Notre Dame opened up the 2026 season with a neutral site home game in Green Bay accompanied by the motto “Leave No Doubt” carried around the program. During an uninspired and seemingly conservative first half, doubt looked very much on the table. Nursing a small halftime lead, the Irish came out with a commanding 3rd quarter performance to put away an improved Wisconsin team in front of a mixed red and blue crowd inside Lambeau Field.

Here are my key takeaways from Notre Dame’s 41-13 win over the Badgers.

#1 The Offense Has Work to Do

The second half looked much, much better but overall the known unknowns ended up looking like this offense could hold the team back unless there is considerable development at a few spots. Early on, the run game was completely bottled up and the backs lacked vision and the cutting ability to find extra yardage. The passing game threw short most of the time and couldn’t get things opened up at all. No third down conversions were made in the first half, either.

Things early looked a lot like a struggling Charlie Weis offense. No run game, a competent and accurate quarterback able to run the offense but not make a big difference without explosiveness or YAC on the perimeter. What we saw in the 2nd half can probably get this team to 12-0, but I expect some struggles along the way. The offense really, really, really needs someone besides Jordan Faison to become a consistent playmaker as a receiver. It feels like until that happens the team can’t progress to a true National Championship contender.

#2 The Offensive Line Needed Time to Gel

And they may need several more games to continue to gel together. The offense started Styles Prescod at right guard, one of the more strange late-August decisions that pretty much no one saw coming more than 10 days ago. They reverted to veteran Sullivan Absher at right guard in the second half and the results overall were far better.

There were a couple poor protection snaps on the edge but in the first half I didn’t think the line was playing terribly. The second half was such a boost that overall I’m oddly happy with the way things turned out up front. We have a pretty good history with the players and coaching staff that the offensive line isn’t going to develop into a problem and the arrow is pointing upward.

#3 The Defense Did Their Job

How the Irish would deal with a completely revamped Wisconsin offense was a major storyline coming into Sunday night and they passed the test. Not amazingly, but overall sound work. The Badgers didn’t break 300 yards, scored only one touchdown, and didn’t approach 5 yards per play. The DJ McKinney pick six was also a pivotal moment in the game that finally gave Notre Dame some breathing room.

Wisconsin quarterback Colton Joseph did some good things in the passing game (217 yards) but he was completely bottled up in the run game (15 non-sack yards) and that had to be perhaps the biggest key in the game. I bet Notre Dame believed Joseph couldn’t beat them through the air and they were right.

#4 Injuries, Not Cool

Both Jason Onye and Tae Johnson left the game before halftime and didn’t return. The latter came back out with a boot on his foot which is never a great sign. Although, Johnson looked to be in good spirits talking with KVA on the sideline so perhaps it’s just a high ankle sprain or something of that nature?

#5 This Wasn’t Really a Blowout

The country will see the box score shrug and move on, I’m sure. Wisconsin added a bit of garbage time yards on their final drive (even calling a timeout to get in a couple more snaps) but the Irish were “only” +1.00 YPP in the game. Maybe Wisconsin ends up being a pretty quality opponent down the line and has a good season. Still, for the level that Notre Dame is searching for there were a lot of things that weren’t good enough in Green Bay.

But, it is game 1 on a weird Sunday night, so.

#6 Uniforms

I couldn’t read the numbers or nameplates for either team. This was a uniform travesty.

Programming note!

I will no longer be doing Sunday game reviews on the site. The instant reaction articles tended to drive more discussion and eyeballs after football games and we’ll keep those going. I’m getting old, my opinions aren’t amazing, and jamming in game reviews every weekend had been getting incredibly difficult. Game reviews have always been about our readers and fans having more of a platform anyway. This change allow me to enjoy game weekends a little more, spend more time with my family, and keep the site working throughout game week. Go Irish!