Notre Dame Football Midweek Mailbag

Wednesday is Mailbag Day on IB Nation Sports Talk. We answer listener questions about Notre Dame football and more on today's show. Some of today's topics include:

* Is scheduling another west coast team a must if the Notre Dame vs USC rivalry ends?

* What school besides Southern Cal would allow a coach to end a long standing rivalry?

* If Kenny Minchey starts and bombs in the season opener against Miami, would the Irish have a different starter vs Texas A&M?

* Should Michigan have made a clean break after Jim Harbaugh left and hired someone from the outside rather than promoting Sherrone Moore?

* What's the biggest concern going into Miami in week one of the season?

* How many non College Football Playoff seasons does Brian Kelly have left at LSU?

* More!

There's more to discuss and debate in Rapid Fire as well. See the list of topics below!

Today's Rapid Fire topics include:

* Fill-in the blank: It's BLANK Notre Dame announcing next year’s Shamrock Series game against Wisconsin. It will take place on Sunday, Sept. 6th at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. It will presumably open the season since it's Labor Day weekend.

* Fill-in the blank: ESPN included Jeremiyah Love on its list of the 25 best college football players who are not quarterbacks. Here’s a line on Love “His durability is a bit of a question, but he added weight during the offseason and likely will have an expanded role after more than tripling his receptions total from 2023.” That is BLANK.

* Drayk Bowen is on the list as well. New Irish defensive coordinator Chris Ash had this to say about the linebacker: "This spring, I've asked each player to give me their opinion on who our top leaders are, and Drayk Bowen is a guy that comes up consistently," Ash told me. "He's smart, he's tough, he's intelligent, he's learned a lot from Jack Kiser about leadership. It's his time to take that step and become the leader of the defense." That means BLANK. 

* Fill-in the blank: Notre Dame women’s basketball getting a commitment from 6-2 wing Bella Ragone...who is currently the No. 25 player in the ESPN HoopGurlz 2026 rankings is BLANK.

* Notre Dame baseball lost 5-4 in 10 innings to Boston College in the first round of the ACC Tournament. On a scale of 1 to 10: How do you rate their NCAA chances after falling to the tournament’s No. 14 seed?

* A South Carolina writer wrote over the weekend that the Gamecocks made a mistake in hiring Paul Mainieri out of retirement to lead their baseball program. It was basically a “the game passed him by” type piece that mentioned the fact that NIL and the transfer portal weren’t a thing when he last coached at LSU in 2021. South Carolina was 27-26 overall going into the SEC Tournament after going just 5-21 in conference play. Is one year enough to make a judgement on the hire?

* The Tush Push will remain legal for the upcoming 2025 NFL season. NFL owners today voted down the proposal to ban the pushing of ball carriers. The proposal got 22 yes votes and 10 no votes. NFL rule changes need at least 24 votes to pass. Are you good with keeping the Tush Push?

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2025 Commit Rankings - Offense
2025 Commit Rankings - Defense

2024 Recruiting Class
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