It’s one of Notre Dame nation’s favorite words when delivered by Marcus Freeman: Violence. And the second I heard it come out of his mouth in the pregame interview today, all concerns about Rice being the next horror story chapter in the “second game of a Marcus Freeman season” book basically went out the window.

And the Irish defense took it to heart, blasting Rice players left and right in the early parts of the game, including one Adon Shuler hit that forced a fumble-six and set the tone for a 52-0 shutout.

It was not the game that will provide any particular lasting memories of the 2026 season, but it was a nice reminder that for this team, it looks like “Leave No Doubt” was more than just a buzzword.

A few takeaways from the Irish’s move to 2-0:

This defense plays like they know exactly how good they are

Ever since Freeman showed up and taking recruiting to a different level, much of that success has been on the defensive side of the ball. His defenses have, with one very notable 2.5-game blip in early 2025, gotten better and better and better as the talent has poured in. Two games in, this group looks every bit the successor to that mantle.

The Irish starters didn’t allow Rice’s triple option to have any success at all (a good sign for the Halloween game against Navy). Especially early on, the poor Owl ball carriers seemed like they were being used for (non-flag version, despite what Rice coach Scott Abell pleaded for) target practice by the front seven and by Adon Shuler. Shuler, who was already one of the harder hitters in the country a year ago, now is playing as if he would dearly love to see every offensive opponent have deep chest bruises for a week after going up against him.

It was also very pleasant to see Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa back on the field and looking exactly like we hoped he would, and the front four enjoyed another rock-solid performance, getting consistent push into the backfield against the overmatched Rice offensive line.

CJ Carr spread the ball around as much as he could

When it comes down to it, CJ Carr is going to throw to Jordan Faison. It’s a bit reminiscent of 2012, when everyone on the field knew Notre Dame was going to toss it up to Tyler Eifert every big third down and yet it was still rarely stopped. Such is the connection between Carr and Faison, who remains one of the more underrated players in the country.

However, Carr – and later, Noah Grubbs – got others involved as well. It was nice to see Jaden Greathouse look a bit like the guy we remember, particularly on a very contested back-shoulder throw along the sidelines. And as picture-perfect a throw as Carr delivered to Micah Gilbert for a late first-half touchdown, it was just as impressive a catch by the third-year wideout, who continues to make his presence felt.

A glance at the future

The huge early lead allowed Irish fans to take a look at some of the names we assume we’ll see take on bigger roles in 2027. Of the group, I doubt I’ll find much disagreement in being most impressed with freshman Jonaz Walton. I’m not going to overstate the run he made on 4th and short by dipsy-dooing around an unblocked rusher and beating the rest of the Rice defenders to the edge, because it was Rice. But still, between that and his bruising running style he showed off later, it’s easy to look at him and think he’s going to be The Guy sooner or later in that backfield.

Walton’s size, build and running style bears more than a passing resemblance, to me, to Jadarian Price. He’s exciting.

We also got some nice looks at Logan Saldate and three of the NFL progeny wideouts – Jerome Bettis Jr., Devin Fitzgerald and Elijah Burress. Matt Jeffery’s contributions weren’t unnoticed, either.

OK, now we concern-troll

Was it maybe a bit concerning that the offensive line was unable to create a ton of running lanes for Aneyas Williams and company early in the game? Hard to critique the pass blocking on a day Carr seemed to have all day whenever he wanted, but it did feel as though Williams struggled to get into a groove. Nolan James, too, for that matter, though he still ripped off a couple nice ones.

I would rate this very low on the concern scale – after all, we just saw the line struggle early against Wisconsin and then put it together. And Guerby Lambert left the game at one point – no word on his status, though he only left with a slight limp. So that was likely a factor. But still, we’re fans and we have to at least feign concern about something.

Next week is Michigan State. It probably won’t be as easy as this. With a night game at ND and a presumably charged up crowd ready to renew an old rivalry, the hope is ND brings the thunder the way they did early on today.

(Photo credit – South Bend Tribune)