Notre Dame Blue-Gold Game 2026: How to Watch, Key Storylines

By all accounts, Notre Dame has had a very active, efficient, productive, and physical spring practice season.

After receiving very positive reports from the jersey scrimmage last weekend, the annual Blue & Gold game will be the fans' and media's last chance to get a sneak peek at the Irish before August. This is an athletic, deep roster, and there will be plenty to watch for this Saturday afternoon.

How to Watch Notre Dame Blue & Gold Game

When: Saturday, April 25, 2025
Time: 2:00 pm ET
Where: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN
Streaming: Peacock
TV: NBC Sports Network (rebroadcast on Sunday at 1:30 pm ET)
Announcers: Tony Simeone, Ian Book, Caroline Pineda

Which Notre Dame players will "flash" in this showcase environment?

While the jersey scrimmage featured the full first team offense vs the full first team defense, the Blue & Gold game is structured differently, with the first strings divided up. This means that the evaluations made during the game are much more individualized than they will be group reviews.

With this in mind, I'm keeping an eye out for who "flashes" physically. While I certainly expect players like CJ Carr and Leonard Moore to shine in this environment, I'm looking for some names to make a splash that aren't considered Notre Dame's frontline star players.

I'm looking for "cherries on top". Some players that you may not think would be a huge part of the 2026 narrative, but that could become just that.

We play football this week!

🆚 Blue vs. Gold
📍South Bend, IN
📅 Saturday, Apr. 25
⏰ 2:00 PM ET
📺 Peacock
🎟️ https://t.co/tZr3kphA3H #GoIrish☘️ | @meijer pic.twitter.com/03JTLtQIcb
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) April 20, 2026

What young Notre Dame players can burst onto the scene in 2026?

One of the most interesting aspects of the Blue & Gold game is getting to see the early-enrollee freshmen play for the first time. This is always exciting, and I'm looking for young players who can carve out a niche role for themselves on this year's team.

Offensively, I want to see Bubba Fazier in person. Could his short but twitchy and fast frame provide the Irish offense a unique spark in the pass game this year? This is very possible as the staff seems to be very impressed with him so far.

Defensively, I want to see a young edge rusher like Rodney Dunham continue to emerge. It isn't often that a first-year player can bully his way into the starting rotation, but it looks like Dunham is trending that way after a terrific spring and very active jersey scrimmage.

Notre Dame backup quarterback battle

Everyone knows this is CJ Carr's football team.

In an ideal world, Notre Dame's backup quarterback will not need to be much of a factor in 2026. But should one need to step in for Carr for any decent amount of time, he must be able to run the offense effectively to keep the CFP dream alive.

Noah Grubbs' arm talent was on display in the jersey scrimmage, and Blake Hebert has been recently limited with a minor leg injury. These players are one play away from being needed to carry the Irish offense, and someone must rise to the occasion.

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