Notre Dame Football Primer: No. 3 Irish Host Rice in Home Opener

First-half struggles turned into a second-half shellacking of the Big Ten’s Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday night. This week, the Fighting Irish have another chance to improve and add another victory to the 2026 campaign. College football teams can’t solidify a playoff spot in September, but they certainly can lose it. Notre Dame Football will play its first game in South Bend this season, and if the Irish can continue their momentum from the second half against the Badgers, the Rice Owls are in trouble.

Essential Game Info

• Game Time: Saturday, September 12th at 3:30 PM ET on NBC
• Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
• Matchup History: Notre Dame Football is 5-0 all-time against Rice (last meeting 2014: Irish won 48-17)
• Odds: Notre Dame -44.5

Details

Conference: American Conference
Head Coach: Scott Abell
2025 Record: 1-0
2024 Record: 5-8 (2-6)

Weather Forecast

At the time this article was written, the current forecast calls for a 24% chance of rain, with a high of 84 degrees and a low of 62.

What to Know About Rice

The Rice Owls beat Houston Christian 31-3 in Week 1. Scott Abell leads his program into South Bend, where the Owls will be major underdogs against the #4 Irish. This will be their first time visiting South Bend since 2014, when Everett Golson led Notre Dame to a 31-point victory.

Jacurri Brown headlines the Rice “spread option” offense. The Owls’ quarterback was previously at Miami and UCF prior to arriving at Rice. In Week 1, Brown went 2-for-5 with 11 passing yards, 0 passing touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. On the ground, he had 13 carries for 98 yards (7.5 yards per carry), with his longest run at 32 yards.

The Rice Owls run a modern version of the triple option from the shotgun. Unfortunately for the Owls, the Irish faced one of the better running quarterbacks in the country last week, face Navy annually, and had the entire offseason to prepare.

What Notre Dame Needs This Week

Can Notre Dame start 2-0 for the first time since 2023? Although Notre Dame played in the national title in 2024 and went 10-2 in 2025, neither of those teams won their first two matchups. Although a win over Wisconsin and a potential victory over Rice would not catapult them into the playoffs, it would be 2 pieces of a 12-piece puzzle (best analogy I could come up with after driving back and forth to Lambeau all weekend).

In case some Irish fans still are worried after last week’s first-half performance, let me remind you that last year’s national champions only led Wisconsin 10-7 at halftime, and that game was played in November.

The Fighting Irish need playmakers to step up on offense. Undoubtedly, CJ Carr is a Heisman-caliber quarterback, but fans need to be focusing on the “skill position players” early in the year. The only receiver that stood out last Sunday was Jordan Faison. He had 4 receptions for 81 yards against the Badgers.

Aneyas Williams had 20 carries for 90 yards (4.5 yards per carry), 1 catch for 11 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Nolan James Jr. had 7 rushes for 19 yards (2.7 yards per carry), 4 receptions for 67 yards, and 1 touchdown.

If the Irish are 5 or 6 games into the season and they still are not taking deep shots down the field, do not have a 100-yard rusher, and there is not a plethora of players that deserve touches, then I will be worried. For now, I am chalking this up to Week 1 against a historically physical defensive team in Wisconsin.

Where can the Irish improve against Rice? Fans should expect to see more explosive plays out of the Notre Dame offense this week. With the early jitters against Wisconsin at a neutral site and conservative play-calling by Mike Denbrock, I expect to see more fireworks this Saturday afternoon.

Head-to-Head Matchups

Notre Dame Offense vs. Rice Defense: The Fighting Irish offense totaled 350 yards against Wisconsin last weekend, while the Rice Owls defense gave up 244 yards against Houston Christian.

The Irish offense cannot be content with its performance from last Sunday. There are a lot of areas for improvement, and that includes offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, who cannot forget he has CJ Carr at quarterback.

Can Rice slow down the Irish rushing attack early on like the Badgers? I highly doubt it. The Irish have a major advantage.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Rice Offense vs. Notre Dame Defense: The Owls offense totaled 493 yards per contest in 2025, while the Notre Dame defense allowed 284 per game. Even with bad field position, Chris Ash’s defense only gave up one touchdown and two field goals.

Last weekend, the Irish faced a quality dual threat in Colton Joseph. He had 217 passing yards, but only 5 rushing yards on 12 attempts. The Irish had a man waiting on Joseph all night, and they will be prepared again for this matchup.

Even with the injuries against Wisconsin, the Irish have one of the best defenses in the country and the advantage in this category.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Special Teams: Spencer Porath went 2-for-2 on field goals last week, including a 52-yard conversion, a well-needed boost to Notre Dame’s kicking game from the 2025 season. Rice’s Enock Gota went 1-for-2 last week.

There is no distinct advantage on special teams.

Advantage: Tie

Prediction

As I wrote last week, I did not expect the Fighting Irish to win 100-0 against Wisconsin, and they cannot win a national championship in Week 1. After playing two “playoff teams” to start the 2025 season, I am glad that the Irish will get to face Rice in Week 2. Obviously, being a Notre Dame fan for two decades, I understand nothing is guaranteed. But, assuming the Irish play to their standard in this matchup, it will hopefully allow Notre Dame Football to peak at the right time in 2026.

Besides a double move by the Wisconsin wideout last week and poor blocking on a punt, the defense and special teams looked great in Week 1. The biggest question marks against Rice will be the Notre Dame offensive line and skill position players. Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are irreplaceable, but the rushing attack must be better than last week.

Notre Dame must take its offense to another level in the passing attack. When the Irish lost to Ohio State in the national title, they were trying to run Riley Leonard to a title, while Ohio State’s offense was lighting it up on the ground and through the air.

I expect to see more explosive plays this week from the Fighting Irish offense on their way to a 42-point victory.

Prediction: Notre Dame 52 Rice 10