Notre Dame Fans React To Blue & Gold Game

The Irish faithful enjoyed a gorgeous day in the sun. How does the team look?

Notre Dame's offensive takes the field during the Notre Dame Blue-Gold spring football game at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, April 12, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Unique format but still plenty to see

Notre Dame had a very challenging spring practice window this year. Due to many injury recoveries taking place, combined with the short turnaround from the longest season in Irish history, the program had no choice but to alter its plan for March and April. This led to an interesting scoring format and structure for the annual Blue & Gold affair.

Regardless of a limited format or not, one thing is clear. The Irish program is rising. The roster is deep, fast, long, and playing with calm confidence. Combined with these roster facts, Marcus Freeman is no longer a new head coach. He now has experience and is entering his prime. The program has officially entered "winning time".

Always Irish Podcast: Notre Dame Spring Practice Reaction

Fan reactions focused heavily on the QB battle

Unsurprisingly, callers to the Always Irish radio show post Blue & Gold focused on the Irish QB battle between Steve Angeli, CJ Carr, and Kenny Minchey. As of now, none of these players have entered the portal, and it appears as if this battle will run well into fall camp come August. Who should land the starting role? Well, that depends entirely on who you ask, or in my case, who calls in!

With all of the attention being paid to the QB battle, it's easy to overlook the other big narrative of the 2025 Irish, the change from Al Golden to Chris Ash. Given the talent on this side of the ball and a slightly more simplified scheme, including more zone coverage that appears to be coming next year, it's possible the defense gets even better than it has been.

Notre Dame has no huge red flag position group flaws. This is the closest the Irish have had to being a "complete roster" in nearly 30 years. Other than who gets the starting nod at QB, the biggest question left to be answered is can, or when, Marcus Freeman will add Notre Dame's 12th title trophy to the mantle.

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