GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman knows Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell well enough to realize the Fighting Irish would face a bigger season-opening challenge than the recent results of these two teams suggested.
Freeman's team eventually responded.
CJ Carr threw two touchdown passes, Aneyas Williams ran for 90 yards and two more scores and No. 4 Notre Dame pulled away in the second half to beat Wisconsin 41-13 on Sunday night at Lambeau Field. Notre Dame led just 13-10 at halftime before dominating the final two periods.
“Human nature is maybe you look at somebody else’s record last year — and everybody has expectations on what you should be this year — to think this is how this game should go,” said Freeman, who played for Fickell at Ohio State and coached alongside him at Cincinnati. “I don't know how they thought it would go, but I wanted to make sure at halftime they knew it was going to be a babble and going to be a struggle. I told them that all week. Sometimes you don't believe it until you're in it.”
This was the first college football game at the home of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers since 2016, when Wisconsin upset a fifth-ranked LSU team 16-14. Wisconsin also hung around for a while in this one as a three-touchdown underdog as it attempts to bounce back from two straight losing seasons.
Notre Dame's first touchdown came on a 3-yard reception by Green Bay resident James Flanigan, whose father and grandfather (each named Jim Flanigan) both played for the Packers.
“There's three generations of Flanigans who have been on that field and made some plays,” Flanigan said. “That's really special.”
Carr went 19 of 29 for 239 yards. His other touchdown completion was a 28-yarder to Nolan James Jr. with 1:51 left.
The Irish entered this season pledging to leave no doubt about their College Football Playoff worthiness after getting left out of the field last year despite winning their last 10 regular-season games by double-digit margins.
But the Irish’s performance early on created plenty of doubt about how effectively they can run the ball without Heisman Trophy finalist Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, the only two running backs selected in the first round of this year’s NFL draft. Notre Dame rushed for 111 yards on 32 carries — including just 29 yards on 16 attempts in the first half.
Notre Dame's offense eventually got in gear. The Irish scored touchdowns on each of their three second-half possessions.
“I don’t have a great explanation for the second half,” Fickell said. “I give them a lot of credit. We kind of held the energy and created a lot of momentum in the first half. In the second half, we could do none.”
Williams’ 3-yard touchdown run capped a 70-yard drive to open the second half. Colorado transfer DJ McKinney then intercepted Colton Joseph’s pass and ran untouched for a 55-yard touchdown to make it 27-10.
Gavin Lahm’s second field goal of the night cut Notre Dame’s lead to 27-13 near the end of the third, but Williams capped the Irish’s next drive with a 5-yard touchdown run and James completed the scoring in the closing minutes.
“We prepared for a battle,” Carr said. “We got a battle in the first half. We were really excited, I think, coming out of the second half because Free talks about there’s nothing great that comes from something that’s easy. We knew it was going to be a struggle. It's what we wanted, and (we) ended up finishing really strong."
The takeaway
Wisconsin: After adding 34 transfers, Wisconsin certainly looks better than it has the last couple of years. But the Badgers needed to play mistake-free football to have a shot at pulling the upset, and they instead had two turnovers that led to Notre Dame touchdowns.
Notre Dame: The Irish's defense could face some early adversity. The Irish lost preseason Associated Press All-America second-team safety Brauntae Johnson and defensive lineman Jason Onye to injuries during the game. Freeman had no update on either player after the game. Preseason AP All-America second-team linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa didn't play as he continues to recover from a knee injury that ended his 2025 season early.
One positive development for Notre Dame came from Purdue transfer Spencer Porath, who made field goals of 52 and 26 yards in his Irish debut. Last season, Notre Dame didn’t make a field goal after Oct. 11.
Up next
Wisconsin: Hosts Western Illinois on Saturday.
Notre Dame: Hosts Rice on Saturday.
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