-BASED STIOFÁN HAS BEEN A FAN OF THE FIGHTING IRISH SINCE 2000. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER @SMACFHILIB.
