A season opening loss directly into a bye week–is it torture for Notre Dame fans or an opportunity to regroup and reset the season for the next 11+games? We’ll try our best to keep a level head. Hopefully everyone spent the weekend grilling cheeseburgers and laughing at other teams who lost. In the first regular season 5WF of 2025 we’re discussing inconsequential defeats, the weirdness of the Miami loss, the spread against Texas A&M, freshmen seeing the field in 2025, plus a large buyout in Tuscaloosa.

1) Is the season opening loss to Miami the weirdest possible outcome given what we thought we knew about ND coming in to the season?

I think so, and I’ve broken it down into 4 separate areas after mulling this over for a week.

#1 Miami was tougher, more prepared, and looked better than Notre Dame for a majority of the game. 

Maybe I’d only give Miami 60% looking better, but it was enough, and a bit startling. That they were tougher and more prepared was surprising. As time moves on it’s easier to understand because it’s just one game. It’s important to give Miami credit where it’s due.

Now, if this happens 2-3 more times this season (and especially against Texas A&M) then we need to sound some alarm bells.

#2 No one was ready for that offensive line performance.

This is definitely the more puzzling situation compared to the issue above, where things like “toughness” are pretty difficult to judge. The offensive line did not play very well and afterward on the Notre Dame sites there was talk about the decision to “push out” some of the linemen from last year and how maybe the injury to Charles Jagusah may have been more detrimental than we believed.

Are they excuses?

There’s a common talking point that Riley Leonard’s escapability in the pocket made the line look a lot better than it really was last year–and I’ll subscribe to that up to a point. I was certain the adjustment to more of a pocket passer was going to be hard for the offensive line and after seeing one game I’d argue we may want to adjust our super high expectations for the run game.

A look into the bye week practices for the OL. 

Still, offensive line coach Joe Rudolph did an excellent job last year dealing with all the injuries. That line was very good on its own. If this 2025 offensive line really is below average and hampers the team for the rest of the season it may be one of the more surprising things I’ve seen at Notre Dame since I’ve covered the team.

#3 The captains played poorly (for the most part) and it raises questions about team leadership.

Caveat once again, it was just one game! No Jeremiyah Love or Ashton Craig as captains seemed odd. Then someone like Donovan Hinish being named one, kind out of nowhere, was strange. Not playing well is one thing but now it leaves us wondering if a leadership vacuum at the player level is really going to be a major storyline this season.

#4 CJ Carr exceeded expectations, but the team still lost. 

This wasn’t on too many bingo cards for the game. There’s a couple ways to look at this now. One, is that the loss just provides more angst and should’ve been a victory with the Irish sitting as a top 3 team coming home to South Bend. The other way is that Carr’s talent soothes the loss and gives us quite a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks and years.

However, just like the weirdness of the loss and the belief that some of the play could turn around in a positive manner, perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to anoint Carr and believe we’ll be getting this consistent quality of play moving forward.

2) A close loss on the road to a top 10 team, was this the most inconsequential loss of the Freeman era?

Marcus Freeman has lost the opener to a top 10 team in half of his seasons with Notre Dame. Look it up, it’s true! He has 4 regular season losses in the month of September from a total of 9 defeats overall before the post-season begins. Is there a September problem?

This is the playoff era, though. Fifteen years ago, the loss to Miami isn’t quite a death blow but it would be so much more painful and consequential. Do I miss those days? Yes and no. I found myself not too bothered when the Irish were down 21-7 inside Hard Rock Stadium, I’ll say that much. The post-season format definitely changes my psyche during early season games like this where a loss is a setback and really nothing more.

I miss that sense of being more locked in during the regular season. I also really like that Notre Dame still has so much to play for in 2025 and we’re not left wondering if the ceiling is a non-championship major bowl game at best where a dozen players might sit out on both teams.

3) The spread for the Texas A&M game is holding steady through the weekend at -6.5 points in the favor of the Irish. Does that feel right?

I’m not on game preview duty this week but I handled the A&M game last year when we opened up down in College Station. Back in 2024, that line was -2.5 in favor of Notre Dame on the road. Right now, 6.5 points feels a touch high but I won’t complain.

Reed: Baller or fraud?

