It's game week. We made it. No more quick views of practices. No more talking season. The regular season is here for No. 5 Notre Dame, which opens Labor Day Sunday at No. 10 Miami (Fla.).

We set the stage for what we're going to see Sunday in South Florida with news of the week - Marcus Freeman, player comments, depth chart and injury updates before joining long-time Miami (Fla.) play-by-play radio voice Joe Zagacki, who believes Notre Dame is walking into a snake-pit like atmosphere similar to 2017 and 1989. Yikes. No bueno...

We wrap this episode with a readers/listeners question segment - name three Irish football players who might be able to help the basketball team this season - and some quick hitters predictions on the season, and for for Sunday's game. Are the Irish a 10-2 team? How about 11-1? Who are the offensive and defensive most valuable players and breakout standouts? Tune in...

It's done. It's over. Twelve days before No. 5 Notre Dame opens the 2025 regular season at No. 10 Miami (Fla.), the Irish have their starting quarterback.

Welcome to the role, CJ Carr.

No use burying the lead - we spend a good chunk of the show discussing/dissecting the Carr promotion. After battling Kenny Minchey, Carr was named the starter heading into the 2025 season. Why Carr? What's next for Minchey? Plenty of Irish quarterback talk early and often.

We also review the naming of the six team captains, which were announced Monday. Who was a lock? Who wasn't on the list?

We also touch a bit on the close of preseason camp. What did we learn? What didn't we learn? What's next as game week approaches? Don't look now, but we're almost there.

Tuesday's QB announcement is just one step, but it was a big one. Football's back. 

A new season of Notre Dame football brings the return of a new season of Pod of Gold, where the South Bend Tribune's Mike Berardino and Tom Noie and WNDU's Jackson Neill discuss everything Irish.

There was plenty to ponder in this early August episode. What are the early impressions of preseason  camp, specifically, how good can that Notre Dame defense be in 2025? How about the offensive line? Then, there's the little issue of the quarterback competition, and who might have the early edge between C.J. Carr and Kenny Minchey. We also discuss the future - or lack thereof - of the Notre Dame/USC rivalry.

 

With spring practice and the transfer portal in the rearview, NDI looks back on the last few weeks of Notre Dame football, which includes the transfer of a potential starting quarterback and the ascension of a possible starter that no one saw coming. We'll run through some of the highs and lows and positions of strength and of weakness following Notre Dame's 14 workouts.

What's the latest with the new Irish coaching staff? The NFL draft? The regular season schedule? It's been too long since we talked Notre Dame football, so listen as we make up for lost Irish time.

 

The 12-team College Football Playoff field is set. Notre Dame gets a No. 7 seed and a home game against No. 10 Indiana. Did the selection committee get it right? How could the format be tweaked, even now, to better improve the process/product?

What about the weather? Tickets? Hotels? We discuss everything that surrounds the first-ever CFP post-season game at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday, December 20 game - but not the game itself. That hype train will pick up serious steam next week.

For now, we look back on the 2024 regular-season finale against USC and take a peek and what the next week holds for the Irish.

We go Army heavy in this week's Pod as No. 6 Notre Dame (9-1) hosts No. 17 Army (9-0) at Yankee Stadium as part of the Shamrock Series game. We talk with Ken Kraetzer of the West Point Football Report on what makes the Black Knights so dangerous this season - it's more than just quarterback Bryson Daily, who's really good. We also talk former Granger, Indiana resident Richard Cacioppe, author of the book “Black Knights and Fighting Irish: A Rivalry, a Game, and America One Year After the End of World War II” about what this rivalry once was so many years ago.

We briefly review the Virginia game (particularly the fake punt call), muster up a Pod of Old that included a memorable escape against Army in the Meadowlands in 1995 (the Ivory Covington game), and close with one hot take and one prediction for this weekend's game.

NDI's Tom Noie and Mike Berardino and WNDU's Jackson Neill preview this week's game against Virginia, review the win over Florida State, talk College Football Playoff rankings, take a trip down Memory Lane with our Pod of Old segment, answer the question of the week and spend some time with former Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush on a variety of topics.

Wimbush touches on life in the spotlight as the Notre Dame quarterback, on if he had as much play-calling/changing freedom as Riley Leonard and how Leonard has adjusted to being the Irish starting quarterback.

We close with one hot take and hot prediction from each of the three hosts heading into Senior Day at Notre Dame Stadium. 

NDI columnist Tom Noie, beat writer Mike Berardino and WNDU sports coordinator open this episode by recapping what the first College Football Playoffs rankings show means to Notre Dame and its chances of possibly even hosting a first-round playoff game.

We (somewhat reluctantly) preview this weekend's game against a Florida State team that has the look of a team that long gave up trying to compete. Why are the Seminoles this baaaaaaad?

We recap Notre Dame's previous game against Navy and take a trip down Memory Lane in our latest Pod of Old, which really isn't that old. Keep listening to our Pod of Gold question of the week before we close the show with our hot takes (for what will be a cold night) and a prediction for Saturday's game. 

In this episode, South Bend Tribune columnist Tom Noie, beat writer Mike Berardino and WNDU sports coordinator Jackson Neill preview Saturday's matchup with No. 24 Navy and the problems the Midshipmen present as an undefeated and ranked opponent.

They also recap the Georgia Tech game, including the out-of-left-field commentary/opinions offered by the ESPN crew about how Notre Dame needed to score style points for College Football Playoff consideration.

This week's Pod of Old segment looks back on a big road win over Florida State, 22 years to the day on Saturday which got the Irish thinking of a national championship.

Our guest interview is Don Doxsie, author of “Elmer Layden: Notre Dame’s Quiet Hero.” The question of the week centers on, what else, the Irish quarterback situation.

We close the show by offering one hot take (or two or three) and a prediction for Saturday's game against Navy at MetLife Stadium.

NDI columnist Tom Noie and beat writer Mike Berardino and WNDU sports coordinator Jackson Neill open the show by previewing Saturday's neutral-site game against Georgia Tech, and what it means in terms of a possible path back toward a College Football Playoff berth. We also bury the lead by discussing a possible season-swinging injury to a key Notre Dame captain.

The Stanford game is recapped - briefly - because this one wasn't much of a game after Notre Dame trailed 7-0, then scored 49 unanswered points. Our Pod of Old is a look back at a classic - Notre Dame 31, Miami 30 in 1998.

Our special guest Gene Watson, director of player devleopment for the Chicago White Sox, stops by to talk his love for Notre Dame football and his 25 years spent in baseball. We close the show with each of the three hosts offering one hot take and a prediction for Saturday's game against Georgia Tech in downtown Atlanta.