How to Watch Notre Dame vs. Rice: Time, TV, Stream, and Odds for the Home Opener

Notre Dame comes home ranked third in the country, coming off a 41-13 win at Lambeau and favored by six and a half touchdowns. Rice brings a triple-option attack, a 1-0 record, and a roster that doesn’t match up with Notre Dame anywhere. On paper, this is a glorified scrimmage before the “Big Ten” portion of September starts.

Notre Dame has struggled in week two contests under Marcus Freeman with a 2-3 record including losses to Marshall and Northern Illinois, but the Irish haven’t been nearly this big of a favorite in any of those contests. Here’s everything you need to get the game on.

How to Watch Notre Dame vs. Rice

Notre Dame vs. Rice viewing information

• Kickoff: Saturday, September 12 — 3:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. CT
• Site: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
• TV: NBC
• Stream: Peacock, plus any live-TV service carrying your local NBC affiliate (YouTube TV, Fubo, DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV)
• Radio: Notre Dame Radio Network affiliates and SiriusXM
• Line: Notre Dame by 44.5, total at 55.5 after opening at 52.5
• Rosters and lineups: 2026 Notre Dame roster | Week 2 depth chart

Broadcast Crew and Streaming Options

Dan Hicks has play-by-play, with Jason Garrett (unfortunately) on analysis and Caroline Pineda on the sideline, the same group that worked Lambeau last week. Reggie Smith is the rules analyst.

Peacock carries the NBC simulcast in full, so a subscription with live sports gets you the game without any extra step. Same advice as last week: Confirm the account is active well before 3:30, not at 3:29.

If you’d rather go through a live-TV bundle, any service carrying your local NBC affiliate works, which means YouTube TV, Fubo, DirecTV Stream, or Hulu + Live TV. All of them are location-dependent, so check that your affiliate is actually in the package.

Saturday Weather in South Bend

Hot. Saturday’s high is around 84, with essentially no rain in the forecast, and a 3:30 kickoff means the sun is still very much a factor in the first half. If you’re in the stadium, the south end is going to bake. Bring water and plan accordingly, because this is the kind of afternoon where the fourth quarter feels a lot better than the second.

What Actually Matters on Saturday

Forty-four and a half points is not a line; it’s a statement about how little the market thinks Rice can do here, and it sets up the only real tension in this game: Notre Dame is not being judged on whether it wins. Everyone knows assumes they will win. The Irish are being judged on how quickly and how completely they put it away and how many style points they put up.

That matters because Marcus Freema’s genuinely strange history with home openers. He lost his first one to Marshall in 2022 and has dropped two of the last three. The 2024 sequence is the one that ought to be in everyone’s head, because it looks almost exactly like this one: a satisfying Week 1 win over a Power Four opponent, followed by Northern Illinois walking into Notre Dame Stadium and taking the game. Freeman brought it up himself this week and changed the practice plan because of it. When the head coach volunteers the comparison unprompted, it’s on his mind as much as it is the fans’.

The first half at Lambeau is the other reason to pay attention. Notre Dame led 13-10 at the break and looked out of rhythm before outscoring Wisconsin 28-3 after halftime. CJ Carr finished 19-of-29 for 239 yards and two touchdowns, and the offense got where it needed to go, but the opening two quarters were sluggish enough that a chunk of the national conversation spent the week questioning whether this team is actually elite.

Notre Dame’s lack of vertical passing game against the Badgers was also a point of contention all week even though Freeman stated that was by design and not because of any limitations of Carr. A fast start Saturday makes that conversation disappear. A second straight slow one makes it louder, regardless of the final score.

Backfield Rotation, Injuries, and the Rice Option

Watch the running back rotation. With Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price gone, Aneyas Williams took the job and ran with it, going for 20 carries and 90 yards with two scores while getting stronger as the night went on. Nolan James Jr. was the more dangerous weapon in the passing game, with four catches for 67 yards and a touchdown. Rice is not going to stop either of them, which makes this the week to find out what the committee actually looks like when the score allows for experimentation.

On defense, the Irish are down two starters. Safety Brauntae Johnson and defensive tackle Jason Onye are both out multiple weeks, though Freeman expects both back this season. Luke Talich steps in at field safety, which is about as soft a landing as you can get for losing a starter, and the interior rotation of Tionne Gray, Armel Mukam, and Francis Brewu absorbs Onye’s snaps.

The bigger news is on the other side of it. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, ruled out an hour before kickoff last week, came off the Thursday injury report and is expected to play. Freeman has been clear that the snap count will be managed and that nobody should expect the 2025 version right away. Rice’s option looks unlike anything else on the schedule outside of Navy, which is another reason to keep him on a pitch count. Seeing him on the field at all is the win here.

As for the Owls, Scott Abell’s group is 1-0 after handling Houston Christian 31-3, and they did it the way they intend to do everything: 70 rushing attempts for 465 yards. That currently ranks third nationally, which tells you more about the opponent than the offense. Notre Dame’s run defense held Wisconsin to 2.2 yards per carry.

Notre Dame is 5-0 all-time against Rice and hasn’t seen them since a 48-17 win in 2014. Nobody is going to remember this game in November. The only thing that matters is making sure nobody has to.