O’pinions from Notre Dame’s Slog of a Win Over Michigan State

Eight o'pinions, one for each of Micah Gilbert 's catches, on Notre Dame besting the villain Pat Fitzgerald.

1. You may have notice I had no o'pinions on the Rice game last weekend. We watched the same game. There wasn't much to say.

As for this game? Slightly more, the biggest thing being Gilbert's emergent performance. Eight catches, 170 yards and a newly instilled hope in the fanbase that Jordan Faison need not bear the entire weight of the passing game on his slender shoulders.

It's hard to quantify the value of the boosts to Gilbert's confidence and CJ Carr 's trust in Gilbert, but it's certainly of some value going forward.

2. Some more value that needs to come from Gilbert's performance is the gravity he can now exert on opposing defensive schemes. Because this running game needs all the attention taken away from it that it can get.

I'm not a doom-and-gloomer about the Irish run game. There's time to get better. But this clearly isn't enough to win a national title. And that is the ultimate goal for this team.

3. Here's why I'm not (yet) negative about the running game. Notre Dame's third quarter field goal drive against Michigan State was 17 plays long and ate up 9:42 of the game clock. Notre Dame's longest drive time-wise of last season was a 14-play, 8:26-long drive possession against Pittsburgh which turned into 0 points from the one-yard line. Otherwise, the 2025 Irish had one 13-play drive and a couple of 12-play drives, with none lasting seven minutes or more.

Is this season's offense glamorous? Absolutely not. But it's been effective against two Big Ten defenses so far this season—at least once the second half starts. That's something to build on, and to lean on in the right situation.

4. But, yes, cause for concern exists. Nolan James Jr. impressed in a 26-carry, 121-yard performance. He has a knack for getting small, squeezing through openings and getting extra yards wherever he can find them. That's useful.

Aneyas Williams , on the other hand, struggled for the second straight game with just nine carries, 25 yards and a touchdown marred by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. And as for Jonaz Walton potentially making a move on the depth chart? He got one carry for -1 yard.

Fitzgerald had the Spartans ahead of the curve on defense three games into his tenure, which makes the 17-play drive more impressive. But it's fair to wonder what's up, because the bad first halves against both Power 4 teams the Irish have played so far is not a trend worth continuing.

5. At the risk of beating a dead horse with run game talk, I don't think we're talking enough about the offensive line. This isn't so much about their failure to block, because there have been some holes the running backs have missed. And it's also hard to open massive running lanes when your tight ends are so clearly not part of the passing game that their presence on the field gives away a running play.

But with all that defenses are and will be allocating to stop Carr in the passing game, you'd like to think a few more gaping holes would be present to the layperson.

6. Relatedly, just like it's not totally fair to hold the running backs to the standard of Love and Price—two first-round NFL Draft picks—it's also not totally fair to hold Will Black to the standard of Joe Alt . Hell, even Anthonie Knapp got beat against Purdue while still at left tackle in 2025. Guys like Alt are outliers in terms of reliability. But so are Love and Price.

Which is to say that, if people are going to lament Williams' performance so far, they should also lament Black getting whipped against both Wisconsin and Michigan State and opening Carr up to a potential destiny-altering hit.

7. Shout out Kenny Minchey . Now wearing a Kentucky jersey, he avenged Notre Dame's inexcusable 2025 loss to Texas A&M with a 31-21 win in College Station.

Maybe it's giving too much credit to say that Minchey avenged the loss. If so, then we can say he participated in a game that revealed just how inexcusable it was for the Irish to give up 41 points to the Aggies last season. Minchey (14-18 for 252 yards and two touchdowns) outplayed Marcel Reed , who went 26-49 for 236, one touchdown and two interceptions against the Wildcats. Last year, he went 17-37 for 360 yards, two TDs and one pick against Minchey's old team. Disgraceful.

It'd be great if not completely unrealistic to have Minchey as backup to Carr again this season. Oh well, at least I'll get to follow Kenny in Lexington for a year or two.

8. No just desserts for Texas Tech Friday night, but Lane Kiffin's "warm" welcome back to Oxford and the loss he was "gifted" is a win for everyone else in college football.