(Photo: Chad Ryan/Fighting Irish Preview)
For one half, Wisconsin gave Notre Dame exactly the kind of test it needed. For the next 30 minutes, the Irish showed why they entered the season with national championship expectations.
Notre Dame opened the 2026 season with a 41-13 win over Wisconsin at Lambeau Field, but the final score doesn’t tell the whole story. Because for much of the first half, Notre Dame just didn’t look very good.
The running game was going nowhere, the offense couldn’t find any rhythm and Wisconsin was making enough plays to keep the Irish uncomfortable. Notre Dame went into halftime leading just 13-10, and it certainly didn’t look like a game between a national championship contender and a three-touchdown underdog.
Give Wisconsin some credit. Quarterback Colton Joseph made some throws, Abu Sama found some room in the running game and Malachi Coleman caught the Badgers’ only touchdown.
Notre Dame still found ways to respond. Kahanu Kia’s recovery of a muffed kickoff gave the Irish the ball at the Wisconsin 13, and CJ Carr took advantage by finding James Flanigan for a three-yard touchdown. The Irish weren’t in trouble at halftime, but they weren’t playing anything close to the football they expected to play, either.
Then everything changed.
THE SECOND HALF WAS A DIFFERENT GAME
Whatever Marcus Freeman and his staff said at halftime worked. Notre Dame came out looking like a different team. The Irish outscored Wisconsin 28-3 in the second half, but it wasn’t just the scoreboard that changed.
Freeman said afterward that he had warned his team all week that Wisconsin was going to make the Irish work for it.
“Sometimes you don’t believe it till you’re in it,” Freeman said. “You have to struggle to achieve what we achieved tonight, but until you’re in the middle of it, it’s hard to understand that.”
For 30 minutes, Notre Dame was in the middle of it. Then the Irish responded.
The running game finally started finding some room, Carr looked more comfortable and the defensive front began making life much more difficult for Colton Joseph. Notre Dame started controlling the game instead of simply surviving it.
Then came the play that changed everything. With Notre Dame leading 20-10, DJ McKinney jumped a pass and took it 55 yards for a touchdown. Suddenly, a game that had been uncomfortable for most of the night was 27-10.
Wisconsin answered with a 36-yard field goal, but by then Notre Dame had control. Aneyas Williams scored his second touchdown of the night in the fourth quarter, and Carr later found Nolan James Jr. for a 28-yard touchdown to finish it off.
A three-point halftime lead became a 28-point win. And for everyone who had Notre Dame covering, the Irish got there, too.
WILLIAMS STARTS TO MAKE THE BACKFIELD HIS OWN
A lot of the attention entering the season was on how Notre Dame would replace Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Aneyas Williams gave a pretty good answer Sunday night.
Williams finished with 90 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and after Notre Dame struggled to run the football early, he began finding room in the second half. His first touchdown gave the Irish a 20-10 lead early in the third quarter. His second stretched the lead to 34-13 in the fourth.
He doesn’t have to be Love. He just needs to be Aneyas Williams.
And Williams showed Sunday night that might be more than enough. He ran hard, found the openings when they were there and started to look like a running back capable of making this backfield his own. For all the questions about how Notre Dame would replace two NFL running backs, that’s a pretty good answer in Week 1.
CARR LOOKS COMFORTABLE
CJ Carr came into this season with plenty of expectations, including talk of being a Heisman favorite. The first half wasn’t spectacular, but Carr didn’t force anything. He stayed patient, made good decisions and got better as the game went along.
Carr finished 19-of-29 for 239 yards and two touchdowns without throwing an interception. On a night when things weren’t always going Notre Dame’s way, that last number might be as important as any of them.
Jordan Faison led the Irish with four catches for 81 yards and continued to show why he is such an important part of this offense. His 30-yard reception helped set up a Spencer Porath field goal, and another big catch helped set up Williams’ second touchdown.
Carr didn’t need to play like a Heisman Trophy winner in Week 1. He needed to take care of the football, make the throws that were there and let the game come to him. He did.
And when Notre Dame needed him to finish things off, Carr found Nolan James Jr. for a 28-yard fourth-quarter touchdown, the first of James’ career. For a quarterback carrying some very big expectations, Carr looked completely comfortable carrying them.
THE DEFENSE STARTS TO LOOK LIKE ITSELF
The defense took over in the second half. DJ McKinney’s 55-yard pick-six was the biggest play, but Notre Dame did something else that might have been just as impressive: It completely took away Colton Joseph’s legs.
Joseph rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season and came into this game as a legitimate dual-threat quarterback. Notre Dame never let that part of his game become a factor. Joseph finished with just three net rushing yards on 12 carries, and his longest run was five yards.
That’s a big win for a defense that knew exactly what Joseph could do if it allowed him to get outside and make plays in space.
The Irish also started getting more pressure on Joseph as the game went along. Leonard Moore was impressive. He’s very, very good.
Drayk Bowen seemed to be everywhere, and Adon Shuler continued to make plays around the football. More importantly, the entire defense seemed to get faster and more physical in the second half.
Wisconsin scored 10 points in the first half and only three in the second. That’s the Notre Dame defense everyone expected to see.
There is one concern coming out of the game. Safety Brauntae Johnson and defensive tackle Jason Onye both left with injuries and did not return. Both were in walking boots by the end of the night, and Freeman did not have an update on either player after the game.
Notre Dame has plenty of defensive depth, but Johnson and Onye are important pieces. Their status will be something to watch heading into Rice week.
PORATH PROVIDES EARLY STABILITY
Another positive was Spencer Porath. The Purdue transfer made both of his field-goal attempts, including a 52-yarder, and was perfect on his extra points.
That’s significant for a Notre Dame team that struggled in the kicking game last season. And with the offense having trouble finding its rhythm in the first half, Porath made sure the Irish came away with points when they had the opportunity.
A 52-yard field goal at Lambeau Field isn’t a bad way to introduce yourself.
Notre Dame has its kicker.
DON’T OVERREACT TO THE SLOW START
Most Notre Dame fans are probably feeling pretty good about a 41-13 win this morning. But there will always be some who can’t get past that first half.
And yes, it was ugly. Notre Dame didn’t look like a national championship contender for much of the first 30 minutes, and there are things that need to be fixed. But it’s also Week 1.
Wisconsin came ready to play, Notre Dame got punched a little bit and the Irish had to respond. They did, outscoring the Badgers 28-3 in the second half and turning a three-point game into a blowout.
Don’t ignore the first half. Just don’t let it erase what happened in the second.
LOOKING AHEAD
Notre Dame didn’t leave Lambeau Field perfect. It left with a 41-13 win and a better understanding of what this team looks like when things aren’t going exactly as planned.
Wisconsin pushed the Irish for 30 minutes. Notre Dame responded by dominating the next 30. That’s a pretty good lesson to learn in Week 1.
Now the Leave No Doubt tour comes home, and it’s a short week.
Rice will enter Notre Dame Stadium at 1-0 after opening its season with a win over Houston Christian. The Owls run a tricky shotgun option offense that rushed for 465 yards in the opener, so Notre Dame’s defense will have something very different to prepare for with only six days between games.
The Irish will be heavy favorites again, but after what happened during the first half at Lambeau, they should already understand that being the better team on paper doesn’t mean everything is going to be easy.
For now, Notre Dame went to Lambeau Field, got tested, made adjustments and turned a 13-10 halftime lead into a 41-13 win.
There were plenty of doubts at halftime.
By the end, Notre Dame had erased them.