Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547434
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 7, 2026 11 UNDER THE DOME THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "What a new and inventive way to open the season. An all-Catholic contest in front of the Pope — who happens to be a Nova grad? The Wildcats should be headed back to the NCAA Tournament in Kevin Willard's second season, but the Fighting Irish need to make it soon heading into Micah Shrewsberry's fourth year. Notre Dame will keep it close but not quite pull off the upset." — Joe Lunardi of ESPN on including Villanova vs. Notre Dame in Rome, Italy, on his list of 10 key men's college basketball games to watch in November "The pressure is on Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry heading into Year 4 of his tenure, after he won 15 or fewer games in his first three seasons at the helm. Notre Dame is approaching its longest tournament drought since missing out on the Big Dance 10 consecutive seasons during the 1990s." — Cameron Salerno of CBS Sports "This requires a moderate leap of faith after watching the Fighting Irish get outplayed by BYU in their last outing. But that was also the game of a lifetime for the Cougars, and their subsequent performance at Central Florida shows how much they invested in winning it. Notre Dame still had a shot to win and arguably should have had the ball on the 1-yard line with a final play to run, if pass interference had been called in the end zone. The Irish have the No. 1 total defense in the nation and a quarterback who showed his late-game mettle in Provo, Utah, shaking off a shaky performance to lead a desperation drive at the end. With a mid- dling résumé to date — the win over Wisconsin is doing a lot of work — the next month is critical." — Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated on placing Notre Dame on his short list of "The Legit Pursuers" of a national championship "As for better scheduling, here's a hypothetical [for 2027] that would make a lot of sense. Notre Dame versus Oregon on Labor Day weekend at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Notre Dame would need an opening, meaning a team on the schedule wants to get out of playing the Irish, preferably an ACC opponent set to host Notre Dame. … And playing at SoFi is the kind of invasion of Southern Cal's backyard that Notre Dame and Oregon can agree on, never mind Notre Dame's partnership with jersey patch sponsor SoFi, which makes this even more palatable. "Here's the point of this hypothetical. None of it is easy or straightforward. It's going to be a consistent pain for Notre Dame to build a qual- ity, balanced schedule, something it failed to do a year ago and struggled with this season. Let's say Notre Dame got Oregon (Sept. 4), Auburn (Sept. 25), Clemson (Oct. 30) and BYU somewhere in between. That's four significant games. If Notre Dame can split them, you feel good about it: No life-or-death results. "Notre Dame is never going to have the schedule strength of an SEC or Big Ten program. Such is the Independent Tax. Still, the Irish have to manage it better than they have." — Pete Sampson of The Athletic "Their résumé is not going to be the strongest. I think they're going to pass the eye test. People love CJ Carr. I love CJ Carr, and Notre Dame is going to get in there. Remember, in this case, they are 11-1. They beat Miami, who was No. 1 in Novem- ber, and they're the No. 4 seed." — Joel Klatt of FOX Sports, projecting Notre Dame to be the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff "Tabbed as No. 2 most important game of the 2026 season back in February's way-too-early look- ahead, this one still holds significant CFP implica- tions in South Bend a few weeks from now. It's not a must-win for Miami to get a top-four seed since it's not a conference game for the unbeaten Hur- ricanes, but it does border on that for the Fighting Irish following their unexpected loss at BYU. In this week's CFP projection, we've slotted Notre Dame with the 'last team in' designation, picking a loss to Miami, but a win over SMU that salvages a 10-2 finish." — Brad Crawford of CBS Sports on Miami- Notre Dame ranking No. 3 on his list of the 10 most important games remaining in the college football season (BYU-Utah was No. 1 and Alabama-LSU was No. 2) PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS Irish On Social Media "Abii's versatility — at 6-2, she can play power forward with the skills of a wing — should allow Notre Dame to use her at multiple positions as it retools around senior star Hannah Hidalgo. Abii can initiate offense, stretch the floor, rebound and play through contact inside, a combination that should fit naturally into the Irish's up-tempo attack. Word is she's also benefited from advice from Notre Dame alum Skylar Diggins, who has been back on campus this fall — which is impor - tant because of the major learning curve defen- sively and with overall pace of play." — Shane Laflin on Notre Dame guard/forward JACY ABII being slotted at No. 6 in ESPN's freshman impact rankings for the 2026-27 season