I’m curious to see how Marcel Reed performs. He’s gotten the label as a running quarterback (648 rushing yards in roughly 11 career games played) but people are also talking about him developing as a passer, too. The Aggies haven’t played anyone yet–and Reed isn’t slinging it down field a ton with a modest 8.2 YPA–but his numbers are quite good so far. The only other power program quarterbacks with 7+ touchdown passes and no interceptions so far this season are Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson and Texas Tech’s Behren Morton.

He reminds me of Everett Golson with his frame (listed at 6-1, 185 and a former basketball player), doesn’t have the natural throwing ability of our former quarterback, but Reed is a more dangerous runner.

4) It was a tough spot on the road in the season opener but only 2 freshmen seeing the field in any capacity was a bit unexpected. Is it too early to reassess what will happen to the playing time for the young players in the 2025 class?

Linebacker Madden Faraimo played 10 snaps on special teams which was expected. He’ll surely be burning his redshirt and eventually getting some snaps on defense further down the road. The only other player to see the field was corner Mark Zackery for one snap on defense–and he was someone I thought was a guarantee redshirt during the fall camp preview a month ago!

With the lack of depth at corner it’s going to be difficult keep Dallas Golden off the field at corner–and maybe Cree Thomas, as well. Burning all 3 corner freshmen redshirts may seem drastic but perhaps needed for the future. With Jordan Botelho already back from injury it’s possible no freshmen along the defensive line play in 2025. There’d need to be a huge jump from Christopher Burgess and we haven’t heard that’s really coming down the pipe any time soon.

With the play of the offensive line against Miami the odds for Will Black to see the field went up!

Coming out of camp, it seemed like running back Nolan James might get on the field quite a bit this year. I still think that might be tough, especially with fans clamoring for more and more carries to Jeremiyah Love. There just won’t be a ton of snaps available.

With the lack of depth at tight end they have to get James Flanigan ready and into some of these games. I’ll hold steady and believe no wide receivers from the freshmen class burn their redshirt.

5) How bad would Alabama have to be to fire Kalen DeBoer after this year and who would be the realistic candidates to replace him if it came to that?

Funny how the world works with an entire off-season talking about Mike Norvell’s massive buyout hampering Florida State, then the Noles beat Alabama in the opener, now the press is taking a look at DeBoer’s buyout with the Tide. For the record, his buyout is around $70 million. That would seem ridiculous to pay, but Texas A&M paid more to fire Jimbo Fisher, and this is Alabama after all.

It can’t be Dabo Swinney coming home. If reports about his “Alabama clause” are accurate the Clemson head coach would have to pay $90 million to get out of his deal with the Tigers. Can Alabama afford to pay 2 buyouts worth $160 million?

Camo is big in Alabama!

I saw a serious (as far as I’m aware) article this past week that threw Tommy Rees’ name in the list. The thinking was that he was an offensive coordinator for the Tide and Nick Saban continues to speak highly of him. Can. You. Imagine.

For the record, Alabama smoked Louisiana-Monroe 73-0 and quarterback Ty Simposon went 17 of 17 and 3 touchdowns so the pitchforks are put away for another week. What’s funny is that I had made a list of 3 names for Alabama prior to this past weekend’s games and well just a couple days later it looks bad. It just goes to show how much these things can change week to week.

Rhett Lashlee – SMU

He’s been doing a great job with the Mustangs, despite this weekend’s loss to Baylor. Lashlee has experience in the SEC at both Arkansas and Auburn. I don’t know if you pay a massive buyout for him but Lashlee is an interesting buy low candidate with maybe a very high ceiling.

Kenny Dillingham – Arizona State

Yet another candidate (like Lashlee) who was a coordinator at Auburn! This would be an even bigger buy low situation for Alabama (Dillingham is only 35 years old) and they’d have to do some convincing to pry Dillingham away from his hometown team. I’m sure Tide fans are saying no thanks after Arizona State lost at Mississippi State this past weekend.

Dan Lanning – Oregon

I think this is the big move for Alabama, if they can pull it off. Lanning was a grad assistant for the Tide back in 2015 so there’s a small connection. On the one hand, his buyout is only $20 million but on the other hand, his buyout is not $20 million. According to some sources, Lanning has a deal with Oregon in which he receives a substantial sum (rumored to be $30 million and growing) in Nike stock for every year he remains with the Ducks. That’s a difficult knot to untangle.