SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Instead of jumping on a slow-building national trend and canceling its spring football game to discourage transfer-portal poaching and useful scouting tape for its 2025 fall opponents, Notre Dame used the confusion option.
Starting with the final score: Blue (offense) 76, Gold (defense) 31.
Which sounds like either the scoreboard operator jumped the gun Saturday on the coming implementation of Notre Dame Stadium’s new alcohol sales policy or new defensive coordinator Chris Ash has some ‘splainin’ to do.
In reality, it was neither.
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What the 94th Blue-Gold Game was, beyond the latest occasion to invoke the name of 2007 Blue-Gold MVP-turned-forgotten soul Junior Jabbie, was a chance to dig through some disjointed impressions to add to what is very much an incomplete-but-building big picture of what the 2024 national runners-up could be in 2025.
And yet one that, notably and significantly, continues to feature pleasant surprises where it needs them the most (interior defensive line, wide receiver, tight end, safety), and nothing that could be diagnosed as hopelessly unfixable or in need of a transfer-portal add in April/May.
Which is where you want to be in April, as a 2025 College Football Playoff aspirant.
“There’s a lot of ...
