Advertise on podcast: Pod of Gold: Notre Dame Football

He has spoken. It's been more than a minute since we last heard from Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman, so there was no shortage of topics to talk on when he stepped to the front of the Notre Dame Stadium interview room on Wednesday, January 15. Freeman talked of the end (for now) of the USC series. He talked of the NFL and his interest in maybe one day coaching at the game's highest level. He talked of the transfer portal. He talked of injuries. He talked of how the end of the 2025 season can fuel a deep run in 2026. We discuss all of it, and then end the Pod with a prediction for Monday's College Football Playoff championship game. Hint: It won't be close. 

We'll try, but we may mirror the College Football Playoff selection committee and fail miserably. In our latest Pod of Gold, we attempt to make sense that like that, the Notre Dame football season for 2025 is officially over. No College Football Playoff run to a possible national championship. No bowl game. No nothing. All of it, over. Who's at fault? Should fingers be pointed? Our crew of South Bend Tribune columnist Tom Noie and beat writer Mike Berardino and WNDU sports coordinator Jackson Neill try their best  to figure out how what happened could happen and what it all means moving forward. Short answer - watch out college football in 2026, Notre Dame is coming.

We're done. With the regular season. With the College Football Playoff rankings shows over those four Tuesday nights in November and December. All that's left is Championship Saturday and Selection Sunday. What does that mean for projected No. 10 seed Notre Dame? Are the Irish comfortably in the field of 12? Do they need to sweat Sunday? Do they need help from a team here or a team there? We discuss what Selection Sunday might have in store for Notre Dame, which closed the regular season with 10-straight wins each by at least 10 points. We discuss (sigh) the case for Miami (Fla.) which handed Notre Dame one of its two losses. We'll also (briefly) review the Stanford game, touch on Notre Dame football's recruiting class on signing day and offer a Pod of Bold statement on whether Notre Dame will be in the 12-team playoff field, and what seed to expect. At that point, the Pod of Gold will be done. Except for the wondering. Have the Irish done enough?

We start this edition of Pod of Gold wondering exactly what's wrong with the Atlantic Coast Conference. Specifically, what the league has against Notre Dame of late with its "Team A vs. Team B" comparison nonsense, and then deciding that, yeah, it's a good idea for the game at Stanford to kick at 10:30 p.m. The Irish, in fairness, have remained quiet and calm and composed as they chase down another College Football Playoff at-large bid. We then spend time with former SMU running back Craig James, who has again teamed up with former backfield buddy Eric Dickerson to create the Pony Express Award, which is presented to “the most dynamic, selfless tandem in college football.” Notre Dame running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are up for the award. James talks what makes the two so dynamic, talks Irish football and talks CFP. He even talks a little "Pony Excess." We look back a little bit on Pittsburgh and look forward a little bit to Syracuse, then close with a hot take and bold prediction as Notre Dame looks to run its win streak to nine.  

We're Notre Dame football heavy again in our latest Pod of Gold. The second College Football Playoff rankings are out, so what do they mean for Notre Dame? We review the Navy win, preview Saturday's game at Pittsburgh and spend some time with former Notre Dame offensive lineman Josh Lugg. What do our fans have to say in our Speak Up segment? How about our Pod of Bold wrap-up segment? Give it a listen. Now. Here.

If it's November, it means it's time for the College Football Playoff rankings roulette to begin. What do the guys think of Notre Dame opening at No. 10? Good? Bad? Perfect? We recap the sluggish win over Boston College, which didn't play like a 1-7 team and preview Saturday's prime-time matchup with Navy before spending some time with former Notre Dame All-American defensive back Mike Townsend, captain of the 1973 national championship team. We close this Pod as we do every one with one hot take and one prediction. Can Notre Dame get to 7-2?

Notre Dame football is back from an off week and right into a Final Five stretch to close the regular season. We preview (kind of) Boston College, review (kind of) the win over USC and debate several additional topics, including what the Irish need to improve on to stay College Football Playoff worthy and the future coaching aspirations of Marcus Freeman. Stick around for our Speak Up segment before we close with a Pod of Bold that includes hot take for Saturday's game and a final score prediction.

This week hits differently. Irish coaches and players can insist otherwise, but it just does. It's USC week. It's the biggest game on the schedule for Notre Dame, and the biggest game left in this season. Everyone knows the stakes, but nobody may know them better than former Notre Dame defensive back Tom Zbikowski, who played in this rivalry game and offered Irish fans one of the best moments of the last 25 years. You know the game. You know the play. We talked with Zbikowski about what it means to play USC and what life is like for him today as a high school coach in Chicago. We preview USC and what the Irish need to do to stretch their win streak to five straight. We close, as always, with one bold statement and predictions.

