Notre Dame Players Declare 'Revenge Tour' After CFP Snub
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- Leonard Moore declared Notre Dame is on a 'revenge tour' after an 0-2 start last season — a 27-24 opening loss to Miami and a Week 3 loss to Texas A&M — kept the Irish out of the College Football Playoff.
- Carson Beck torched Notre Dame's secondary in last year's Miami win, going 20-of-30 for 205 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, prompting coach Marcus Freeman to call the unit 'weak' and 'soft.'
- CJ Carr said it's 'impossible' not to think about the Nov. 7 rematch, calling last year's first half against Miami 'probably the worst first half of football our offense played all year.'
- Marcus Freeman pushed back on the revenge framing, warning 'we spend too much time daydreaming about Miami, we're going to lose to Wisconsin' in the Sept. 6 season opener.
- Notre Dame's defense returns nine of its top 10 tacklers, including safety Adon Shuler (53 tackles) and Moore (31), with the secondary now expected to be a team strength.
- Drayk Bowen, wearing pads for the first time this spring after offseason hip surgery, said Freeman showed the team video of their Selection Day reaction as motivation.
- Under Freeman, Notre Dame has failed to finish September undefeated in each of the past four seasons, and the coach acknowledged the slow starts are 'not just a last year deal.'
Why it matters: Moore and Carr's revenge framing turns the Nov. 7 Miami game into a referendum on last year's CFP exclusion, while Freeman's 'daydreaming' warning exposes tension between player motivation and coach discipline. Notre Dame returns nine of its top 10 tacklers on defense, giving the program the talent to end a four-year September stumble streak — provided the secondary, once labeled 'soft' by its own coach, delivers.
