r/notredamefootball

Got my wife and child heading to South Bend for the weekend will actually be there in a couple hours. Daughter is under 10 and was wondering if there's any fun restaurants that you'd recommend? Thanks!

It’s a rivalry game!

It’s also a game with a five-touchdown point spread.

Either way, No. 3 Notre Dame hosts struggling Stanford on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC), the end of a six-game on-ramp to a more difficult part of the schedule that includes BYU, Miami and SMU over the horizon. You’ve got questions about Notre Dame’s readiness for what’s to come, in the regular season and beyond.

Let’s get started with this week’s Notre Dame mailbag, including a prediction.

How did Mylan Graham go from “Most Likely to Break Out” to DNP at North Carolina and no touchdowns so far? Injury? Lack of chemistry with CJ Carr? Something else? — Tae K.

For what it’s worth, coach Marcus Freeman says there’s nothing wrong with how Graham is practicing; it’s just a matter of the staff’s wanting to lean more into the starting receivers. And it’s true that in bad-weather games, when Notre Dame plays more two-tight-end sets, the slot receiver subs out, which means Jaden Greathouse’s reps go down. Graham is the No. 2 slot behind him.

What coaches are on the hot seat heading into Week 6?

Chris Vannini

It’s also possible Graham isn’t what Notre Dame thought he was when it signed him. He played just 176 snaps at Ohio State over two seasons and made six catches for 40 yards. When the Buckeyes played without Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate in November in a blowout of Rutgers, Graham didn’t figure into the offense (Quincy Porter didn’t, either).

The sentiment around Graham at Ohio State was he was talented and the Buckeyes wanted to keep him, but he had to mature. If Graham had a drop in practice, he would struggle to lock back in. One whisper coming out of Notre Dame’s training camp was drops were an issue after a very impressive spring practice.

With the benefit of hindsight, maybe we should have seen something like this coming. It’s remarkable to look back at Notre Dame’s seven transfer portal pickups and compare their production at Notre Dame with their snaps played at their previous stops.

Cornerback DJ McKinney had the most experience, followed by a group including defensive tackles Francis Brewu and Tionne Gray and corner Jayden Sanders. Then there’s a gap, with defensive end Keon Keeley and receivers Graham and Porter bringing up the rear.

Sure, the Keeley-Graham-Porter group had the highest recruiting rankings out of high school. But they’ve done little at Notre Dame after doing little at Alabama and Ohio State. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by how this is all playing out?

I stayed up late(for an old man) to check out BYU. QB looks good and the defense has been dominant. I know it Iowa State though. Should be a good game.

Anyone else watch?