Don’t let Notre Dame record fool you. Irish stars will demand Boise State’s ‘best’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Boise State travels to face No. 21 Notre Dame as a 19.5-point underdog Saturday.
- Notre Dame, led by RB Jeremiyah Love and QB CJ Carr, seeks third straight win.
- Boise State emphasizes team tackling and discipline to counter Fighting Irish offense.
Boise State football faces the mammoth task this weekend of traveling to No. 21 Notre Dame in an attempt to take down last year’s national runner-up in its own backyard.
The Broncos (3-1) enter as 19.5-point underdogs, and head coach Spencer Danielson knows he doesn’t need any of his players putting on a Superman cape in order for Boise State to pull off the upset.
“My biggest focus for our team is, ‘Your best is enough and your best is required,’ ” Danielson said Monday. “That’s going to be my message for them all week.”
The prospect of showing up at the 80,795-seat Notre Dame Stadium and spoiling the day for the home crowd is an exciting one for the staff and players, but Danielson readily admitted that he “doesn’t know” what will happen Saturday.
What he does know is that no one should be sleeping on the Fighting Irish, who enter the game with an unusual 2-2 record.
Notre Dame started the season 0-2 thanks to a pair of losses to Miami (27-24) and Texas A&M (41-40), with those schools ranked No. 3 and No. 6, respectively, in the most recent Associated Press Top 25. Neither of them has lost a game.
Since then, the Fighting Irish have smoked Purdue 56-30 and Arkansas 56-13. Combining those results with the fact that Notre Dame lost by a combined four points against two top teams, the Fighting Irish have demonstrated that they’re still among the best teams in the country and a legitimate threat to make the College Football Playoff again.
“They have grown week in and week out. Hats off to Coach (Marcus) Freeman and their staff, because they have,” Danielson said. “They are playing at an elite level offensively, they’re playing at an elite level defensively … and they are on the attack on special teams.”
What’s so scary about Notre Dame?
The Fighting Irish’s success comes as little surprise, as they returned 11 starters from last year’s squad that lost 34-23 to Ohio State in the national championship game — five on offense and six on defense.
Among those returners is star running back Jeremiyah Love, who leads the team with 341 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground on 66 carries. He also has a second-best 13 receptions for 149 yards and three TDs. He recorded a career-high 157 rushing yards against Purdue had a career-high 70 receiving yards against Arkansas.
“Jeremiyah Love is going to get his,” Danielson said. “You go into a game with elite football players, there’s not a schematic call that all of a sudden is going to take Jeremiyah Love out of the game.”
So if the Broncos can’t completely stop Love, what can they do?
Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander admitted it’s becoming increasingly difficult to practice live tackling in practice as players sustain more injuries throughout the season. However, fundamentals — tackling low and as a unit — will be more critical than ever against Love.
“We have to target low. We have to try to take (Love’s) motor out,” Chinander said. “We have to get multiple people to the ball. So it’s going to be about effort. It’s going to be about doing things the right way and proper leverage, I think, more than anything.”
However, it’s not just Love that the Broncos need to be worried about. Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr has been impressive, and Danielson referred to the 20-year-old as a future first-round NFL Draft pick.
Carr spent his true freshman year at Purdue. He has completed 68.3% (71-for-104) of his passes in a Notre Dame uniform for 1,091 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions. He also has one rushing touchdown this season.
“For a freshman, I’m extremely impressed with his decision-making,” Danielson said. “He gets the ball exactly where it should be, on time, where it should go. He runs a pro-style offense that has a lot of shifts and motions and complications to it, and he operates at a very, very high level.”
Watch party on The Blue
You don’t have to travel the 2,446 miles to South Bend, Indiana, to watch Saturday’s game with thousands of other Bronco fans. The game will be streamed at Albertsons Stadium on the south end zone video board, which measures 120 feet wide by 50 feet tall.
Boise State is hosting a free watch party, allowing fans to sit either on the west side of the stadium — in the shade — or on the blue turf for the game. Parking is also free and concessions, including beer and wine, will be available throughout the event.
The gates open at 12:30 p.m.
Boise State at Notre Dame
- When: 1:30 p.m. Mountain time, Saturday
- Where: Notre Dame Stadium (80,795, turf), South Bend, Indiana
- TV: NBC (Dan Hicks, Jason Garrett)
- Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
- Records: Boise State 3-1; Notre Dame 2-2
- Series: First meeting
- Vegas betting line: Notre Dame by 19.5
- Weather: 88 degrees, sunny, 3% chance of rain
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