We're all over the map in this one - talking a little Boise State, previewing North Carolina State and then diving deep into the 1988 Notre Dame football national championship season friend of the show Pete Cordelli, an assistant coach during that Irish title run. Cordelli shares stories about that 1988 season, about Ricky Watters, about coaching Tony Rice and about Lou Holtz. Tune in to hear our thoughts about Irish football present day, but stay to hear about Irish football back in the day. We close this episode the way we close each Pod - one hot take and one prediction from our three-man Pod booth. Enjoy!  

Notre Dame is back to .500 and looking to climb over that break-even mark Saturday at home against Boise State in the first-ever meeting between the teams. Before previewing Boise State and talking Broncos with long-time radio play-by-play Bob Behler, we put a period on Notre Dame's win at Arkansas, arguably, the most complete Irish effort this season. What's up with that offense? What's up with that defense? What did Tribune beat writer Mike Berardino have for dinner in Fayetteville? All questions answered. This might be the only podcast you listen to where the following are discussed - Bob Dylan, a rack of ribs, a gold Trans Am and the Major League Baseball playoffs in addition to Irish football. Throw our listener Speak Up and Pod of Bold segments in there and you have podcast gold. Hear for yourself. 

Notre Dame football has issues. Even coming off its first win of the season over Purdue, Notre Dame has not looked and played like it should look and play. We're tired of talking about it, but there's no way of getting around it - the defense is overdue to deliver. Maybe this is the weekend when we watch the Irish and say, now that's how it's supposed to look. So we spend the first 20 minutes on the tired topic of the Irish defense. Then it gets good. Sometimes it's best to stay quiet and let a guest go, and we did that with former Notre Dame and Arkansas assistant football coach Pete Cordelli. He had stories - a lot of them, about former Irish coach Lou Holtz, about his time at Arkansas, about calling the hogs and about the atmosphere that awaits Notre Dame at Razorback Stadium. You'll want to tune into this episode just for Cordelli's segment. It doesn't disappoint. We close our show with one hot take and one bold prediction - Irish fans may not like the direction we're leaning, but we're just like you in that regard. We need to see the Irish defense to belive. Maybe that happens Saturday.

That's not how this season was supposed to go - not even close. Two games in, two losses for Notre Dame. We'll recap what didn't go right for Notre Dame in its come-from-ahead loss to Texas A&M and dissect why this Irish defense hasn't looked at all like the Irish defense should look. Then, it's on to the next one. In this case, it's Purdue, a team Notre Dame beat last season in West Lafayette, 66-7. What makes the Boilermakers better this time around? Why is head coach Barry Odom the guy? Is playing well but coming up short this weekend enough to feel like a win for Purdue? What three questions need an answer in our Speak Up segment? We'll wrap out Pod of Gold with one bold hot take and one prediction.

It will have been 13 days since Notre Dame football last played football by the time kickoff Saturday night arrives and the clash with No. 17 Texas A&M. The South Bend Tribune's Mike Berardino and Tom Noie and WNDU sports coordinator Jackson Neill discuss what improvement we need to see from the Irish offense and defense after that loss to Miami (Fla.). They also discuss if Notre Dame and head coach Marcus Freeman has this Southeastern Conference thing down as the Irish shoot for a fourth straight win against the mighty SEC, which dates back to 2020. We then speak with Texas A&M beat writer Travis Brown from KBTX to get an inside look at the Aggies and what makes this team better than the one that lost to Notre Dame at home last season. We wrap the episode with one bold prediction and one game prediction. Can Notre Dame get to 1-1?

For the first time since 2022, Notre Dame football is 0-1 to start a season following Sunday's 27-24 loss at Miami (Fla.) The loss dropped the Irish from No. 5 to No. 9 in the US LBM Coaches Poll. Miami moved to No. 5. What happened in South Florida? How did it happen? Why did it happen? South Bend (Ind.) Tribune columnist Tom Noie and WNDU sports coordinator Jackson Neill take a deep Tuesday dive into the hows and whys of the loss and what it means from a big picture perspective for the Irish. Where does Sunday's loss rank on the angst meter? Right there with Clemson losing at home to LSU? Below Alabama being shredded at Florida State? We'll slot the Irish loss on the angst meter and answer pressing questions from our readers/listeners, then wrap by offering how the Irish will move forward the final 11 games of the regular season. Need your football fix to carry through until September 13 when Notre Dame hosts Texas A&M? We've got you covered. 

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...