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What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 28-7 win against Boise State

Singer headshotby: Mike Singer10/05/25MikeTSinger

Notre Dame’s winning streak increased to three games in a row after a solid 28-7 victory for the Fighting Irish over Boise State on Saturday. CJ Carr threw two touchdowns in the victory, and the Irish defense intercepted Broncos’ quarterback Maddux Madsen four times, including two picks from cornerback Leonard Moore.

In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about the Fighting Irish’s win against the Broncos, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Robby Toma giving their instant reaction to the game in a YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player above.

Eric Hansen, Blue & Gold: Leonard Moore returns, and the Notre Dame defense takes another significant step

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Former Irish cornerback Jaden Mickey raced out of the visitors’ tunnel at Notre Dame Stadium on a sweltering October Saturday carrying the American flag and reveling in a chapter in his life he left behind but still cherishes deeply.

The injured Boise State Bronco also got a reminder of how good that 2024 Irish defense looked when he opted out for a redshirt season and announced his intention to the transfer portal four games into a run that would end in the CFP National Championship Game in Atlanta. While he cheered his heart out for the eventual runner-up Irish watching on TV.

In person, on Saturday, Mickey may have gotten a glimpse of what the ceiling of the 2025 ND defense might look like during a 28-7 subduing of first-time opponent Boise State by the Irish, led by a cornerback who was quietly surging when Mickey made the decision to move on.

Leonard Moore.

A year later Notre Dame’s best defensive player, and on Saturday finally healthy after missing the past two games with a high ankle sprain.

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Tyler James, Blue & Gold: Notre Dame RB Jadarian Price provides final blow to Boise State

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When Notre Dame football needed to remove all doubt on the outcome of Saturday’s home game against Boise State, the Irish offense turned to redshirt junior running back Jadarian Price.

Literally, redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr turned after taking the snap in a pistol formation and handed the ball to Price. Notre Dame’s offensive line did a solid job of clearing a path for the seven yards needed on second down. Price took care of the rest.

The 5-foot-11, 210-pound back ran away from a tackle attempt near the first-down line, bounced off a pair of defenders near the 25-yard line and ran through a tackle attempt at his legs near the 10-yard line on his way to a 49-yard touchdown run. Not a bad way for Notre Dame to extend its lead to the eventual 28-7 final score with 7:54 remaining in the game.

“In the running back room, we’re all about yards after contact,” Price said when asked how many tackles he broke on the play. “Sometimes we joke around, hey, let’s go and touch a guy so we can get that yards after contact. Last year, I led the nation in yards after contact. That’s a challenge to myself this year as well.

“It’s just a credit to what we did in the offseason working on contact balance to help making you break tackles and things like that.”

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Nick Shepkowski, Notre Dame on SI: Notre Dame Dominates Boise State — Key Takeaways from Irish Blowout Win

Notre Dame improved to 3-2 with its 28-7 victory over Boise State on Saturday, in a game that remained relatively close on the scoreboard despite not being played too evenly.

The Irish now get to turn the page and prepare for North Carolina State before a heavyweight matchup with USC, but Saturday made clear that, despite improvements being made, progress still needs to be made in almost all areas.

Notre Dame Not Playing to Potential
What’s clear as day after Saturday is that Notre Dame didn’t play to its potential. It’s not fair to expect a team of 18–22-year-olds to play their best every week, but having as many mental lapses and general shortcomings as Notre Dame did on Saturday is unacceptable.

This isn’t a knock on Boise State as the Broncos have as proud of program as there is in the Group of Six, but you play against your own abilities and expectations as well as the opponent, and Notre Dame fell well short of that standard Saturday. Had it not been for several of them, Notre Dame wins this game by 35 or more points, but instead walks away with a 28-7 win (and cover) to move to 3-2.

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Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman

Opening statement from postgame press conference:

“Hard-fought victory. We knew that was going to be a tough team. They just have shown it. They’re not the second-winningest program since 2000 for no reason. That was a fundamentally sound, aggressive football team, and we knew they were going to be tough to beat.

“Now, we were able to be more consistent. We were able to win the one-on-one battles more consistently. We knew that was going to be the challenge. It wasn’t going to be outscheme them and confuse them. It was going to be on both sides of the ball. We have to win the one-on-one battles, and we did that more.

“Proud of the way we took care of the football. And we got four takeaways, which is huge. You win the turnover margin plus-4, you’ve got a great chance to be on the right side of the outcome. And so we’ll enjoy it. There’s always room to get better. I’m sure you guys will ask about those things, and I’ll answer them, and we’ll evaluate them.

“But today we’re going to enjoy this thing. It’s hard, man. It’s hard. The coaching staff, these guys put a lot into trying to achieve an outcome that you achieved today. I always remind them, like, ‘Enjoy this. We’ll get back to work tomorrow, but enjoy this because you get 12 guaranteed opportunities, and it’s hard to get one. It’s hard to earn a victory. Sometimes we take that for granted.’

“Reminding myself as I remind them, enjoy this, get back to work tomorrow.”

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Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson

Opening statement from postgame press conference:

“Appreciate your guys’ time. Obviously after a game like that, that hurts. We got to find a way to win those games. But first and foremost, always for me, thank you Jesus for an opportunity to coach this team. I’m so confident in this team. Love this team. Had every opportunity to win. And that’s what everybody says after they lose a game, but I really did feel that way.

“I’m proud of how our guys battled tonight. I feel way different than after we lost game one of the season to South Florida where I felt like we didn’t at times. Tonight, I felt like we really battled. Our team never quit. Obviously some self-inflicted stuff happened in regards to penalties or mistakes on our end that we got to fix. But I’m proud of our guys or battling. Proud of them for never quitting. Even on the sideline, there was no pointing fingers. Didn’t see anybody start quitting. They glued together. I believe there is unity. God commands a blessing. We got to stay close. We just have to find a way to execute better.

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